JOHNNY CLARK WINS INAUGURAL N.E. TOYOTA TUNDRA 250 AT WISCASSET
It was only fitting that Sunday's running of the N.E. Toyota
Tundra 250 at Wiscasset Raceway came down to a green-white-checkers
finish between the two drivers who dominated the inuagural event. In
the end it was Farmingdale's Johnny Clark who took home the win over
Boothbay native Corey Williams to claim the $30,000+ payoff. Clark
could not help but reflect on his long list of success at the track
that launched his career. "I got my first prostock win here in 97'
when I was seventeen" recalled the winner in victory lane. "I beat
Stan Messerve and John Phippen that day and I thought that was the
best. This one is right there with that one. It's great to get this
one at my home track". The big race highlighted a busy doubleheader
weekend of action at Maine's Center of Speed. Fans packed the stands
to near capacity Sunday evening as thirty-eight of the northeast
region's top Super Late Model drivers pulled onto the track for the
main event. Williams started on the outside of the front row with Fred
Astle Jr securing the pole position. At the drop of the green flag
Williams looked unbeatable as he shot to the lead and pulled away with
Cushing's Chuck Lachance and Steve Knowlton of Ipswich, MA in tow.
First round of pitstops for the leaders would come just past the 100
lap mark and it turned things over to Knowlton until he would give up
the lead for tires and gas himself on lap 111 along with contenders
Scott Chubbuck, DJ Shaw, Travis Benjamin and Richie Dearborn. Clark
was then left as the only contender yet to pit and that's where he
decided to take a gamble. "I told the guys we needed to wait another
50 laps (longer than the leaders), but I had no idea we would go
another 100 laps." said Clark, refering to his plan that almost
backfired on him. He checked out on the field and pulled out to a full
straightaway lead by lap 150, but the caution he was waiting for
didn't come and his big lead was soon erased by Trevor Sanborn and DJ
Shaw as Clarks tires faded away. Shaw, who was a lap down early in the
race, passed Sanborn for 2nd on lap 187 and then took the lead from
Clark on lap 192. Finally, the yellow flag came out for a spin on lap
198 and Clark dashed to the pits for the tires he so desperately
needed. The only question to be answered was if he had enough time to
get back to the front. It took very little time for Clark prove that
he was still in the running, as he quickly began picking off cars,
sometimes three wide in a frantic charge through the field. He made it
back up to 4th by lap 206 and then just a lap later drove around Adam
Bates for 3rd. Knowlton would be his next victim, taking the 2nd
position by lap 212. Five laps later he raced his way under Shaw to
regain the lead. It looked like Clark was well on his way to the big
payday, but as the laps ticked away there was some pretty heated
action in the middle of the top ten with Williams moving back up into
the top five after a second pit stop and several others racing hard
for the money. Four more cautions in the final 25 laps bunched up the
field and gave Knowlton a couple more shots at the leader. The final
caution on lap 248 provided on of the race's biggest twists as Kelly
Moore, Trevor Sanborn and DJ Shaw tangled out of turn four. This would
set up the exciting green-white-checker finish with Williams back up
to take on Clark for the victory. The two made contact heading into
turn one and Clark was able to shake off the challenge and run to the
checkers, beating Williams across the stripe by .705 seconds. Williams
knew the restart was his only chance. "I was hoping for a miracle, him
missing a shift or something big. I knew that he a had a good car and
I didn't know what I was going to be able to do to beat him". In
victory lane Clark raved about his crew and his brand new car they
prepared specifically for this race. "This is a brand new car.. a
brand new car brand new motor, the only thing used on this thing is my
seat!". Clark was then presented a special custom made stainless steel
and walnut trophy by representatives from Lee Toyota of Topsham
representing the New England Toyota Dealers. Williams, the current
PASS South division points leader, would take home a nice paycheck of
$12,000 plus earned lap money for his efforts. Knowlton brought in
$6,000 for 3rd. Chubbuck spent much of the day in the top five but
would settle for 4th. Freedom's Randy Turner was the top finishing
Wiscasset regular finishing 5th. The top ten was completed by Adam
Bates of Warner,NH; Paul White of Corrina; Chuck Lachance, Richie
Dearborn of Hollis, and Gary Smith of Bangor. For a complete recap of
the race and supporting PASS races, go to www.racewithpass.com.
In support action in Sunday's program Windsor's Maurice Young
continued his dominance of the Keystone Automotive Strictly Streets,
winning the 50 lap qualifier for October's Street Stock Nationals. It
was the defending champ's track high 8th win of the season. Joining
Young in victory lane were Auburn's Mike Short and Cushing's Steve
Peirpont. The PASS Sportsman Series ran a 50 lap makeup feature and a
75 lap regularly scheduled feature. The 50 lap race, origionally
rained out in mid June, was won by Saco's Terry Merrill. He held off
Wiscasset's Super Street point leader Allen Moeller for the victory.
