OXFORD

After one of the most hotly-contested short track battles in recent memory, it all came down to patience and the will to prevail.

Defending race winner Travis Benjamin came from 27th on the 44-car grid, took over the point at lap 227, and held off a hard-charging Austin Theriault to win his second consecutive Oxford 250 Sunday evening at Oxford Plains Speedway.

Austin Theriault led 22 laps, and was in contention most of the race, but settled for second. Richie Dearborn, who just returned to racing this season after two years away, claimed third with a strong effort. Defending PASS North champion Cassius Clark and 2013 Oxford track champion TJ Brackett completed the top five.

“That was quite a race,” an elated Benjamin said in Victory Lane. “I got myself in bad situations a couple of times, I got pretty frustrated there for a while. At the beginning of the race, I got taken back about four or five times. The guys came on the radio and calmed me down a little bit; we had to work for that one.”

Theriault made national headlines last month when he won his first major superspeedway race at an ARCA event in Michigan. On Sunday night, he almost won his native state’s biggest short track spectacle.

“I still think we had one of the best cars out here tonight,” Theriault said with obvious disappointment in his voice. “We took tires and were riding along, I really felt like we were in a good position to contend for the win. It came down to me and Travis in the closing laps, I’m not really sure what happened.”

Dearborn was out of the sport for two years, but came back stronger than ever earlier this spring. He looks as if he never missed a beat, and drove like he hadn’t missed a race.

Benjamin was the sixth different leader in the event. Preston Peltier led the first five circuits before veteran Kelly Moore took over the point. Peltier fought his way back by the former NASCAR champion (1995) from Scarborough, while Shawn Martin was poised to assert himself. The two-time Oxford Late Model champion took over the point at lap 18 and proceeded to drive away.

Finishing sixth through 10th in the 250 were Tyler Dippel, Derek Ramstrom, Ben Rowe, David Oliver and Martin.

Eight cautions slowed the pace, most for minor incidents. Benjamin picked up $27,400 for his efforts in one of the nation’s richest single day, non-NASCAR races. Benjamin’s margin of victory was just over a second, which translates to a few feet on the track.

This was also an Oxford 250 for the record books, as Benjamin joins an elite list of back-to-back winners. He becomes just the fifth driver to notch that feat, something most drivers can only dream of. For the veteran from Morrill, it was an evening he will not soon forget.