In the opening laps of Tuesday’s Memorial Day Clash at Oxford Plains Speedway, Brandon Barker nosed ahead of friend and former teammate Joey Doiron to lead in the earliest circuits of the inaugural event.
Then normalcy ensued.
Doiron powered back to the point and put on a clinic to claim the $10,000 winner’s purse in the first leg of the Pro All Stars Series-sanctioned Oxford Crown Jewel Triple Crown.
The Berwick, Me. veteran withstood a late first-half charge by NASCAR star Kyle Busch and pulverized the field in the race’s second half to win his fourth Super Late Model show at the Maine oval since last spring.
Announced shortly after December’s initial PASS schedule drop, the inaugural Memorial Day Clash was introduced as a new midweek special promoted jointly by racer and spotter Derek Kneeland and Hermon, Me. Super Late Model stalwart Mike Hopkins. The midweek Clash would be the first race in a new-for-2025 Oxford Crown Jewel Triple Crown, united with July’s second Celebration of America 300 and August’s Oxford 250.
Like last year’s Celebration of America 300, this year’s Clash promised a pair of all-star visitors. Busch, the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and 2011 Oxford 250 winner, and current NASCAR Truck Series racer Daniel Hemric were both set to reprise their appearances from last year. A last-minute schedule conflict forced Hemric to withdraw, replaced by rising star and two-time ARCA Menards Series race winner Brenden “Butterbean” Queen. Kneeland, who spots for both Busch and Queen in their respective campaigns, would also field an entry in the 200-lap tilt.
But while promotional eyes were on the visiting ringers, the local Doiron stole the show.
Time trials, a New England rarity, set the grid for the 34-car feature, with Doiron edging out Barker by eight thousandths of a second for the pole. Busch, racing a Dale Shaw Race Cars chassis prepared by reigning Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour champ Gabe Brown, clocked in fourth. Queen, making not only his first start at Oxford but his Super Late Model debut, would start deep in the field.
Doiron and Barker led the field to green, with Barker working the high line to lead an early lap. Doiron quickly dispatched his friend on the outside, then drove away from the field under a long green-flag run. With a competition caution looming somewhere past halfway, Busch began marching forward late in the first half, clearing Barker for second and shaving time from Doiron’s lead.
Trouble for Jimmy Renfrew, Jr. and Michael Scorzelli brought out the first caution of the evening on lap 100, conveniently creating a halftime break for the competition caution and pit stops. Busch gridded alongside Doiron for the restart, with Barker, Garrett Hall, and septuagenarian Mike Rowe rounding out the first-half top-five.
Doiron again shot out to the lead, with Busch poised for another late-round charge to the front. But the fresh tires and adjustments on Busch’s car were not to his liking, and the Las Vegas native slid back through the top five.
Contact between Garrett Hall and Canadian visitor Craig Slaunwhite brought out a caution flag on lap 184, re-racking the field and putting Doiron on watch for a late restart. Instead, Doiron pulled away with the lead, leaving second-place Barker in the crosshairs of a hard-charging Johnny Clark and Austin Teras. Clark, whose car had come to life after the midrace break, took to the outside line as Teras pressured Barker along the curbs.
As the trio diced for second, Doiron set sail, coasting uncontested to the inaugural Memorial Day Clash checkers.
Nearly two seconds back, Clark edged out Barker for second. Barker, racing for former NASCAR team owner Archie St. Hilaire, clung to third. Austin Teras was fourth at the line. Mike Rowe, who won Oxford’s weekly opener earlier in the month at the age of 74, rounded out the top five.
Hall, despite the late-race incident, came home in sixth. Defending PASS North champion D.J. Shaw was seventh for the second time in three nights, matching his performance in Sunday’s Granite State Pro Stock Series race. Busch was eighth at the stripe, while Corey Bubar and Ben Rowe were ninth and tenth.
Travis Stearns, racing for promoter Hopkins, was 11th at the finish. Queen struggled in his double debut, soldiering home to a 22nd-place finish, three laps down. Kneeland bowed out in the second half, finishing 28th.
Doiron, on the other hand, was celebrating his third PASS-sanctioned win of 2025 in only four starts. The 33-year-old won half of PASS’ season-opening double feature in Hickory, N.C. in March in his old car. He debuted his new car, an all-new Dale Shaw Race Cars chassis, with a dominant performance at Star Speedway in May. In Tuesday’s race, Doiron led all but one lap en route to the big win.
The last few months are what Doiron and car owner Peter Petit had in mind when they teamed up prior to the 2023 season, uniting one of the region’s top stars with the resources needed to win anywhere and any time. While they struggled in their first season together, they found their stride early in 2024, winning big races at Lee USA Speedway and Claremont Motorsports Park in addition to three PASS races, all at Oxford.
The Clash victory fits well alongside Doiron’s wins last year in the Celebration of America 300 and the season-ending PASS 400 feature. However, the young veteran still covets an Oxford 250 win to fill a frustrating gap on the trophy shelf. To that end, Doiron and Petit bowed out of points racing early in the year, focusing instead on wins and milestones, most notably the elusive Oxford 250 victory.
Tuesday’s race was a test of PASS’ 2025 strategy. The sanctioning body took a new approach to its schedule and championship this year, opting for a shorter touring itinerary and breaking Oxford’s marquée events away from the PASS North points chase. Booking the Clash for a weeknight not only took advantage of Oxford’s healthy local fan and competitor base, but dodged the conflict of the holiday weekend, one of few opportunities for New England’s working-class racers and their families to get away.
Oxford is one of the few tracks positioned to successfully stage a non-points PASS event, and a strong car count reinforced that.
The Memorial Day Clash also gives the Oxford Crown Jewel Triple Crown three completely different events with disparate qualifying procedures and pit strategies to play out. Whoever can master all three approaches stands the best chance of capturing the crown. So far, Doiron has mastered the first two events.
The second Celebration of America 300, another midweek show with big money on the line and the second leg of the Triple Crown, looms ahead in a month.
And while nothing is certain in auto racing, those who have another winner in mind besides Joey Doiron may want to brace themselves now.
Unofficial Results
Pro All Stars Series | Memorial Day Clash 200
Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford, Me.
1. (73D) Joey Doiron
2. (54) Johnny Clark
3. (32) Brandon Barker
4. (29T) Austin Teras
5. (24) Mike Rowe
6. (94) Garrett Hall
7. (60) D.J. Shaw
8. (51) Kyle Busch
9. (12B) Corey Bubar
10. (5R) Ben Rowe
11. (153) Travis Stearns
12. (32CT) Tom Abele, Jr.
13. (21QC) Alexendre Tardif
14. (09) Sylas Ripley
15. (23) Dave Farrington, Jr.
16. (12V) Brandon Varney
17. (38) Garrett Lamb
18. (00R) Jimmy Renfrew, Jr.
19. (99) Craig Slaunwhite
20. (5P) Troy Patterson
21. (72) Ryan Kuhn
22. (03) Brenden Queen
23. (01) Steven Chicoine
24. (18) Michael Scorzelli
25. (12G) Derek Griffith
26. (29R) Cole Robie
27. (44) Trevor Sanborn
28. (90) Derek Kneeland
29. (12S) Dennis Spencer, Jr.
30. (17MA) Eddie MacDonald
31. (11) Cam Childs
32. (63) Kyle Salemi
33. (61) T.J. Brackett
34. (60B) Tim Brackett
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