Unity Raceway

Unity Raceway - Sun., June 17th

The DNK Select 150

#33 Richie Dearborn - #54 Johnny Clark - #8 Cassius Clark

OFFICIAL FINISHES
PASS MODS - HERE
PASS Outlaw Late Models - HERE
PULLEN Sportsman - HERE

Leftovers: PASS North at Unity Raceway by Mike Twist

Sudden Sam Is Back?, Dearborn Has Some Horsepower, Sportsmen Cars Everywhere and Much More STORY HERE

Official Finish - Super Late Models
1	54	Johnny Clark	Hallowell, ME	Clark's Cars & Parts
2	33	Richie Dearborn	Hollis, ME	Chadwick BaRoss
3	8	Cassius Clark	Farmington, ME	EJP Pipeline Services
4	2	Mike Rowe	Turner, ME	P.T. Watts
5	4	Ben Rowe	Turner, ME	Richard Moody & Sons Construction Co. LLC
6	29	Trevor Sanborn	Parsonsfield, ME	Cushman Competition
7	77	Scott Chubbuck	Wiscasset, ME	Hight Chevy
8	0	Bill Penfold	Yarmouth, ME	VIP Charter Coaches
9	98	Adam Bates	Warner, NH	Weaver Bros. Construction
10	88	Alan Tardiff	Lyman, ME	S&T Rentals
11	75	Gary Smith	Bangor, ME	Uncle Henry's
12	35	Derek Ramstrom	W. Boylston, MA	West Boylston Auto Parts
13	7	Curtis Gerry	Waterboro, ME	Saco Bay Tackle, Monster Energy
14	17	Travis Benjamin	Morrill, ME	Irving Oil
15	14	Rick Martin	Westport, MA	G. Lopes Construction
16	40	Gary Bellefleur	Stetson, ME	Newport Industrial Fabrication Inc.
17	59	John Phippen	Bar Harbor, ME	BG
18	15	Stephen Berry	Gorham, ME	Gorham Sand & Gravel
19	23	DJ Shaw	Center Conway	Precision JLM
20	9	Tim Turner	Freedom, ME	Downer Logging
21	07k	Kevin Kimball	S. Portland, ME	The Step Guys
22	34	Jeff Burgess	Fairfield, ME	Burgess Racing and Fabrication
23	1	Sam Sessions	So. Paris, ME	Crete Carriers
24	10x	Ralph Nason	Unity, ME	Jim's Salad














		Photos by Norm Marx nmarx-dtp@comcast.net

Johnny Clark Gives the Gift of Victory on
Father’s Day at Unity Raceway on 6/17
Latest Unity Raceway Memory for Clark Family is a Win in the DNK Select 150
Some sons give neckties or tools for Father’s Day gifts, but Johnny Clark gave his Dad something a little more unique this year – a victory in the PASS North Super Late Model race at Unity Raceway (ME).

John Clark III had raced many times at Unity throughout his own career, but lately he’s been watching his son Johnny win big races at tracks throughout the Northeast. On Sunday, Johnny’s victory came in the DNK Select 150.

“To come here and run like we did on Father’s Day is awesome,” said Johnny Clark. “Dad drove the bus up here last night and he said, ‘You know what I want for Father’s Day?’ and he reminded me of that when I crossed the finish line. That was pretty cool.”

Winning at Unity, a track within an hour of the Clark’s home base of Farmingdale, Maine, was just like winning at home.

“Here and Wiscasset are where I grew up watching racing,” said Johnny Clark. “I just haven’t really raced here much. Nobody believes it, but I’ve only raced here about 16 or 17 times. I never raced here weekly.”

Interestingly enough, though, most of Johnny’s memories of when his Dad raced did not involve actually seeing him wheel a car around the Unity track.

“I don’t remember him racing here so much,” said Johnny Clark. “That was in his Street Stock days when he raced here, and I was just a little runt at the time. I do know that I would cry when I couldn’t come here. That was back when he would load the racecar on the back of his wrecker and I would watch it leave. Later on, I recall watching Kenny Wright, Ralph Nason and Scott Chubbuck race here. I watched a lot of laps around here and that is how I learned to race this track.”

Those lessons paid off for Clark on Sunday because the task of getting to the front was not supposed to be an easy one. Clark won his heat race, but started 11th due to PASS rules that do not allow any winner from the current season of racing to start a feature within the top 10. Since Clark won at Speedway 95 earlier in 2007, he had to line up 11th.

He didn’t stay there for long. Clark was in the top five by the 25-lap mark. A few laps later, he worked his way up to third.

Travis Benjamin and Cassius Clark both took turns leading early in the race, but by lap 54, it was time for Johnny Clark to take over the top spot. He would not give that up for the rest of the day either.

On a long green-flag run late in the race, Cassius Clark appears to be cutting into Johnny Clark’s sizable lead, and a caution for Stephen Barry’s hard wreck into the turn one sandpile with six laps to go had the possibility of creating a new race for the lead.

Could that late-race caution have made any difference as to the winner of the race? That depends on who you ask.

“After the last restart, I had to race side-by-side with Richie (Dearborn) for about 30 laps, so once I got by him, I was hoping to gain on him [Johnny Clark],” said Cassius Clark. “He was coming back to me. I don’t know if I would have caught him, but I would have had a better chance of it.”

