There are just five remaining points races left in Pro All Stars Series North season, and Johnny Clark has some work to do as he chases championship No. 7.
Farmington native Cassius Clark, the only driver with three victories in the tour this season, holds a precarious eight-point lead over Travis Benjamin. Cassius Clark leads Johnny Clark, no relation, by 22 points.
“We’re still in the hunt,” Johnny Clark said. “We have a shot. We still have one-third of the season left. If we can catch them on an off week and capitalize, we’ll be right there.”
Cassius Clark has never won a PASS North points championship.
“We’re all pumped up, geared up and the morale is up,” he said. “We’re ready for it.”
Cassius Clark has eight top-10 finishes in 10 starts and has been one of the most consistent drivers in PASS North this season.
However, Benjamin is closing and Johnny Clark, the four-time defending series champ, is lurking.
Johnny Clark has two wins this season.
“I never get tired of winning, but, quite frankly, I miss it,” he said.
Added Cassius Clark: “I’m not really worried about it. I just do what I can every week. I’m hoping we had all the bad luck out of the way. We’ve had some (did not finishes) and we can’t have any more. We’re looking forward to the final races, though. We have a lot of upcoming tracks that we’ve done well at.”
The series will race at White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H., on Sunday afternoon.
Cassius Clark won a 150-lap feature there on May 26.
The series also has stops scheduled for Beech Ridge Motor Speedway and Oxford Plains Speedway. It will make another stop at White Mountain in September, as well.
“We’ve run well at all the tracks,” Cassius Clark said. “We just have to keep doing the same stuff we’ve been doing. I’m not really worried about the points. I don’t look at them, to be honest. I know we have the lead, but that’s all I know. I’m not into checking that stuff. We’re just looking forward to going out and racing.”
• • •
Unity Raceway will close for the season in a few weeks if the track continues to lose money, manager George Fernald Jr. said.
Fernald, who leases the track from owner Ralph Nason, says he’s planned a few “fun races” for the following weeks. They include cars racing backward and an obstacle course of sorts on the track.
“We’ll try it that way and see if we can keep it open,” Fernald said. “If it doesn’t work, we are done. I am out of money. We have no money left. I’ve used all my family money and used up our savings. I love the place, but I can’t go on.”
Fernald said he’s halted purse payments to drivers. There will be no more points races at the track this season.
As a result, Palmyra native Ajay Picard was crowned the Late Model champ.
“We’ll give it a couple more weeks,” Fernald said.
• • •
American-Canadian Tour officials announced the first 10 drivers who can compete at the Bond Auto ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H., on Sept. 22.
The invitations were based on driver performance and those who’ve won an ACT feature.
Pittston native Ben Ashline, who won a 150-lap ACT feature in May, was among those invited.
The ACT will continue sending invitations throughout the summer.
Also receiving invites are: TD Bank 250 champ Joey Polewarczyk, eight-time ACT champ Brian Hoar and current ACT points leader Wayne Helliwell, Jr.
• • •
Pete McCollett was second in points in the Mini Stock division at Oxford Plains Speedway heading into the TD Bank 250 weekend.
A broken transmission followed by a failed clutch has all but derailed the Readfield native’s pursuit of a points title.
“We’ve had two big breakages,” McCollett said. “We broke the transmission on the Friday before the 250 (July 20) and we didn’t race at all that weekend.”
The lost weekend sent McCollett spiraling down the standings — the Mini Stocks had three points races that weekend.
“It was like we missed three weeks,” McCollett added. “Last week we put the new transmission and went down to practice, but then we lost the clutch in it and couldn’t race. It’s kind of the way our season has been.”
McCollett, who is 13th in points, will race Saturday at OPS.
“We’re hoping for a top-five finish,” he said.
Bill Stewart — 621-5640
bstewart@centralmaine.com
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