Gluchacki Redoubles ACT Championship Chase with Late-Race Move to Secure Big Oxford Victory on 250 Weekend

With beautiful weather over Eastern Maine, forty-three teams entered Oxford Plains Speedway on Saturday with the American-Canadian Tour faithful running door-to-door in the Oxford 125 as part of the 51st annual Oxford 250 weekend. ACT officials confirmed all forty-three teams would start Saturday’s feature event and Derry, New Hampshire’s Erick Sands took the pole position by virtue of a +5 handicap earned in heat race Plus/Minus qualifying events.

WATCH THE OXFORD 250 ON RACINGAMERICA.TV

Sands took off under the green flag with Legend car standout Devin Deshaies following close behind in his American-Canadian Tour debut. Flying in from a top-ten start, Cam Huntress and Gabe Brown looked to join the early sprint while D.J. Shaw battled hard on the outside lane farther back to join the top-ten. By lap 28, Sands also began to fight the outside groove around lapped traffic with Brown bearing down behind him. A pair of caution flag periods around lap 50 proved again and again that Sands had the dominant car on the preferred lower groove.

Derek Gluchacki began to enter the picture in the fight around lapped traffic, battling hard with Tom Carey III to take over third place just prior to the lap 81 caution that saw Bobby Therrien spin sideways off turn four. Following another green flag run the last caution flag would fall on lap 115 to set up the move of the race. The final restart saw Sands and Brown white-knuckle their wheels side-by-side one final time under the return to green. Moving up slightly entering turn three, Gluchacki jumped down and took the open lane in a three-wide dash around the Oxford oval with Gluchacki sliding away the lead.

Over the final laps, Sands pulled up to Gluchacki’s rear-bumper again and again in the corners, but Gluchacki put the power down on the straightaways and held on for his second win of the season on the American-Canadian Tour, the first repeat winner for the international circuit this summer! Erick Sands matched his career-best finish for the second time this summer in runner-up spot while Alexendre ‘Fireball’ Tardif earned the popular third-place run among the Quebec fans in force at Oxford Plains. Gabe Brown held on for fourth with a strong-running Marcel Gravel taking fifth.

Jesse Switser came back from an early caution to take sixth, Rowland Robinson, Jr. kept it clean to earn seventh and rookie Jeremy Sorel nabbed eighth. Cam Huntress held onto a top-10 finish for ninth with D.J. Shaw taking tenth.

The American-Canadian Tour is back in action on Sunday, September 1 with the 46th annual Labor Day Classic presented by NEFCU/VSECU at Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre, Vermont. The 200-lap affair will once again pit the best weekly warriors of the Nation’s Site of Excitement against the mighty touring teams as the international Tour hits the downhill slope in the championship chase! Post Time on Sunday, September 1 is set for 4:00pm with holiday weekend camping available at Thunder Road from Friday at Noon to Monday at Noon.

For more information about the American-Canadian Tour, contact the ACT offices at (802) 244-6963, [email protected], or visit www.acttour.com. You can also get updates on Facebook and Twitter at @ACTTour.

-ACT Media Press Release
-Photo credit: Tom Morris Racing Photos

The Oxford 125
Oxford Plains Speedway – Oxford, ME
Saturday, August 24, 2024
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS

1. 03MA Derek Gluchacki Dartmouth, MA
2. 36NH Erick Sands Derry, NH
3. 21QC Alexendre Tardif Notre Dame des Pins, QC
4. 47NH Gabe Brown Center Conway, NH
5. 86VT Marcel J. Gravel Wolcott, VT
6. 25NH Jesse Switser W. Burke, VT
7. 28ME Rowland Robinson, Jr. Steuben, ME
8. 7MA #Jeremy Sorel Westfield, MA
9. 27NH Cam Huntress Rochester, NH
10. 04VT DJ Shaw Center Conway,NH
11. 45NH #Kasey Beattie St. Johnsbury, VT
12. 5MA Tom Carey III New Salem, MA
13. 5VT Bobby Therrien Hinesburg, VT
14. 4NH Jamie Swallow Jr. Lancaster, VT
15. 78QC Michael Lavoie Chicoutimi, QC
16. 68NH Tanner Woodard Waterbury Ctr., VT
17. 92VT Jaden Perry Hardwick, VT
18. 18VT #Kaiden Fisher Shelburne, VT
19. 27MA Jaret Curtis Rutland, MA
20. 99NH Ben Belanger Whitefield, NH
21. 64RI Devin Deshaies Harrisville, RI
22. 77NH Bryan Wall Jr. E. Kingston, NH
23. 29NH Aaron Fellows Croydon, NH
24. 28NH Ricky Bly Sunapee, NH
25. 73MA #Cole Littlewood Orange, MA
26. 92ME Colby Meserve Buxton, ME
27. 47MA Justin Storace Seabrook, NH
28. 72QC Louis-Philippe Lauzier St-Pacome, QC
29. 22VT Peyton Lanphear Waterbury, VT
30. 2NH Adam Lovejoy Sanford, ME
31. 04NH Shawn Swallow Groveton, NH
32. 47ME Brockton Davis Whitefield, NH
33. 41QC Jonathan Bouvrette Blainville, QC
34. 01GC Dylan Payea Milton, VT
35. 98MA Ryan Flood Sandwich, MA
36. 0NH Jimmy Renfrew Jr. Candia, NH
37. 49NH Matt Anderson Franklin, NH
38. 23ME Dave Farrington, Jr. Lewiston, ME
39. 33QC Remi Perreault St. Paul, QC
40. 21VT Reilly Lanphear Waterbury, VT
41. 39VT Mike Foster Williston, VT
42. 69ME Dave MacDonald New Gloucester, ME
43. 11QC Claude Leclerc Lanoraie, QC

-Photo credit: Will Bellamy, Racing America