JOHNNY CLARK GIVING HICKORY ANOTHER TRY

JOHNNY CLARK GIVING HICKORY ANOTHER TRY

FARMINGDALE, Maine — Johnny Clark will head back to Hickory Motor Speedway next week hoping that the third time is the charm.

After a pair of races at the North Carolina short track in which Clark felt he had a much better car than the final results showed, he’s set to turn things around in the second round of the PASS National Series. Clark has entered the PASS Easter Bunny 150 at Hickory on April 3, the second of five PASS National Series events in 2010.

“Hopefully, we’ll go down there and have a good run and see if we can’t get the (National) points lead,” said Clark, who finished second in the Winterfest 150 at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway in January and trails Brad Leighton on the PASS National standings.

Clark, a four-time PASS North Series champion who ranks second all-time with 19 career victories, qualified second in the Easter Bunny 150 in 2009 but faded to an 11th-place finish with an ill-handling car over long runs. In 2007, he was again fast early but was hindered by a broken bleeder valve that left him struggling to a 4th-place finish.

“I don’t know what it is about that place,” Clark said of Hickory. “I like it — I really do. We always seem to have a really fast car there, but for whatever reason it’s never fast at the end.”

But Clark’s struggles at Hickory have paid dividends. He’s never taken his primary car — the one he drove to his fourth title last season in the North — to Hickory, and he believes that things he learned at Hickory last time around will help when the No. 54 Port City/Clark’s Car Crushing Chevrolet rolls into the speedway this year.

“I think we’re going to be a lot better this time around,” Clark said. “We’re excited to go.”

The race serves as the final tune up for Johnny Clark Motorsports’ PASS North Series efforts. That season kicks off on April 18 at Speedway 95 in Hermon, Maine. Clark is the defending champion of that event.