Joey Doiron: PASS North Series Unity Raceway Race Preview

PASS North Series Rookie of the Year candidate Joey Doiron of Berwick, Maine, tries to shake off last week when the series heads to Unity Raceway for the PASS 150 on Sunday, June 20. Doiron posted consecutive top-10 finishes at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway and White Mountain Motorsports Park to start the season, but was involved in an accident early in a 200-lap event at Speedway 660 last weekend. He has never raced at Unity Raceway in a Super Late Model, having posted a top-5 at the track in a Sportsman division car a couple of years ago.

WHO: Joey Doiron, Berwick, Maine
TEAM: JBJ Machine/Rescue Welding/Dale Shaw Race Cars No. 73 Dodge
BEST CAREER UNITY RACEWAY FINISH: N/A
LAST RACE AT UNITY RACEWAY: N/A

WHAT: PASS North Series PASS 150
WHERE: Unity Raceway, Unity, Maine (.333-mile oval)
WHEN: 3 p.m., Sunday, June 20

PASS NORTH SERIES
LAST RACE: June 12, Speedway 660, Fredericton, New Brunswick (25th-place finish)
NEXT RACE: Saturday, July 3, Canaan Speedway, Canaan, N.H.

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JOEY, WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO CHARACTERIZE YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT LAST WEEKEND?

Frustrated. You’d think at this level of racing with these caliber drivers on lap 8 (of 200) you’d have a little give and take. I can understand if it’s halfway through the race or you’re racing for the top-5 at the end — but that early in the race, give them a lift or something.

I don’t know if I could have beaten Johnny (Clark), but I think we could have been up there with (second- and third-place finishers) Cassius Clark and Lonnie Sommerville at the end. It’s good that we had another good car at a track we hadn’t been to, but it still leaves a sour taste to get wrecked on lap 8.

YOU TESTED AT UNITY BEFORE THE START OF THE SEASON. WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE TRACK?

You want to bring a mouth guard for all the bumps. I raced a Sportsman car once and finished fifth, but those cars are a lot easier to drive there. I hit the dirt bank twice last week (at Speedway 660), hopefully that was enough and I won’t hit them this week.

We learned a couple of things setup-wise during the test — especially what we can’t do. I hadn’t raced on it for a couple of years, and I’d kind of forgotten where the bumps were. It only took a couple of laps to get acquainted with that again.

HAVE YOU RAISED YOUR EXPECTATIONS AFTER SUCH A GOOD START TO YOUR ROOKIE SEASON?

Not at Unity, not with how rough it is there. I haven’t raced on a rough race track in a Super Late Model yet. I’m really going in there this weekend with no expectations other than to keep it on the pavement the whole time.

If I can get out of there without much damage, we’ll probably end up having a decent finish.