Jeremy Farrar | McClelland Miscellanea

Nick Wilson with his crew after winning tonight’s Bandits’ feature

(Oxford ME) If your race car isn’t working the way you want, the usual remedy is to upgrade something.

Tonight’s Bandits winner Nick Wilson chose to go in the opposite direction…..he downgraded and got himself a victory.

“The car was awful in the heat,” said Nick. “We didn’t know what to do about it. We took the new left tire off and replaced it with an old one. I didn’t think it would work, but it surprised us.”

In the twenty-lap feature, Nick took the lead from pole-sitter Jeremy Farrar in Lap Three and never let go.

This was Nick’s second win in his rookie season with the Bandits.

On July 25^th,Nick won for the first time.

In that first win Nick led the entire race surviving one restart.

Nick Wilson in front (53) protecting the bottom

In both races, Nick did a remarkable job protecting the bottom.

“Nick was good,” said runner-up Luke Mowatt post-race tonight.

“They probably were faster than me,” said Nick of his challengers who never were far away. “I was protecting the bottom. It’s hard to go on the outside.”

Luke Mowatt confirmed that point: “The track was hot and still pretty greasy. I wouldn’t have stood a chance out there.”

With passing opportunities minimalized, the race came down to seeing if the leader (Nick Wilson) would make a mistake. In today’s twenty-lap feature it didn’t happen. The order of finish (Nick, Luke, Alex Mowatt, Jeff Libby, Jeremy Farrar) was established early and stayed in place lap after lap.

Jeff Libby gets the lead late in the heat

The Bandits eight-lap heat was a different story. Jeff Libby skillfully worked his way past both Jeremy Farrar and Nick Wilson late in the race to win.

Luke Mowatt had a remarkable run over the past fourteen races. He finished either first or second. Luke led the Bandits with seven wins.

Alex Mowatt won the points race for the second straight year. Alex was in the top three in every race but two of them.

“It would have been a lot closer in points if Luke didn’t have a bad start to the season,” admitted Alex.

Luke had his car get wrecked in a heat in May and didn’t make that feature as a result. He got no points on that occasion.

“It would have been pretty close in points if I hadn’t missed that one feature,” said Luke.

Alex Mowatt finished third but still led the Bandits in points this season

“Overall, we had a really good year,” said Alex. “The highlight was winning on 250 weekend. I hadn’t done that before.”

It sounded to me after the race as if the Mowatt brothers won’t be as active in the Bandits Division next year.

“I’m not going to race a full season in the Bandits,” said Luke. “It gets to be a lot every weekend. Maybe I’ll try something else.”

“I’m not really sure what division I’ll race in,” added Alex. “I might take some time off.”

Both of the Mowatts work for Bancroft Contracting Corporation.

Nick Wilson (senior at Oxford Hills) was named the top rookie in the Bandits Division. “I’d say I had a pretty good rookie season,” he said. Nick had two firsts and two seconds in 2021.

Nick Wilson on his way to the checkered flag in the Bandits feature

Nick told me post-race that his #53 was his grandfather’s number.

Alex’s #11 and Luke’s #22 were numbers they said that they have always had. “It was on my go-kart,” said Alex.

Luke Mowatt tries the outside on the final lap

Nice weather (low 70’s) with sunshine. The 4PM start gave this photographer some daylight to shoot in. Always appreciated.

I have enjoyed watching the races and talking to the drivers. Thanks to the Mayberrys for letting me do it.

(All of the pictures above and below will enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Jeremy Farrar started on the pole in the feature and faced plenty of pressure in the early going.

Amari Parker’s damaged car draws plenty of interest

(Oxford ME) Talk about dominating a division.

The Mowatts (Alex and Luke) have certainly done that.

Alex Mowatt (11) chased by his brother Luke (22) in the Bandits feature

Alex took first in the 17^th Bandits feature tonight. It’s his sixth win.

Alex Mowatt with the Bandits feature trophy (photo from Mowatt Brothers site)

In the Bandits seventeen features this season, Alex and Luke have thirteen wins between them. Jeff Libby has two of the remaining four wins.

Jeremy Farrar and Luke Mowatt side by side in the staging area

September 11^th is the final Bandits race of the year. I am going to guess that older brother Alex will be highly motivated to collect a win and tie the win score with his younger brother in that one.

Tonight’s feature was quickly a dogfight between Nick Wilson (he has a win this year), who started on the pole, and Alex Mowatt.

