DJ Shaw Locks Himself into Oxford 250 Weekend Saturday Night Against A Big Field
Column By: STEPHEN DURHAM / RPW – OXFORD PLAINS, ME – It was all DJ Shaw at Oxford Plains Speedway Saturday night, taking the lead on lap 16, and not looking back. It was an Oxford 250 qualifying race, 100 laps the distance. Only one caution flew on lap 8 for a multi-car spin.
Shaw started 4th, and made quick work up to 3nd by the time the lone caution flew. Shaw would start on the inside row of the restart behind Evan Roy, who brought the field to the initial green flag, and was the only other leader in the 100 lap race.
Shaw would get by Roy on lap 16, and set sail away from the rest of the top 5. Shaw would put on such a dominant performance among a 30 car field of super late models, that he would lap up 12th place by the end of the feature race.
Shaw, who is a multi-champion on the Pro All-Star Series and American Canadian Tour, but has yet to win the Oxford 250, took appreciation to winning at Oxford Saturday night.
“It’s hard to do here, especially consistently, we’ll try to do it again tomorrow I guess,” Shaw says, as they prepare for the Pro All-Star Series 150 lap race for Sunday August 10th.
Shaw mentioned in victory even, he was not sure what to expect of the car he brought Saturday night, and was originally planning to debut a new super late model with the August 10th race.
Rounding out the top 5 for the super late models Saturday night was Austin Teras, Trevor Sanborn, Evan Roy, and Kate Re. There was other notable drivers who signed in to take a shot at being locked into the Oxford 250 in just about 2 weeks. That being Derek Griffith, Carson Brown, just to name a few.
Kate Re had stellar type night. Kate Re is teaming up with Taylor Hoar for Oxford 250 weekend to raise awareness for childhood cancer and rallying support for Emma Treadwell, who was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 4. Kate started 2nd on the night, and would come home with a very strong top 5 finish.
Re says they are rebounding well and turning things around after struggles back earlier in July.
“We’re starting to find that mojo again, we’ve been here since 9a.m. this morning throwing everything at the racecar, to see what we can do to get better, and we ended up going back to baseline just before last practice,” Re explains “it’s giving us a huge boost of confidence going into 250 weekend, and we are really excited.”
Derek Griffith was back at Oxford, bringing along his new FURY Race Cars super late model, in hopes to get it dialed in for Oxford 250 weekend. Griffith would have to start deep on the field, starting in 22nd. Griffith would make his way up through the field, coming up 1 spot shy of a top 10.
Griffith says it’s the first time the car has hit the track in race conditions, with hopes of having it dialed in for 250 weekend, but says they are feeling good.
“I think if we had a caution, I could have maybe picked up a few more spots, but I dont know,” explains Griffith “it’s the best I’ve been up top in my life, so that was fun to run three to four wide there for a little bit, but yeah, we have work to do, not sure we will run the PASS 150, but we have work to do.”
Another noteworthy name at Oxford Saturday night, was Carson Brown, a regular on the ASA Stars National Tour, where he currently sits 2nd in the championship standings, behind past Oxford 250 champion, Cole Butcher.
It was Brown’s first time visiting the famed Oxford Plains Speedway, a bucket-list track for the young hot-shoe. Brown started 4th, and would end the night 1 spot short of a top 5 finish. Brown will race again with the PASS tour Sunday, to get more laps at Oxford, but overall liked the place, despite it being different.
“It’s definitely a different racetrack compared to what I’m used to, very circular. It’s important here to be saving tires, between your right rear, but mainly your right front, especially with the different camber down the straightaways,” Brown explains “goals are to just run well and consistent, this is a Nick Jenkin’s car and Port City, pretty good so far.”
Oxford Plains Speedway will host the Pro All-Star Series one more time Sunday August 10th, then all eyes turn towards Oxford 250 weekend, just two weeks away. Heading into this weekend, over 50 entries had been filed for the Oxford 250 alone, with several other divisions on tap for the weekend.
