Mike Rowe Takes Eighth Oxford Plains Championship in Dramatic Fashion; Farrington Wins Finale

Mike Rowe added his eighth career championship at Oxford Plains Speedway in dramatic fashion, narrowly besting Brandon Barker in the Oxford Championship Series finale on Monday afternoon.

Dave Farrington, Jr. won the 100-lap Mid-Coast Excavation Super Late Model feature, while Rowe finished sixth in the race. By finishing just ahead of Oxford 250 winner Brandon Barker, who crossed the line seventh, Rowe secured yet another track championship.

Rowe, who turned 76 in August, enjoyed the season-long battle with Barker for the title, which came down to the final lap of the season. He tipped his cap to Barker for the respectful racing throughout the season, including in Monday's finale.

"I tell you, I want to thank Brandon," said Rowe. "He could have moved me whenever. He's a good little racer. I told him good luck, he told me good luck. If it had went either way, it would have been good.

"We've been struggling. We struggled at the 250. My crew kept working on this thing today and got it better. We did get a little loose at the end. When Brandon caught me, I had to play defense."

When asked what comes next for an eight-time champion, Rowe's answer was brief.

"Retirement, I think."

Farrington took inspiration from sharing the victory lane celebration with Rowe, hoping he still has plenty of racing left in him.

"I guess I won the battle and the old man won the war today," Farrington said. "Seeing him in the record books as the 2026 champion, we might need to come back in 2027. I don't know. Obviously, we gave one away a few weeks ago, cut a right-front tire at the end. The 250 didn't end very well either. That's why we came here tonight, to get this checkered flag. Mission accomplished."

Farrington took the lead from T.J. Brackett on lap 25, maintaining the top spot the rest of the way. Joey Doiron raced his way up to the second spot, but was more concerned about a hard-charging Gabe Brown behind him than potentially chasing down Farrington.

"I don't know what we need to do this year," said Doiron. "Still lacking a little bit here. Gabe is just lights out. It's a good thing he started out back, or he probably would have dominated today. It was about making gains. We'll come back in a couple of weeks."

Brown settled for a third-place finish, believing something broke on his No. 47 car during the 100-lap race to slow down his hustle through the pack.

"We had a pretty good car. We just had to come back here and make sure our stuff was good after what happened in the 250. Big charge from the back of the pack, so I'm happy with the race car. I think something happened there halfway through the race, something broke."

Matthew Bourgoine finished fourth, with Sylas Ripley rounding out the top five.

-Photo credit: Oriana Lovell/O.L. Photos

Oxford Championship Series Finale Unofficial Results