Ben Ashline was inconsistent in his first four American Canadian Tour races this season.

Twice, the Pittston driver finished in the top five, twice he failed to finish.

“We’ve either been really good or really bad,” Ashline said.

The 21-year-old driver was better than really good Sunday at Oxford Plains Speedway.

He was dominant.

Thirty-three cars qualified for the Armed Forces 150, and Ashline beat them all. He won the race by 7.515 seconds.

It was the biggest victory of Ashline’s career.

“It’s kind of sinking in now,” he said. “I can’t believe everything came together like it did. This is the big one. We definitely earned it.”

Ashline, whose team didn’t finish working on the car until 3 a.m. on race day, jumped from 14th to seventh in the ACT standings.

“If we can stay consistent, I can see us running in the top five,” he said. “This is a big boost for us. Everybody wants to carry some momentum.”

The tour will next race on June 23.

* * *

Maurice Young has a book full of notes detailing the intricacies of Wiscasset Raceway, a track he once called home.

Young, a Windsor native, also kept a notebook on Unity Raceway, where he raced in the Wildcat division last season.

He’s working on another notebook, this one for Oxford Plains Speedway.

“I have nothing for Oxford,” Young said. “We’re writing that one now.”

Young won seven track championships at Wiscasset and another at Unity last season. He’s chasing No. 9 at Oxford, a track he’s only occasionally run at over the years.

Young said he’d love to win a points championship at three different tracks.

“We’ll go over there and see what we can do,” he said. “We’re ready to try something new. It’d be a pretty good challenge. I’d like to stay there until I get one.”

Young is racing in the Strictly Stock division at OPS. He finished eighth in a 30-lap opening day feature last weekend, racing against 20 cars.

“The competition is pretty high,” Young said. “There are six or eight cars that could win every week. But I thrive off competition.”

Young said his car — which has a 1975 Chevrolet Chevelle frame and 1985 Chevrolet Caprice body — is still a work in progress.

“It’s close,” he said. “The car is good. It’s getting there. We finished eighth so we have some work to do. It’s definitely a whole different world over there. It’s going to be a good challenge.”

* * *

It’s been a strong start for defending Late Model points champ Jeff Burgess at Unity Raceway this season.

The Madison native won the 35-lap feature last week, his second win in four races. He finished second in the other two points races.

“The car is working a little better every week,” he said. “We’re definitely improving.”

Burgess trailed Bryan Whitney for 32 laps before passing him with three to go to take the checkered flag.

“We started second to last and just worked our way up,” Burgess said. “It was an entertaining race.”

Only seven Late Models finished the race.

* * *

Poncho Darveau will race a Pro All Stars Series modified car for car owner Jeff Rich of Litchfield.

Darveau, 47, of Chelsea is the son of Maine racing Hall of Famer David Darveau.

Poncho previously raced a Late Model at Unity.

“We’ll see where it goes,” Poncho Darveau said. “We’ll dabble around a little, knock the rust off. It’s a neat little series. We’ll look to have a good time and see what happens.”

Darveau said he and Rich have talked about racing the PASS Modified series for the last few years.

“I’ve known him for years, and we probably talked about it for three or four years but we never really got together. He hunted me down a couple weeks ago and I said, ‘yeah, let’s give it a shot.'”

The PASS Modified Series will next race June 3 at Riverside Speedway in Groveton, N.H.

* * *

Left turns: PASS North resumes Sunday after a week off. The series will be at White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H. … Beech Ridge Motor Speedway opens its regular division racing Saturday night. The track hosted the PASS North season opener May 5. … Spud Speedway in Caribou opens 1 p.m. Sunday with a 50-lap Late Model race.

Bill Stewart — 621-5640

bstewart@centralmaine.com