OXFORD — D.J. Shaw looked at the lap counter on the scoreboard hovering over turn two at Oxford Plains Speedway and decided it was time to get going.

Shaw, the two-time and defending Pro All Stars Series champion, took the lead from Wayne Helliwell Jr. with eight laps remaining on Sunday to win the PASS Open 100 and guarantee himself a starting spot in next month’s Oxford 250. Shaw, from Center Conway, New Hampshire, charged from fifth to the lead over the final 60 laps to secure the victory.

“The car was coming on. I looked at the scoreboard, and it showed lap 66, and I’d been working Wayne over for a while,” Shaw said. “I was trying to keep myself on the bottom in case there was a restart. … I used both lanes to catch Wayne. I crossed over and he gave me the (inside) lane, and we raced great together.”

Helliwell held on for second over Turner’s Glen Luce, while Tracy Gordon of Strong finished fourth after leading the race twice for a total of 49 laps.

“The car just got too loose,” Gordon said.

If there was any consolation for Gordon, who won the track championship at Oxford Plains in 1991, it was that he, too, earned a provisional starting position in the Oxford 250 – a race he has tried his entire career to win.

The top three finishers in the Open 100 who had not won a PASS race in the last five years earned Oxford 250 provisionals. In addition to Gordon, those spots were awarded to Adam Polvinen of Hebron and Dave Farrington Jr. of Jay, who finished fifth and sixth, respectively.

This year’s Oxford 250 is on Aug. 27.

“My goal is to win the 250 and not (just qualify),” Gordon said. “I guess we’re in the 250 now, anyway, but it’s not good when you pretty much dominate and lead the first two-thirds of the race.”

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