{"id":1959,"date":"2008-08-25T21:14:14","date_gmt":"2008-08-25T21:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maineracer.com\/wp\/?p=1959"},"modified":"2008-08-25T21:14:14","modified_gmt":"2008-08-25T21:14:14","slug":"unity-raceway-august-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/2008\/08\/unity-raceway-august-22\/","title":{"rendered":"UNITY RACEWAY &#8211; AUGUST, 22"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">Fan Appreciation\/Champions night proved to be fun  for young and old. The largest crowd of the season saw the past champions  signing autographs, while current drivers filled up the track meeting fans face  to face. It was a fun night for all. Track management would like to thank  everyone that made this event one to remember. <\/font><\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">The Monsta Mini division saw one of it&#39;s largest  field&#39;s this year hit the track. Mike Wilson continued his winning ways in the  first heat race with Markus Lowe right on his bumper. Kyle Gallant took control  of the second heat race. Gary Richards gave him a side by side battle on the  last lap. Richards car broke loose in the last corner allowing Gallant the win.  Richards crossed the line backwards for second. Mike Wilson, returning from his  mechanical woes of a week ago, jumps to the early race lead. Gary Richards  clears traffic for second. Paul and Richard Jackson follow the pair in third and  fourth. Wilson is checking out on the field. Richard Jackson has caught Richards  for second. Duane Dunifer has moved thru the field to take third from Paul  Jackson. Wilson takes the win. Richard Jackson continues his string of second  place finishes. Duane Dunifer returns to victory lane in third. Paul Jackson  continues his run of top five finishes in fourth. Chad Elkins takes the #12  machine to a fifth place finish. <\/font><\/div>\n<div>&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">The Limited division heat race was a battle from  the drop of the checkered flag. Joey Doyon and Deane Smart would race door  handle to door handle for almost the entire race. Doyon is able to take a slight  lead on the outside and take the heat race win. Doyon jumps to the early lead in  the feature. Brad Bellows, up from the Sportsman class, takes over second  position. Smart is challenging Bellows on the inside. Caution on lap 9 for a  spinning Dustin Hubbard slows the field. Caution would fly again on lap 10 as  Dave St Clair and Hubbard would find the turn one banking. Doyon retakes the  lead on the restart. Smart would use the inside line again to take over the  second position from Bellows. Caution would fly again on lap 12 as Josh St Clair  is stuck on the back stretch lip. The restart would find Hubbard and Dave St  Clair again spinning into the turn one bank. Hubbard is able to drive away. Dave  St Clair is carried to the pits on the hook with major damage. Doyon would take  the lead on this final restart and never look back. Doyon crosses the line  first. Smart is able to hold off the charging Bellows for second. Bellows takes  home his first trophy of the year from the Limited division. Gary Thorne, making  his 2008 Unity debut, finishes out a strong fourth. Hubbard, recovering from all  the cautions, finishes out the top five. <\/font><\/div>\n<div>&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">Young Alex Fernald took his #2 machine to the early  race lead. Alex Fernald, James Swan, Jr, and Dominic Bailey are weaving thru  lapped traffic. Bailey has some troubles and looses the top pair. Joey Doyon,  trying his hand at Enduro driving, makes a daring three wide move to take over  the second spot from James Swan Jr. Doyon has caught the leading Alex Fernald.  Doyon and Alex Fernald go door to door going into to turn one. A lapped car on  the outside forces contact between the pair. The Fernald machine slows as a  right front tire has been cut down. Doyon pulls away from the field. Doug Kus  has moved into the second position as Alex Fernald continues to slow. Newcomer,  Ryan Chadwick, has taken over the third place position. Doyon continues to weave  thru lapped traffic with ease. Doyon crosses the stripe for the win. Doug Kus  finishes in second. Ryan Chadwick makes his first trip to Unity&#39;s victory lane.  Patrick Cook, piloting a new machine, finishes in a strong fourth place  position. Shadow Folsom finishes out the top five. <\/font><\/div>\n<div>&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">The Men&#39;s Peanut division saw Cody Sleeper take the  early race lead in the first heat race. Derek Cook used the inside lane to take  the lead away from Cody Sleeper and cruise to the heat race win. Josh Childs and  Ryan Ripley would go door to door in the second heat race. Childs would take the  lead on the outside and take the second heat race win. Flagman, Buster Roy,  catches the field sleeping. Ed Sleeper was paying attention and jumps to the  lead on the start. Ryan Ripley catches Ed Sleeper and uses the inside groove to  make the inside pass. Kyle Gallant follows Ripley into second place. Tom Carter  and Josh Childs clear the field and challenge Gallant for second. Ripley is  weaving thru the lapped cars with ease. Childs clears Carter to take over the  second position. Ripley cruises to the win. Childs is able to hold off the  charging Carter for second. Carter, making his Unity debut, makes a trip to  victory lane for third. Gallant finishes a strong fourth. Cody Sleeper finishes  out the top five. <\/font><\/div>\n<div>&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">The Ladies division heat race saw a side by side  battle between Samantha Letourneu and Molly Feeney. Letourneau is able to power  her machine past Feeney for the heat race win. Kayla Robinson uses the inside of  the track to take the early race lead. Letourneau and Feeney are again battling  to take the lead. A spin by Feeney allows Letourneau to pass Robinson for the  lead. Feeney spins in turn two bringing out the caution on lap 3. Letourneau is  able to again take the lead from Robinson on the restart. Chelsea Young, using  the Teen Thunder car of Ricky Palmer, moves in the third place position. Feeney  has recovered from her spin and moved into fourth. Robinson and Feeney would  race door to door. There cars would touch in turn four sending both cars off the  front stretch. This moves last years co-point champion, Melissa Higgins, into  third position. Letourneau has increased her lead over Young. Letourneau  continues her dominance with another checkered flag. Young takes the second  spot. Higgins shakes her bad luck to take home her first trophy of the season.  