UNITY — When you think of the ideal racecar, a Nissan Sentra is not typically the first one that comes to mind.
For Casey Bellows, though, it worked out just fine Sunday afternoon at Unity Raceway’s opening day. Bellows took the top spot in the first of two Super Stock Enduro 50-lap races, and kept momentum going in the day’s final race with a second-place finish.
“This car isn’t even a great racecar. If I was going to go out and choose a racecar I wouldn’t pick this. This is just what we fell into,” Bellows, a China resident who grew up in Winslow, said. “It’s a Nissan Sentra. It’s a 4-cylinder. It somewhat may be track experience (that helped) but it’s just a good little car.”
As Unity looks to build toward the future, it was pretty clear Sunday that the Super Stock races have found a solid following at the Raceway. A total of 15 drivers entered into the Late Model, Outlaw Mini and Flyin’ 4’s races combined, while 19 started in the first Super Stock race alone.
In a sport that can become very costly in a hurry, the relatively inexpensive nature of the Super Stock race has a strong appeal.
“That’s why we get a lot more (cars),” Craig Landry, of Madison, said. “It’s cheap and it’s fun. There’s not much money into it and you can still have a good time.”
Landry, who also competes at Wiscasset Speedway, won the second Super Stock race and finished fifth in the first. He did so driving a 2000 Nissan Maxima that he found on the side of the road and purchased for $300.
“It hadn’t been running for five years and it was sitting under a tree,” Landry said. “We put some Lucas Oil in it and it’s been running good. We were just worried about it overheating but she stayed cool.”
Between the initial investment in the car, the work done to get it running and five tires — he blew one out in the first race — Landry just about broke even with the win.
Unlike local racers like Casey and brother Brad Bellows, Landry is new to the track, having just started driving there last season. He did say, though, that it appears to be headed in the right direction.
“If it keeps going like this, I think we will (see more drivers),” Landry said. “It seems like they’re getting better on keeping people straight about the positions of the cars and stuff like that. They’re doing a good job with that.”
Overall, Unity race director and track manager Nick Huff said he was pretty pleased with the first event of the season.
“It went great,” Huff, who finished second in the first Super Stock race and fourth in the second, said. “We had a couple low car counts in a couple classes but we still put on top-notch entertainment, especially with that Late Model and these Enduro races. It was an awesome time.”
In the Late Model race, John Kalel emerged from a field of six to hold off Frank Moulton and Ben Erskine. Tim Robinson topped Kyle Robinson in the five-car Outlaw Mini race, while Dustin Lancaster bested Robert McDonald in a four-car Flyin’ 4’s race.
Unity will hold races every other Sunday this season and, while Huff said he hopes to have more cars to fill out the field in the future, he has no plans of shutting down if low car counts continue.
“I feel like I’ve done everything that I can to promote this place in the correct way, in an optimistic and positive attitude and if the cars aren’t coming, I just don’t know what else to do,” Huff said. “We’ll do alright. That’s why I didn’t want to commit to every week. We’re racing every other week, that way if it does have low car counts I don’t want to just bail on these guys and close down the track midseason.
“I’ll have to carry through it with low car counts if we have to, and lose a little money maybe and we’ll re-evaluate for next year.”
Evan Crawley — 621-5640
ecrawley@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @Evan_Crawley
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