OXFORD — Veteran modified driver Andy Seuss powered his way around Louis Mechalides on lap 85 and hung on to claim the Maine-ly Action Sports 100 Saturday night at Oxford Plains Speedway.

The ground-pounding open-wheeled machines have become a tradition at Oxford on the eve of the TD Bank 250. Mechalides was the fourth different leader of the event, setting the pace for 10 laps before settling for second at the finish. Todd Annarummo ran among the leaders all night and came home third, while Matt Hirschman and Jack Bateman completed the top five.

“In the past here we’ve led laps, but I’ve fallen into a situation where I’ve worn out my tires too early,” Seuss said. “After being way down near the bottom of the speed chart in practice, we really turned it around for the feature. This team worked their butts off in the hot sun, I can’t say enough about their efforts. The guy in second was driving my old ride, I’m glad to see those guys have a solid run but I’m happy to come out on top.”

Mechalides was pleased with his performance, and his prior experience at Oxford was pretty helpful.

“This is only the second time I’ve been here with a modified,” he said. “I’ve run a Super Late Model here a bunch of times, I really enjoy racing here because there is plenty of room. My team gave me a good car, we had a great outing up here tonight.”

Finishing sixth through 10th in the Modified Racing Series feature were Steven Masse, Les Hinckley, Geoff Gernhard, Jon McKennedy and Joey Jarvis. Three cautions slowed the pace, while Seuss’s margin of victory was just under a second. Eighteen of of the 24 starters finished on the lead lap,  while 23 were running at the finish.

The next race for the MRS competitors is slated for next Saturday night at the Canaan Speedway in Canaan, New Hampshire. This New England-based tour is similar to NASCAR’s Whelen Modified Series, yet they run on a wider variety of tracks. Founded by Bateman in 2004, the MRS has grown into a viable tour for those who love the 600-horsepower, open-wheeled machines.

Danny Morris and Mike Short were also feature winners on a sultry night for racing at the 3/8-mile oval.

Jamie Heath (Renegades), Missy Morgan (Ladies), Ryan Farrar (Trucks), Jeff Hebert (Rebel B), Troy Jordan (Rebel A), David Childs (Outlaw B) and Josh Childs (Outlaw A) all earned wins in their respective divisions as part of Oxford’s Wednesday night Acceleration Series. With thousands of fans already on the property getting ready for Sunday’s TD Bank 250, Saturday night offered the biggest crowd of the season to witness the entry-level competition.

In earlier feature action, Morris became the first repeat winner of the season in a wild Mini Stock feature. The former champion from Auburn got the jump on a lap 27-restart, going to the outside of Steve Barker going in to Turn 1. Barker was the third different leader of the event, holding the point for 22 circuits. The veteran from Jay settled for second, while Matt Moore was third. Ashley Marshall and Calvin Rose completed the top five.

“I’m not a big fan of those late-race restarts,” Morris said. “I was nervous, but it sure worked out well this time. From the second practice session today, the car ran perfect. We’ll see how it runs tomorrow, it seems to be faster in the heat. I’ll have to start dead last, but we’ll see how it goes.”

Short powered his way around early leader Mike St. Germain and pulled away to claim the Strictly Stock feature. The driver from Auburn hung on St. Germain’s back bumper until the opportunity presented itself. Kurt Hewins, the man who won five races in a row earlier in the season, wheeled his way up from 12th on the grid to finish second, while Gene Hatch (Hewins’ chief rival this year) was third. Rick Spaulding and Joe Hutter rounded out the top five in the caution-free affair.

“It took a long time to get back here,” Short said while quenching his third in Victory Lane. “I had to give Jimmy Davis his number back, or I would even have a ride. I have to thank him, I sold all of my stuff to him and he was nice enough to give me a car to run.”