Several Maine race car owners are hauling cars out of state in order to find a place to race this season.

This Saturday night, Jacob Dore of Sanford and Josh Cantara of Alfred will be among the field racing in the LATICRETE SBM 125 Tour-Type Modified Open at Star Speedway in Epping, N.H.

The race carries a purse of more than $33,000, with as much as $9,000 going to the winner.

“This is the biggest purse at any quarter-mile track in New England,” said race promoter Kevin Rice.

Dore is a regular on the Valenti Modified Racing Series, which will run later this season both Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough and the Oxford Plains Speedway, while Cantara regularly runs in the division at Star Speedway.

A blown engine is expected to keep David Pinkham of Buxton out of the big Mod race.

On Friday night, Randy Wimert of Yarmouth and Robby Bodwell of Sanford will race in the Sprint Car race on the dirt track at Canaan Fair Speedway in Canaan, N.H.

“Sprint cars has always been my favorite car,” said Dave Bowser, owner of Wimert’s car.

Bowser can remember when the open-wheeled racers with the full airfoil ran on the dirt track at Beech Ridge. The Scarborough track was paved in 1986, but the Sprint cars stopped running there in 1978.

A HEAVY FOG forced postponement of the feature races in the top two divisions at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway last Saturday night, so race fans will get a chance to see a rare doubleheader this Saturday night.

In addition to a 20-lap feature in Wildcats and 30-lap feature in Roadrunners, two 35-lap features in the Sports Series and two 40-lap features in the Pro Series will be run.

The Sports Series and Pro Series were postponed after fog enveloped the Scarborough track.

“It was a damp fog, with a lot of wetness, and it made the track really slick.” track owner Andy Cusack said.

Racing will start at 6:30 p.m. with the two postponed feature races.

“The starting fields for those two divisions are all set, and they’re ready to go,” Cusack said.

Before the fog rolled in last Saturday, a panel of 11 race fans selected the best-looking cars in the Road Runners(Ryan Phillips of Buxton), Wildcats (Brian Caswell of Waterboro), Sports Series (Matt Dow of Buxton) and Pro Series (Charley Colby of Newcastle) divisions.

ACT’S LATE MODELS will make the first of its three tour stops to Oxford Plains Speedway on Saturday night with a 150-lap event.

The tour is scheduled to return June 25 to OPS.

On Saturday night, racing will also will be held in the speedway’s Strictly Stocks and Mini Stocks divisions, and the Rebels, which usually run on Wednesday nights.

BEN ROWE’S win in last Saturday night’s thriller at Pro All-Star Series South’s Super Late Model race at the Motor Mile Speedway in Fairlawn, Va., propelled the veteran driver from Turner into second place in the division’s national standings.

Rowe edged Jay Fogleman, a veteran driver from Durham, N.C., to win the 150-lap event.

Rowe now trails Fogleman by a mere two points.

SULO BURBANK, a 15-year-old driver from Gorham, finished 10th among 19 cars while making his Pro Stocks debut last Saturday night at Canaan Fair Speedway in New Hampshire in the opening round of Coors Light Six Pack series.

A freshman at Fryeburg Academy, Burbank will race again Friday night in the racing series’ second leg at Lee USA Speedway in New Hampshire.

TWO MAINE DRIVERS will try to move up on PASS Mods leader Andy Shaw of North Conway, N.H., when that series resumes Saturday night at Canaan Fair Speedway.

Alan Wilson of Hebron and Travis Buzzell of Hollis are both within five points of the division leader.

Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:

pbetit@pressherald.com

Twitter: PaulBetitPPH