Mika Wilson continues her string of top five finishes in fourth. Mary Reed makes  home her first top five finish of the season. <\/font><\/div>\n<div>&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">Brad Bellows and Donnie York fought for the lead in  the Sportsman heat race. A caution on lap 3 for the spinning Skip Conner allows  Bellows to jump to the lead on the restart and take home the win. Mark Dodge  takes his purple machine to the front in the feature. Caution flies on lap 2 as  Doug St Clair finds the turn 4 banking. Dodge and Brad Bellows fight for the  lead on the restart. Brian Robbins spins off the track and onto the pit road  access. Kris Huff looses control on the front stretch and brings out the caution  for both machines on lap 4. Bellows again takes the lead over Dodge. Kris Watson  has moved into the third spot. John Kalel, II, sporting his new machine, fights  for fourth position with Donnie York. Caution flies again on lap 7 as Kalel  spins off the back stretch fighting for position with York. Bellows takes the  lead and never looks back to take the win. Dodge has a fine run in second. York  goes to victory lane with the third place run. Kris Watson finishes a fine night  in fourth. Bryan Robbins recovers from his spin of the track to complete the top  five. <\/font><\/div>\n<div>&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">The Late Model Pro 4 division had the largest field  of the season this race night. Steve Rackliff continued his winning ways by  taking the first heat race over Ben Clark. The second heat race saw Corey Walker  shake his bad luck ways by taking the lead. Bill Ellis cleared traffic and tried  to reel in the leading Walker. Time ran out, and Walker took home his first  checkered flag of the season. Walker continued his fine run in the feature by  jumping to the early race lead. Cary Davis, piloting a damaged machine, followed  Walker. Walker is driving away from the field. Rackliff has the #94 machine on  auto pilot cruising up thru the field from his last place starting position.  Rackliff is fighting Reggie Bickford on lap 9 for fifth place. Bickford drifts  high allowing Rackliff and Jim Dennis to sneak by on the inside. Rackliff put  his sights on the third place car of Ben Clark. Rackliff moves past Clark.  Davis, sitting in second, has a rear view mirror full of the Rackliff machine.  Rackliff uses the inside groove to pass Davis for second. Rackliff is gaining on  the leading Walker. Rackliff moves past Walker on the outside and drives away  for the win. Walker has a 2008 best finish in second. Davis limps his machine in  third. Clark had a strong finish in fourth. Dennis finished out the top five.  <\/font><\/div>\n<div>&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">The Unity Variety &amp; Video Wildcat division saw  Mike Hodgkins return on champions night and prove he can still drive. Hodgkins  jumps to the heat race lead and never looked back for the win. Carl McAlpine  takes the early race lead over Hodgkins. Tim Hudson follows the pair in third.  Dustin Hubbard and Troy Patterson battle for the fourth position. McAlpine and  Hodgkins race door to door. McAlpine is able to use the outside lane to take the  lead over Hodgkins. Hodgkins does not give up easily keeping his bumper on the  inside of the McAlpine for many laps. McAlpine increases his lead over Hodgkins.  Patterson and Hubbard are having a battle for the fourth position. McAlpine  cruises to the line for another Wildcat division win. Hodgkins crosses the line  second, but does not pass post race inspection. Tim Hudson is moved to the  second position. Patterson beats Hubbard to the line for third. Hal Stratton  finishes out the top five. <\/font><\/div>\n<div>&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">The Geo &amp; Sons Teen Thunder saw Ben Nile jump  to a commanding lead in the heat race. Problems with lapped traffic draws the  field closer. Nile is able to hold on for the heat race win. Ricky Palmer brings  his 30 machine back from last weeks accident to jump to the early race lead.  Jordan Hawes fights back on the inside to take back the lead. Caution on lap 2  for Ben Nile and Brandon Greenleaf allows Palmer to jump back to the lead on the  restart. Shelby Kimball is gaining on the leaders in third. Jeremy Ludden has  moved into the fourth position from the rear of the field. Palmer is weaving  thru traffic gaining on the field. Caution would fly as Ben Nile has  a&nbsp;problem with lapped traffic and spins into the turn one banking. Kimball  challenges Palmer for the lead on the restart. Palmer would clear Kimball and  take back the lead. Ludden sneaks by Kimball to move into second. Ludden catches  Palmer and tries the inside for the lead. Palmer would not be denied and takes  the win. Ludden finishes a strong second. Nile would recover from his spin for a  third place finish. Kimball continued her top five finishes in fourth. The 88  machine finished out the top five. <\/font><\/div>\n<div>&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">The Wicked Good Antique Racers joined the Fan  Appreciation\/Champions night. Many of these cars have ties to the past champions  that were in attendance. It allowed memories to be shared with all. Joe Legere  again took the checkered flag in the Modified division. Travis Johns was able to  take advantage of the spin by Billy Boyle to take the win in the Bomber class.  <\/font><\/div>\n<div>&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">This week we will find out &quot;What the Flying Fernald  Will Jump This Year&quot;. It is Race Your Neighbor Race #2. There will also be a  fund raiser for the Unity Food Bank. Hope to see you there.  <\/font><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fan Appreciation\/Champions night proved to be fun for young and old. The largest crowd of the season saw the past champions signing autographs, while current drivers filled up the track meeting fans face to face. It was a fun night for all. Track management would like to thank everyone that made this event one to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-unity-raceway"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}