SAUGUS SPEEDWAY : Woodside Clinches Track Title With 2nd-Place Finish in Main

Running the full season at Saugus Speedway was an afterthought for Saugus resident Sean Woodside.

The 23-year-old Sportsman driver had planned to travel to several tracks this season and had to hurry just to field a car for opening night.

Six months later, Woodside’s decision looks pretty good, particularly after his second-place finish in the 40-lap main event Saturday night enabled him to clinch the track championship with one race still remaining.

“Everything went our way this year,” said Woodside, who leads second-place Ron Daniels by 36 points. “The car was fast all year long. . . . It was bulletproof. The entire crew really came together.”

Woodside became the third Saugus High graduate to garner top honors at the track in the last four years, joining fellow Centurions Lance Hooper (1991) and Pat Mintey Jr. (1993).

Gary Sigman of Carson won the 40-lap Sportsman main event, followed by Woodside, Daniels and Simi Valley’s Craig Rayburn.

Dave Phipps of Simi Valley won his fifth main event in nine starts and now leads the Grand American Modified points standings by 36 points over Reseda’s Dave Blankenship with two points races left this season.

Blankenship finished second in the 30-lap feature race.