Defending PASS Sportsman champ Dan McKeage took the 75 lapper. The
PASS Modified 40 lap feature was won by multi time champ and former
Wiscasset regular Mark Lucas of Harpswell.
In Saturday night's program TJ Watson of Harpwell made a daring
3-wide pass to the inside of of turn four to squeeze by leaders Daren
Ripley and Will Collins on lap 46 and then held off defending champ
Chris Thorne to win the special 50 lap Smith Construction Late Model
feature. In doing so, Watson was faced with the decision to take the
$1000 winners pay or turn it in for a guaranteed provisional for
Sunday's big race. After a short appology to his mother Watson grinned
and said "The answer is 'yes', I can't pass up the chance. It would be
an honor to run with the big boys tomorrow". Thorne secured his hold
on the division point lead with his runner-up finish. Ajay Piccard of
Palmyra turned in a career best 3rd place finish, picking his way
through the mulitple midrace cautions to get to victory lane. In the
25 lap feature for the Unicel Super Streets opening day winner Jeremy
Glasier grabbed the early lead and ran out to his 2nd win of the year.
He was chased across the line by the division's only other repeat
winners, Mike Landry of Oakland and Nate Weston of Madison. Cushing's
Steve Peirpont outdueled defending champ and point leader Maurice
Young to pickup his first win of the year in the 20 lap Keystone
Automotive Strictly Streets feature. The two made hard contact on the
front stretch with three laps to go, causing Young to cut down a left
front tire. Ian Bresnahan moved up to finish 2nd and former champ Dave
Brannon of Lisbon took 3rd. Young held on to finish 6th despite the
flat tire. Mac Hannan Jr was a wire to wire winner in the 20 lap Aable
Autoparts Ministock feature. He held off young hot-shoe Ryan Ripley to
take the win. Ripley. who had a two race win streak going, settled for
2nd and Shawn Kimball of Pittston finished 3rd, just ahead of point
leader Dylan Lancaster. Chris Doucette took the win in the 15 lap
feature for the White & Bradstreet Mini Trucks. It was his 4th win of
the season, which is tops in the class. The 2nd and 3rd place trophies
would go to brothers Jason and Donald Giggey after Opie Allrd (2nd)
and his father Roger Allard (4th) refused post race inspection.
Wiscasset Raceway returns to action Saturday August 23rd at
5:00pm with racing action in all six weekly racing series divisions.
The main event will be a 30 lap feature for the Aable Autoparts
Ministocks. It is qualifier #2 for the $3,000 to win Real Stock Mini
Stock Nationals to be held at the track in October. For more
information, call the Wiscasset Raceway office at (207) 882-4271 or
check the track website at www.wiscassetraceway.info.
N.E. TOYOTA TUNDRA 250 FINISH
1. (13) 54 Johnny Clark, Hallowell, Maine
2. (2) 47w Corey Williams, Boothbay, Maine
3. (4) 10 Steve Knowlton, Ipswich, Mass.
4. (10) 77 Scott Chubbuck, Dresden, Maine
5. (16) 1 Randy Turner, Unity, Maine
6. (14) 98 Adam Bates, Warner, N.H.
7. (17) 15x Paul White, Corinna, Maine
8. (3) 38 Chuck Lachance, Cushing, Maine
9. (5) 33 Richie Dearborn, Hollis, Maine
10. (31) 75 Gary Smith, Bangor, Maine
11. (23) 60 D.J. Shaw, Center Conway, N.H.
12. (11) 17 Travis Benjamin, Morrill, Maine
13. (6) 44 Trevor Sanborn, Parsonsfield, Maine
14. (18) 47 Kelly Moore, Scarborough, Maine
15. (19) 2x Charlie Colby, Newcastle, Maine
16. (28) 97 John Flemming, Halifax, Nova Scotia
17. (21) 2 Mike Rowe, Turner, Maine
18. (33) 4 Ben Rowe, Turner, Maine
19. (29) 01 Joe Decker, Chesterville, Maine
20. (26) 59 John Phippen, Bar Harbor, Maine
21. (15) 54x Ryan Deane, Winterport, Maine
22. (24) 24 Eddie MacDonald, Rowley, Mass.
23. (1) 88 Fred Astle Jr., North Westport, Mass.
24. (27) 15 Steve Berry, Gorham, Maine
25. (7) 03 Scott Moore, Anson, Maine
26. (36) 29m Ricky Morse, St. Albans, Maine
27. (30) 8c Cassius Clark, Farmington, Maine
28. (9) 72 Chad Dow, Fairfield, Maine
29. (22) 88t Alan Tardiff, Lyman, Maine
30. (12) 35 Derek Ramstrom, West Boylston, Mass.
31. (37) 04 T.J. Watson, Cundy's Harbor, Maine
32. (20) 12 Stan Meserve, Mooresville, N.C.
