Drivers, fans endure eventful night at Unity LeBlanc Jr., Clark among feature race winners

UNITY -There wasn’t a full moon at Unity Raceway Saturday night. There probably should have been.

On a night during which a tire bounced over a 20-foot fence into the grandstand, slightly injuring two people; a car driven by Greg Veinote was enveloped in flames (he wasn’t hurt); and an apparent race winner was disqualified for failing the postrace tech inspection; Anson’s Marty LeBlanc Jr. and Farmingdale’s Johnny Clark posted memorable wins.

LeBlanc took the checkered flag in the seemingly-endless 30-lap Street Stock Triple Crown series race that featured eight cautions and a red flag.

The red flag occurred when Mike Julia’s tire came off on the backstretch and took one hop into the pit area stands.

Two women were attended to by the Unity ambulance crew, according to track manager John Crawford, and one was taken to a local hospital for X-rays on her leg. The other woman was slightly shaken up when the tire grazed her head, according to Crawford.

“They’re both OK, thank goodness,” said Crawford.

The restart occurred on lap 22 with Canaan’s Adam Gilman up front and LeBlanc starting alongside him.

LeBlanc took the lead on the outside a couple of laps later and survived Gilman’s challenges, including a few taps in the back, to win by three car-lengths.

Norridgewock’s R.J. Austin finished third.

LeBlanc had started 17th and was running a distant second to Gilman at the time of the final caution.

“I was real happy with the car. But it took a couple of laps off the restart before the tires came back,” said Gilman of his 1979 Camaro. “We tried everything we could [to pass LeBlanc] but there weren’t enough laps.”

“I got lucky,” said LeBlanc, who drove a 1977 Camaro. “Adam had a really fast car but the outside is fast here and I seemed to go better before my tires got hot. He was beating and banging on me at the end and if there were a couple more laps, I think he would have gotten me.”

Gilman could have blocked LeBlanc “but I wanted to race him and give him a fair chance. What I got is what I got.”

Clark won the Pro Stock race despite starting 11th in the 14-car event.

He was ninth with just 17 laps to go but moved up to sixth. When four cars ahead of him got tangled up on lap 22, he barely squeezed his Chevy Monte Carlo past the wreck into second.

Then the race boiled down to a battle between Clark and Freedom’s Randy Turner on the restart.

Clark soon moved around Turner on the outside to take the lead for good.

“Johnny was just too good. He was a lot better than us. We were tight in the middle,” said Turner.

“Once we got to the outside and had a clean track [ahead], I said ‘We’re all set guys’. I knew there wasn’t anybody who could run with us,” said Clark, who was racing at Unity because Sunday’s Coastal 200 at Wiscasset had already been postponed.

“It was fun. We came here to win and we got the job done,” said Clark.

Thorndike’s Bub Raven finished third.

In the other features:

. Lawrence High School of Fairfield senior Chad Dow, who hasn’t finished lower than second, cruised to an easy win in the Mini-Truck class followed by Oakland’s Reggie Bickford and Sidney’s Bill Winter;

. Sidney’s Dixon Smith and his nephew, Jonathan Smith, were one-two in the Mini-Stock class when apparent winner Seth Wills was disqualified due to a improper camber. Sidney’s Dan Somes was third.

. Winslow’s Paul Shorette, Orrington’s J.R. Gray and Glenburn’s Joe Allard were 1-2-3 in the Pro-Fours.

. Jefferson’s Mike Hodgkins posted a three car-length win over Deer Isle’s Matt Eaton in the Super Sportsman with Sidney’s Chris Thorne finishing third.

. The Legends race easily belonged to 17-year-old Boothbay High School junior Corey Williams. Saco’s Herve Thibodeau Jr. was second and Falmouth’s Steve Fox was third.