UNITY – Mike Rowe knew he couldn’t catch Jeff Taylor. Yet with two laps to go he wasn’t about to let Taylor catch him, either.

Rowe, the cagey veteran, and Taylor, the young Oxford Plains Speedway upstart, were coming out of a 98th lap restart side by side at the close of Sunday’s Sunoco Region I finale at Unity Raceway here.

While Taylor had sewn up the Region I series points title, despite not finishing first in any of the five previous races, what he really longed for was a victory.

Rowe wasn’t about to let that happen, though, holding Taylor at bay despite some thrilling bumping and banging on the final lap to take the checkered flag.

Ralph Nason of Unity, who came from the rear of the field after a 45th-lap spin, took third while Derek Lynch of Norwood, Ontario, was fourth and Tracy Gordon of Strong fifth.

Rounding out the top 10 were Larry Gelinas of Scarborough, Bruce Haley of Minot, Dave St. Clair of Liberty, Bob Harrison of Sanford, and Stan Meserve of Unity.

With 15 laps remaining in the 100-lap feature, Taylor was running fourth and began to make his move up front toward Rowe, the leader since lap 39.

First, he picked off Meserve, whose car was ailing with rear-end troubles, and then got past Lynch just as a yellow flag flew with two laps remaining.

With Rowe on the inside and Taylor on the outside, the two went door to door before bumping in turn two, knocking both cars slightly awry.

Rowe recovered first, kept hold of the top spot, and held on for the victory.

“We bumped a little bit, but that’s part of the game,” said Rowe. “When you’re leading with two laps to go, you’ve got to run (all out) and you breathe after it’s over. I’m glad he won the championship, but I’m glad I won the race.”

“We knew we had the championship as long as we stayed where we was, but we didn’t come here to finish second,” said Taylor. “We went at it and if we could have got it we would have won. It was good hard racing.”

Rowe, who won three series races, finished second in the points standings, 20 points behind Taylor. Tracy Gordon was third.

The wild tight finish was a fitting end to one of the best series races in the two-year history of the American Canadian Tour brainchild.

“It’s probably one of the toughest wins I’ve ever had,” said Rowe, who has had more than 300 feature victories in his career. “Everbyody was fast. Stan was fast, Ralph, Derek, Jeff Taylor. That was some great hard short-track racing.”

After Rowe took the lead, slipping under Meserve on the 39th lap, he was pushed the rest of the way, with little or no breathing room.

Meserve stayed with Rowe for 11 laps until Lynch slipped into the second spot. Lynch took a couple of looks on the outside of Rowe, who held off each challenge.

“I knew it was going to be tough,” said Lynch, the winner of this year’s True Value Oxford 250. “He’s Mike Rowe. Nothing more needs to be said.”

Lynch, whose car had brake problems, finally settled in behind Rowe until the third yellow of the race flew on the 96th lap when Meserve lost it on the backstretch.

Taylor then got past Lynch on that restart, putting him outside of Rowe for the final restart when another caution flew two laps later.