A big difference tonight was the weather. It was much cooler than it has been. That meant that the upper levels of the track would be in play.

“The weather was good,” said Alex Mowatt afterwards. “It cooled down so that the outside groove was workable.”

For almost half of the twenty-lap feature, it was Nick Wilson holding the lead on the inside and Alex Mowatt holding his own on the outside.

Nick Wilson leads early in the race but Alex is coming up on the outside

Alex, however, was persistent and eventually got his #11 ahead of Nick’s #53 just before newcomer Erin Aiken caused a caution on Lap 11.

“I was working on Nick every lap,” said Alex, “and I managed to be ahead of him before the caution.”

On the restart, Alex had the pole position, and on this evening, he wasn’t giving the inside lead up.

Luke told me that he figured early that he wouldn’t be adding to his win total tonight.

“He (Alex) had me tonight,” he said. “I think that I could have had him early on but as the race went on it got harder and harder.”

Nick Wilson came down from the outside after the restart and tangled with Jeremy Farrar. That did in Nick as he ended up seventh. Jeremy, on the other hand, hung in there and ended up third. It was Jeremy’s best finish of the season.

With Nick Wilson moved back, it was Luke Mowatt’s turn to move up.

Another caution put the two Mowatts side-by-side on the restart with seven laps left. That setup had the makings of an exciting end to the race.

But Alex was off very quickly on the restart.

“I missed a shift on that last caution,” said Luke. “It set me back enough to stay out of it.”

Rather quickly there was a problem when Luke chose to leave the outside.

“I may have come down on Jeff (Libby),” recalled Luke. “I didn’t see him until it was a little too late. I gathered it up once I realized he was there, but it was too late. Once you get sideways it’s hard to come back out of it.”

Jeff Libby took the worst of it and finished sixth.

Luke went after his brother but never could get into the side-by-side position he had on the restart. Luke settled for second.

Remarkably, Luke has come in either first or second in each of the last thirteen Bandits features.

Yet Alex leads in the points standings. How is that possible? It all goes back to May 1^st.

“I got wrecked in the heat race (on May 1^st) so I didn’t get any points in that feature,” recalled Luke. “Without that I might be leading the division or be right near the lead.” Alex has not missed any of the seventeen features.

It was a cool night with lots of racing and restarts. The Bandits feature started 2 ½ hours after the racing began.

My two cents: If there’s a darker and more dangerous area than the OPS pits when the sun goes down, I’d like to know where it is. The race cars have no headlights, and the OPS lighting is VERY limited. Drivers come off the track in a hurry for repairs and they try to get back on the track fast. This is all being done in the limited light! Many folks are walking around in the pit area at the same time. Something bad waiting to happen?

Jeremy Farrar (1) and Nick Wilson (53) in the first heat

I wanted to interview Jeremy Farrar after the Bandits feature. Finding him was an adventure in the dark. The best I could find was his car!

Trying to take a picture of Alex Mowatt and his first-place trophy? Another darkness fiasco. (I have since added a picture from the Mowatt Brothers website. They, at least, had someone capable of taking a picture in a dark setting!)

Clearly, the Bandits division is down cars from last year. A year ago, in the OPS 250 weekend Bandits feature, twenty drivers finished. Luke Mowatt got his first win in that feature. Only ten drivers finished tonight’s race.

Missing this year, are drivers showing up week after week. In the Bandits division a three-week rolling average is used to place drivers in the feature. Regulars are placed in the front spots. The further back you finished in the previous weeks, the closer to the front you were placed in next week’s feature. Therefore, you could count on inexperienced, regular drivers being in front on starts and the points-leading type of drivers having to maneuver around them to get the top spots. Certainly added some suspense to the features! Now with few regulars, the points leaders are much closer to the front. Race outcomes are sorted out much earlier than last year.

Alex (11), Jeff (44), and Luke (22) in second heat

It was nice to have a crowd watching races at OPS on Friday night. I think/hope that the crowd will be one of the best they’ve ever had for Sunday’s OPS 250.

Nick (the announcer) was very good with the descriptions of what was happening on the track on Friday night. However, I’ll wild guess that he hasn’t been to OPS before. Why? He kept referring to Wednesday night racing at OPS. He also wondered out loud if the “Mow-ATTS” were brothers. When two guys win 13 of the 17 Bandits races, you would have that Mowatt family figured out if you’ve been on hand!

(All of the pictures will enlarge considerably if you click on them.)