ASHLAND, Maine — Despite a couple delays, the Ashland Big Woods Grass Drag drew many racers to the track at 133 Masardis Road.
Racers from Maine and out-of-state revved up their stock and modified snowmobiles while waiting for the track to dry out on Saturday after the mini racers had finished with their races.
Approximately 150 racers competed in 20 different classes over the Aug. 26-27 weekend. The Mini and Mini Mod classes, along with the Stock Class races, were held on Aug. 26, and races for the Improved Stock and Pro Stock Classes took place on Sunday, Aug. 27, due to a rain delay. A total of $7,000 in extra money was given out to racers in five different classes for the Shoot Out competition.
“We brought [the grass drags] back after a hiatus of probably close to 20 years,” said Jen Buckingham, treasurer for the Big Woods Grass Drag.
The two racing lanes for the Grass Drags are split into three sections, including a 100-foot clay start, 500-foot grass drag and a 1,000-foot shut down.This year’s King of Speed went to Kory Luba and the Quickest Reaction Time went to Bear Gray for his 0.0005 second start.
Racing team Red Barn took first place in Stock 500, Stock 600 and Stock 850 races. Tim Lary of T-N-T Racing rocketed into first place for the Stock 700 and Stock 800, with racing teammate Adam Thompson taking first place in the Improved Stock 700. Individual racer Brady Desjardins from Fort Kent won first place in the Stock 1,000.
Kolson Condon of OCD Racing won first place in the Improved Stock 600 and Zach Jarvis won first place for Jarvis Family Racing in both the Improved Stock 800 and Improved Stock 850. Bill Sawyer for TCR took first place in the Improved Stock 1,000.
Madison Pellerin won first place in the Pro Stock 600 race for Gang Green Racing. Justin Jarvis won first place in the Pro Stock 700 and another Jarvis Family Racing teammate won first place in the Pro Stock 800. Kory Luba won first place in both the Pro Stock 1,000 and Pro Stock Turbo classes for Last Minute Racing.
Josh Smith won the vintage category for Poor Boy Racing.
Simon Collins won first place for the Mini Class and Rylie Clark won for the Mini Mod Class.
“Every year stuff comes out that allows us to go faster,” said Ross Reynolds, RST Auto Racing from Hooksett, New Hampshire. “We came back to see if we could break our elapsed time and mile-per-hour record.”
Last year, Reynolds clocked in at a speed of 116 miles per hour during the Big Woods Grass Drag and won $2,500 for first place in the Pro Mod 1,000 Class. He did not top that in 2023.
“We didn’t have as many sleds last year. We’ve gotten more sleds over the last year,” said Paulina Giroux, team manager of All Ballz Racing.
Racers for All Ballz were Ivan Giroux in the Stock 600 and Improved Stock 600, Katie Giroux in the Stock 700 and Stock 800, Improved Stock 600 and Improved Stock 700 and Pro Stock 600. It was the second year that All Ballz Racing had come to Ashland to race with Katie Giroux, placing second for both the Improved Stock 600 and Pro Stock 600.
Shoot Out winners were Tim Lary, who took home $1,000 for the Stock 800, Kolson Condon won $1,000 for Improved Stock 600 and Adam Thompson won $1,000 for Improved Stock 700. Madison Pellerin won $1,500 for Pro Stock 600, and Jarvis Family Racing took home $2,500 for the Pro Stock 800.
An accident on route 11 that happened Friday, Aug. 24, made some commuting racers take a longer detour but they were able to make it to the Grass Drag, said Alecia Rafford, media liaison and public relations person for Big Woods Grass Drag.
Big Woods Grass Drag has been racing since 2018 when the snowmobile clubs from Portage and Ashland revived the event. It has become a big draw to Ashland. The Big Woods Grass Drag continues the racing tradition from the Butch Jimmo Memorial Grass Drags.