“Come on, we had a straightaway lead,” laughed his pal Johnny Clark in response. “We knew the caution would come out at some point. I figured we would have a green-white-checkered finish. I was [getting bigger in his windshield], but I was also running a lot slower those last 15 laps because I had such a lead. I just wanted to conserve the car. He was definitely good, but I wasn’t pushing it either.”

The caution did create a great battle for second on back, though. While Johnny Clark pulled away again on the restart, a great three-way battle for second place on back took place among Cassius Clark, Richie Dearborn and Mike Rowe.

Dearborn won that battle by finishing second, with Cassius Clark, Mike Rowe and PASS North point leader Ben Rowe rounding out the top-five finishers.

“We got shuffled back and then we couldn’t get by Richie,” said Cassius Clark. “We had one hell of a race there. He ran me clean and we kept going for it on the front stretch, the backstretch and everywhere else. So we held on for third.”

“Those last five or six there were fun,” said Dearborn. “I knew that my only chance to get Cassius there would be on the restart. I could stay beside him for a few laps, but then he would go right by us. It was short enough to hold him off this time.”

Three other PASS divisions were in action on Sunday as well. Charlie Colby won a wild 100-lapper for the PASS Outlaw Late Models over Brian Whitney and Matt Lee.

In the PASS Modifieds, Gary Norris Jr. barely edged defending Modified champion Chris Staples for the victory, as Chris Smith had a great view of the action from his third finishing position.
The racing card was rounded out by the PASS Pullen Heavy Industries Sportsmen, which saw Dan McKeage finish ahead of Nate Watson.

The PASS North Super Late Models will return to action Saturday, June 23rd, at Scotia Speedworld (NS) for the Forbes Chevrolet-Olds 200.

PASS North Champion Johnny Clark Heads to His Favorite Track for Unity’s DNK 150
Site of Clark’s Biggest Victory is Also a Place for Some Great Super Late Model Action

NAPLES, ME (June 6, 2007) – Before he was a two-time PASS North champion…actually, before he was even a single-time champ, Johnny Clark won a big race at a small track in Maine. The year was 2004, and Clark came out on top of the heavily-promoted DNK 250 at Unity Raceway.

Three years and many racing accomplishments later, Clark still describes the victory as the biggest one so far in his career. Now, with PASS North returning to the track for the June 17th DNK 150 there, Clark can’t wait for the next race on his schedule.

“Now we’re going back to the DNK 150. We’re going back to Maine’s finest racetrack for it and I am so excited.”

Unity is a throwback to the good old days of racing. It is a challenging place to get around for some drivers, and it is not always a track that is well-loved by competitors. But Clark is dead serious when he brags about the place.

“I mean that. It’s my favorite place to race,” said Clark. “You can say what you want about the track – it is what it is, but there is some great racing there. You can really get up on the wheel and drive that place. That is what’s so much fun. If the car breaks a little bit sideways in the middle of the turn, you just turn right and give it some gas. It’s almost like racing 12 or 15 years ago, but instead of driving an old street stock, we’re driving $40,000 or $50,000 racecars. It is a really good time to race at Unity.”

And it’s not just a good time behind the wheel. Fans are treated to some great action each time the PASS Super Late Models come to town. In the last four PASS North races at Unity, there have been four different winners – Clark, Mike Rowe, Ben Rowe and Patrick Laperle.

In those races, there have also been some epic battles. Last year, Johnny Clark, Cassius Clark and Ben Rowe took part in a three-way dogfight for the victory. Mike Rowe and Ralph Nason exchanged doughnuts on the side of their racecars to decide the victory in 2005’s Budweiser 250. Johnny Clark and Mike Rowe have traded plenty of paint there too. Those battles are typical of any SLM race at the track.

“You never, ever, ever see anyone run away with a race there,” said Clark. “You always see good racing. You see guys race side by side. There are two good grooves there. There is an outside groove. It’s a fun track to go to and I think that the PASS cars put on an excellent show there.”

As for Clark’s big victory at Unity, he still can recall the race fondly.

“It was my first 250 win,” said Clark. “A month or two later, we went and won the Atlantic CAT 250 up in Halifax. It was a good year. The DNK 250 was the first time that I ever made 25 grand in one race. That was good.”

Clark believes that his success at the track can be attributed to spending his youth there watching a few of the guys that he now races against, get around there quickly. Clark was paying attention and is now one of his generation’s best racers at Unity.

“I’ve seen Ralph Nason, Stan Meserve and Mike Rowe race at Unity and all those guys put on good races there. I grew up watching those guys race there and I think that is part of why we run so well at Unity. When you are running by yourself, there is one really quick way around that place and a few of us, myself, Scott Chubbuck and some other guys, have figured that out. It’s just such a fun place. I love running there.”

The DNK 150 at Unity Raceway is scheduled for Sunday, June 17th. The event will feature the PASS North Super Late Models, PASS Outlaw Late Models, PASS Modifieds and PASS Pullen Heavy Industries Sportsmen. Saturday, June 16th will be an optional practice day for all teams.

Before the PASS North season resumes with the DNK 150 at Unity, the PASS South Super Late Models will run the “Orange Blossom Special 150” at Orange County Speedway (NC) on June 9th.

The 2007 PASS Super Late Model schedules will be highlighted by two major fall events. The PASS 400 weekend at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway (ME) is set for September 23rd-24th and the Second Annual Mason-Dixon Meltdown is scheduled for Concord Motorsport Park on November 16th-17th.