UNITY — By his own admission, Zach Audet raced aggressively last season at Unity Raceway.

“I had to calm down a little bit,” said Audet, 26, who raced in the Flyin’ Four division but was forced to move up a class this year.

Additional Photos

MAKING HIS MOVE: Johnny Clark (54) makes a move to pass Joey Polewarcyzk during the Pro All Stars Series 150 at Seekonk Speedway on Saturday in Seekonk, Mass. Clark won the race, picking up his fifth victory of the season. Contributed photo by Norm Marx

Audet has indeed calmed down this season, racing in the Monsta Mini class.

The Skowhegan driver is leading the Monsta Mini points standings thanks to a dominant summer in which he’s raced to Victory Lane eight times.

“He’s in championship mode now,” said George Fernald Jr., who leases the track from owner Ralph Nason.

The Monsta Mini and Flyin’ Four classes are somewhat similar with a few key differences, including tire size and motor weight. Fernald said Audet — who finished second in points in the Flyin’ Four class last season — was too dominant last year. Because of that, Fernald moved Audet into the Monsta Mini class.

“He was dominating his class,” Fernald said. “It got to the point where no one wanted to race in his class.”

Audet, who built a new Honda from the ground up this winter, is threatening to end Mike Wilson’s three-year reign as points champion. Not bad, considering Audet had no plans to race for points this season.

“We didn’t know what we were going to do this year,” he said. “We built a brand-new car, and we came in here and won eight races. I’ve just been really lucky. We weren’t going to race for points, but then we won the first two races so we decided to stick with it.”

Wilson of Chelsea acknowledges his chance for a fourth straight points title are slipping.

“(Audet) is fast,” he said. “They did their homework over the winter. He’s a pretty smart driver. But we’re still doing all right.”

Audet leads Wilson by 44 points.

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The American Canadian Tour will make its third appearance at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. this weekend for its All-Star Challenge.

The race, which for the first time will count toward the point standings, is Saturday and will pay $5,000 to the winner.

Winthrop driver Jeff White said Wednesday that despite a strong showing in a test and tune session earlier this month at Loudon, he is going to skip the event.

“We’re racing for points (at Oxford Plains Speedway), and we didn’t want to take a chance we’d go down there and wreck the car,” White said. “So we’re going to take the weekend off.”

White has a 20-point lead over Don Wentworth in the Late Model division at OPS with just one race remaining this summer.

“I don’t want to wreck the car,” White said. “Twenty points is good, but they could still get us. We want that points championship.”

* * *

Tyler Robbins is one of a handful of Unity drivers who last season competed primarily at Wiscasset Speedway.

Robbins, 18, of Montville, resides closer to Unity but said he preferred the track at Wiscasset, which is dark this year as owner Doug White tries to sell it. White previously said he had a buyer lined up — he is asking $500,000 for the track — but that deal fell through. The track’s uncertain future forced several drivers to look for new places to race this season.

Robbins, who raced a Late Model at Wiscasset the past three seasons, said the decision was easy.

“We only live 20 minutes away, and we were about 45 minutes from Wiscasset,” he said. “So it’s been good because the drive home is always shorter.”

So why did he race the past three years at Wiscasset?

“We just thought the track was better,” he said. “They had paved pits. We’ve been to (Speedway) 95 a few times, but we didn’t care for that place. So we came back here. The original plan was to race just once a month.”

Plans changed when Robbins started strong and stayed in the hunt for a points title. He is fourth in points, trailing just Dylan Turner, Jeff Burgess and frontrunner David Folsom I.

“We decided to stick it out,” Robbins said. “We’ve been right there.”

* * *

Sean Johnson is hoping to make his return to Unity a memorable one.

The 23-year-old Sidney driver last raced at the track in 2008 before he decided to go back to school.

Johnson is enrolled at Eastern Maine Community College and hopes to graduate after the fall semester.

In the meantime, he also hopes he’ll end up with his first points championship in any class.

He leads the Pro Four class with 1,099 points while Lance Chapman is closing fast with 1,096.

“I can’t complain,” Johnson said. “The car has been consistent.”

Johnson purchased his No. 9 Stevens Forest Products car from Mike Mason for $3,000. He then spent another $1,000 on a chassis.

“I got a good deal on the car,” Johnson said. “I went into the season thinking I’d do a limited schedule, but it’s been more than that. I only have one feature win, but I’ve been consistent and we’re leading in points. So we thought we might as well keep going.”

Johnson acknowledged it’s tough not to get caught up in a tight points chase.

“This is my first attempt at a points championship,” he said. “I’m trying to be careful not to jinx it. I think it was the fifth or sixth race of the season that I realized I was having a good season and wanted to keep going. I try not to count points at the track. I do it once in the middle of the week, and that’s it.

“But I won’t lie, it’s something I do think about.”

* * *

Johnny Clark is enjoying yet another stellar season on the track. The Farmingdale driver is closing in on his fourth consecutive Pro All Stars Series North points championship and sixth overall.

Off the track, it’s been an even bigger year.

Clark and his fiancé, Niki, became parents when their baby girl, Alivia Bridget Clark, was born on July 29.

“She was 7 pounds, 5 ounces,” Clark said. “It’s awesome. It’s pretty cool. I’m pretty pumped.”

Clark won his fifth race of the season last weekend at the PASS 150 in Seekonk, Mass. He is one victory shy of setting a single-season career high. There are four races left.

“There is still plenty of time to get that sixth,” Clark said.

Clark leads Ben Rowe by 71 points in the PASS North points standings.

“We’d have to have a race where we absolutely bombed,” Clark said. “But anything is possible. We just need to keep doing what we’re doing.”

Bill Stewart — 621-5640

bstewart@centralmaine.com

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