Steve Craig starts the Oxford 250 with the green flag. Brewster Burns

OXFORD – Farmington’s Jeff Taylor passed DJ Shaw after about 17 laps and then held off Bubba Pollard to finally secure the Oxford 250 title on Sunday.

Taylor is a nine-time track champion, but the crown jewel of Oxford Plains Speedway had eluded him. After a three-hour rain delay and several starts and stops after racing resumed, the 51st running of the Oxford 250 was Taylor’s day.

Pollard, the 2018 champion, finished second, while Shaw finished third for the second consecutive year and the fourth time since 2016.

Fourteen-year-old Sylas Ripley finished fourth and Austin Teras finished fifth.

Joey Doiron, who had led for much of the first half of the race, finished sixth.

Joey Doiron led for much of the first half of the Oxford 250, which was interrupted by a three-hour rain delay at Oxford Plains Speedway on Sunday.

The Berwick driver maintained the lead for most of the race, overtaking pole winner Ryan Kuhn early on and leading until lap 117 when the race was stopped at 6:52 p.m. due to rain and lightning.

The race resumed at 21:52, but the next 15 laps were marked by several crashes.

A caution period followed shortly after the restart on lap 122, and after 10 minutes under the yellow flag, the race resumed. Almost immediately after another restart, DJ Shaw, who was running in third place, lost power, causing a pile-up that sent the race into another caution period.

At press time, Doiron was still in first place after 139 laps completed, Garrett Hall was second and Mike Hopkins, Derek Griffith and Garrett Lamb completed the top five.

Doiron made his attack early and quickly maneuvered past Kuhn from the No. 2 position to take the lead. He lapped Rusty Poland on lap 22 and then began passing the rest of the field, holding off Derek Griffith and Bubba Pollard through caution periods on lap 52, lap 58, lap 72 and lap 75.

It is the second year in a row that bad weather has forced a significant delay. Last year’s race start was delayed by two hours. The Oxford 250 has been postponed to another day three times in the race’s 51-year history: 1979, 1986, 2008.

This story will be updated.

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