2019 Oxford 250 Preview

 OXFORD- The time is finally upon us,the biggest super late model event of the year for the New England area...The 46th annual Oxford 250 held at Oxford Plains Speedway.
This year we have over 50 drivers signed up to try to make it into the big show but who knows how many other drivers will show up and surprise the fans! 10 of this year’s entries have won the race including last year’s winner Bubba Pollard and 2017 winner Curt
is Gerry. It's been a big season for Curtis Gerry of Waterboro he’s won 3 pro all star races at Oxford and 3 weekly 50 lappers. The 7G is one of the favorites to win this year.

“Our season has gone great so far!  We are currently the 2019 Oxford (track) Champion and we have won 6 races, we have a lot of momentum and great confidence in the cars setup, with no issues I believe we could be sitting in victory lane again in this years 250.” Gerry had to say about his season.

There’s a lot that goes into preparing for the 250 but Gerry seems to just be sticking with his usual weekly routine:“Just keep focused on the maintenance of the car and make sure it is ready to go.” 

While Gerry has been one of the most dominant drivers at Oxford this year if he had to pick another driver to win the Oxford 250 he said: “based off performance at Oxford this season either Nick Sweet or Ben Rowe.” 

Gerry had a great car last year but  ran into bad luck  getting together with Cassius Clark towards the end and finished in 37th,so hopefully luck is on his side come this weekend.

Another driver that's been very dominant at Oxford this year has been Garrett Hall of Scarbrough. He’s won two PASS races at Oxford this season and he’s currently 2nd in points on the PASS tour, only 15 points behind Dj Shaw. Hall seems to be staying humble though and doesn’t want to get ahead of himself.

“My season so far this year has gone well with the two wins at Oxford but I don't consider it great. I feel like our chances are good as long we have a competitive car, I feel like last year was a success but also felt like it slipped away from us so hoping we can use last year as an advantage towards this year. “

He’s had good runs at the Oxford 250 the past few years but has just ended up using the car up too early,last year he still ended up finishing in 4th place a career best for him.
“I have been preparing for this year a lot with making sure I'm confident in myself, car and team that we can have a great and successful weekend, of course with a lot of fun involved. I've been running and exercising to get in better shape not only physically but mentally as well for this year's race. I know that we as a whole team will be well prepared and ready to prove that we can get it done.”

Hall is one of those drivers that you typically lose track of during the race then sneaks up to the front and steals the show. His picks to win the race are the drivers that are the fastest wherever they go.
“There's over 20 to 30 cars and teams that are capable of winning. I would say some of the favorites from a fans perspective would be the 7g car, Shaw, Nick Sweet, Reid Lanpher, anyone that has been running weekly will be good for being able to keep with the track and the changes over the year.”

One Oxford weekly guy that has a great momentum going into 250 weekend is Calvin Rose Jr of Turner. He’s currently 2nd in points in the track slm division and has one win under his belt.
“The season started off rocky but with a lot of hard work and dedication we have the car back to where we need it and have had a pretty good second part of the year with a win and a second.”
Rose has qualified for the past two years for the Oxford 250 finishing 32nd in 2017 and 16th place last year.Anything could happen at the 250 sometimes the fastest cars don’t finish and sometimes cars you weren't even sure were going to make it in finish top 10.

“We haven’t done a whole lot of preparing yet, we have one more weekly race then we’ll go through the car and make sure everything is up to shape.” Calvin Rose Jr said August 8th when asked how he’s preparing this year.

Like most of the others when they were asked who they thought would be in contention to win this year,he said the 7g of Gerry.
“I feel the big favorite is the 7g he is stout this year and is always the one to beat. I think it’ll be a good race with him and Bubba Pollard.”
Calvin Rose Jr hasn’t run many long distance races this season at Oxford so we will see if he has what it takes to keep up with the PASS SLMs at the 250.

Last year’s track champion Gabe Brown of North Conway,NH will be at Oxford this Sunday trying to turn his season around. After winning his track championship he decided to race PASS full time in 2019 and he hasn’t got great finishes as of lately.

“The beginning of 2019 was pretty good and we had high hopes on this year, we’ve run into some pretty big issues in the last couple races with a rear end going bad and blowing the motor at the last oxford race. After the test this last weekend I strongly believe the cars really good and I know my crew is better than it’s ever been going into the 250. So it’s on me, and my aggressiveness to make the show and perform well.” Explained Brown who finished 33rd in last years 250.

Gabe Brown drives a Dale Shaw race car and has found great mentors in Dale and Dj Shaw so he has a great team to help prepare this year.
“Dale,Dj, Steph,my dad and I all work hard to get my car ready week in and week out, but the 250 has never been good to me, so we are working extra hard this year to make sure everything is top notch and no failures will happen. We changed everything in the driveline. If something fails, it’s not because we missed it.”
No driver wants to see someone else win but Gabe Brown thinks Dj Shaw,Nick Sweet and Gerry would be his picks to be up there in contention.
“At the 250 you can’t go by speed, it’s all about luck in this race, pit strategy and such. It’s just whoever comes out on top really.” Brown added about who could possibly win this year.

One of Brown’s biggest mentors Dj Shaw of North Conway finished 6th last year at the Oxford 250,this year he will be back trying to nail down the win. Shaw is currently the PASS points leader and has won 3 races this season but none at Oxford.
“2019 has gone pretty good for us, having 3 wins at this point is more than we’ve had in a full season in years so I think our offseason work has been a step in the right direction. We’ve been hit or miss at oxford so we just need to work hard to get where we need to be and if we can do that we will have a chance to win!”
Similar to Curtis Gerry,Shaw isn’t doing too much to prepare that he doesn’t do on a regular basis besides extra maintenance and making the car look better.
Shaw believes the obvious picks to win will be Gerry or Nick Sweet but he thinks there's  some drivers people might sleep on.
“A couple sleeper picks I have would be Scott Robbins and Joey Pole, Scott had great speed at the end of the last race and Pole always puts together a good run at the 250 so those two I think can surprise some people!”
Another sleeper pick for the Oxford 250 would be Derek Griffith of Hudson,NH. Griffith also has 3 PASS wins this season and he’s currently 4th in the PASS points. He hasn’t had very good luck at Oxford this season but anything could happen.
“We’re happy with the season so far for sure, I think our chances are the best they have been out of all the previous 250s!” Griffith finished 21st during last year’s 250 and besides his races at Oxford this season has been very consistent this year.
Griffith thinks Gerry is the one to beat this year but won’t be counting out Bubba Pollard after his run last year at the Oxford 250.
“A lot of the good guys come to this show so it will be a good race!”

Drivers and fans from all over will be attending races this weekend to see who will get the big win on Sunday night. Come see if anyone beat Curtis Gerry and Bubba Pollard this year to be crowned the 2019 Oxford 250 champion. Green flag drops at 1:30pm this Sunday August 25th!