OXFORD — It may have been a long time coming, but you could tell he hadn’t forgotten the way to Victory Lane.

Former division champion Dennis Spencer Jr. drove by ageless veteran Al Hammond on the ninth lap, then pulled away to win his 18th career Late Model feature Saturday night at Oxford Plains Speedway.

Deanna Robertson, John Patria, Josh Childs, Matt Moore and Kurt Hewins were also feature winners at the 3/8-mile oval.

In the Late Model trophy dash, all eyes were once again fixed on Poland’s Tommy Ricker as he tried to make it three in a row. After starting 16th on the 23-car grid, Ricker put his rocket No. 6 entry in the outside groove and started his now-patented march. As the laps wound down, he made it to third place. Timmy Brackett and his son T.J. completed the top five.

“I knew I had to get out away from the field early,” Spencer said. “The car was a little loose, but not out of control. I started up near the front, so I figured if I could stretch it out some they wouldn’t be able to run me down. It worked out for us, and I’m happy for my sponsors and entire team.”  

Scott Luce started 11th on the grid and worked his way into the top five by lap 20. The driver from Strong has always been competitive in Oxford’s Late Model ranks, and appears to have hit the right setup as the TD Bank 250 draws near. 

“I knew when we got up beside Dennis that he was going to be tough,” Luce said. “I tried to run with him for a while, but we came up just short tonight. We’ll take a second tonight, it’s a lot better than last week.”

Finishing sixth through 10th in the Late Model feature were Shawn Martin, Billy Childs, Glen Luce, Ben Ashline and Ricky Rolfe. With no cautions, the race was completed in short order. In an attempt to prepare for next Saturday’s ACT 150, Joey Polewarczyk Jr. was on hand for a regular program.

After failing to qualify for the last ACT race at Oxford on May 16, Polewarczyk wants to make sure that doesn’t happen again. He finished 11th.

In earlier feature action, Robertson went wire-to-wire in a caution-free battle for the Ladies division. Vannah Brackett started seventh on the grid and made a big late-race charge to claim second, while Tori Burgess hung on for third. Defending class champion Dottie Patria spun into the infield on lap 10 but recovered to finish fourth, while Sue Veinott completed the top five.

Patria drove around the outside of early leader Randy Robitaille on lap four, survived one restart and powered away to victory in the first of two 20-lap Outlaw features. Jim Drake passed Robitaille with five laps to go and locked up second place, while Oxford veteran Chris Coolidge finished right where he started in third. Robitaille faded to fourth in the closing laps, while Scott Veinott rounded out the top five.

Childs drove to victory in the second Outlaw feature with an impressive late-race pass. The driver from Norway powered around the outside of Matt Malloy on lap 17 and easily took` top honors. Malloy hung on for second, while Zach Bowie came from fifth on the grid to finish third. David Childs and Addison Bowie completed the top five in this caution-free affair.

Moore survived a pair of restarts and some wild late-race antics to take down the Mini Stock feature. The driver from Harrison drove around the outside of Darrell Moore coming off Turn 4 on the fourth circuit. Despite the mayhem behind him, Matt led the Moore and Moore show across the line. Steve Barker looked strong throughout and came home third, while Auburn’s Danny Morris and Calvin Rose rounded out the top five.

“When we first went out in qualifying, the car was loose and sliding all over the place,” Matt Moore said. “As soon as the sun went down, it tightened up and it was exactly what we needed. That last caution really hurt us, the car loosened up again as soon as we went back to green. I saw Darrell had his nose up under me, but I just tried my best to keep the door closed. I knew he couldn’t get around me on the outside, so that was the game plan.”

Hewins claimed his second straight Strictly Stock feature in a high-speed, caution free battle. The veteran from Leeds passed Gene Hatch at the line on lap 20 and pulled away for the win. Hatch was forced to settle for second another time, while defending champion Skip Tripp was third. Zach Emerson and Rick Spaulding completed the top five.

“The boys have really got this car hooked up,” Hewins said. “Tommy (Ricker) is on quite a hot streak in the Late Models, and we’re having a great start to the season here as well. It takes help to prepare the car, and I’m fortunate enough to have that. I’m pretty happy with our efforts, for sure.”