33. (34) 22 Harry Olson, Salisbury, Mass.
34. (25) 7 Donnie Whitten, Wells, Maine
35. (32) 25 Dale Cullivan, Palermo, Maine
36. (38) 11x Marty Prevost, Fall River, Nova Scotia
37. (8) 11 Scott King, Livermore Falls, Maine
38. (35) 00 Matt Lee, Albion, Maine
Time of race: 2 hours, 28 minutes. Margin of victory: 0.705 seconds.
Winner's average speed: 33.540 mph. Caution periods: 14. Lap leaders:
Williams 1-108, Knowlton 109-111, J. Clark 112-191, Shaw 192-216,
J.Clark 217-250. Heat winners: Astle, Benjamin, Williams, Ramstrom,
Lachance. Consi winners: M. Rowe, Tardiff, Shaw. Last chance winner:
C. Clark.
OFFICIAL FINISHES SATURDAY 8/16/08
SMITH CONSTRUCTION LATE MODEL SPORTSMAN (50 LAPS)
1. TJ Watson - Harpswell; 2. Chris Thorne - Sidney; 3. Ajay
Piccard - Palmyra; 4. Steve Reno - West Bath; 5. Will Collins -
Appleton; 6. Mike Rowe - Turner; 7. Casey Nash - Richmond; 8.
Bill Pinkham - Wiscasset; 9. Duane Love - West Gardiner; 10.
Scott Pooler - Vassalboro; 11. Daren Ripley - Appleton; 12. Adam
Chadbourne - Woolwich; 13. Mike Orr - Wiscasset; 14. Danny Smart
- Buxton; 15. Tyler Robbins - Montville; 16. Jason Witts -
Dixmont; 17. Dennis Stampfl - Norwood, MA; 18. Seth Raven -
Waldo; 19. Nick Hinkley - Wiscasset; 20. Richard Jordan -
Kingfield; 21. Travis Stearn - Auburn; DNS. Joe Doiron -
Berwick; DNS. Peter Oakes - Boothbay
UNICEL SUPER STREETS (25 LAPS)
1. Jeremy Glasier - Appleton; 2. Mike Landry - Oakland; 3. Nate
Weston - Madison; 4. Jason Gaboury - Readfield; 5. Kevin
Douglass - Sidney; 6. Brian Fortin - South China; 7. RJ Austin -
Smithfield; 8. Allan Moeller Sr - Dresden; 9. Shawn Austin -
Norridgewock; 10. James Osmond - Wiscasset; 11. Frank Brown -
Pittston
KEYSTONE AUTOMOTIVE STRICTLY STREETS (20 LAPS)
1. Steve Peirpont - Cushing; 2. Ian Bresnahan - Bath; 3. Dave
Brannon - Lisbon; 4. Ed Peirpont - Jefferson; 5. Bobby Mesimer -
Wiscasset; 6. Maurice Young - Windsor; 7. Jamie Henderson -
Litchfield; 8. Gerry Burgess - Buckfield; 9. Matt Stuart -
Pittston; 10. Russ Anderson - Portsmouth, NH; DQ. Wally
Henderson - Litchfield; DQ. Mike St Germain - Auburn
AABLE AUTOPARTS MINI STOCKS (20 LAPS)
1. Mac Hannan Jr - Union; 2. Ryan Ripley - Thomaston; 3. Shawn
Kimball - Pittston; 4. Dylan Lancaster - Skowhegan; 5. Natasha
Dyer - Arrowsic; 6. Rob Greeneleaf - West Bath; 7. Mike Dulaney
- Richmond; 8. Scott Theriault - China; 9. Ken Edgecomb -
Readfield; 10. Tom True - Wiscasset; 11. Cody Sleeper - Chelsea;
12. David Hinkley - Pittston; 13. Chelsea Young - Winterport;
14. Alex Cromwell - Woolwich; 15. Tim Collins - Farmingdale; 16.
Wayne Ripley - Thomaston; 17. Ryan Hayes - Jefferson; 18. Ed
Sleeper - Vassalboro; 19. Pete McCollat - Readfield
WHITE & BRADSTREET MINI TRUCKS (15 LAPS)
1. Chris Doucette - Sebego; 2. Jason Giggey - Unity; 3. Don
Giggey - Athens; 4. James Howland - Rye, NH; 5. Josh Kaufman -
Unity; 6. Jessica Norris - Portsmouth, NH; 7. Kevin Oliver -
Gray; 8. James Swan III - Clinton; 9. Josh Harjula - Boothbay;
10. Mike Anderson - Portsmouth, NH; 11. Rick Sirois -
Norridgewock; 12. Miranda Power - Norridgewock; 13. Russ
Anderson - Portsmouth, NH; DQ. Opie Allard - Cundy's Harbor; DQ.
Roger Allard - Cundy's Harbor
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