Burgess captues Pro Stock victory Fuller, Thorne challenge driver

UNITY – After taking the lead on a lap 15 restart, Albion’s Dean Fuller warded off challenges from Oakland’s Jeff Burgess and Sidney’s Gary Thorne over the next 15 laps.

But a caution on lap 30 gave Burgess and Thorne one more chance with five laps to go and Burgess capitalized on lap 32 to get around Fuller on the outside and claim his first Unity Raceway Pro Stock win of the season Saturday night.

Burgess wound up crossing the finish line 15 car-lengths ahead of Fuller, who held off points leader Thorne by 11/2 car lengths for second.

“Jeff worked his butt off,” said Fuller, who lost his power steering earlier in the evening. “He won that thing fair and square. That was good racing.”

Fuller acknowledged that the final caution didn’t help him and Burgess said that was the break he needed to pass Fuller.

“I think we needed one more shot [caution] to get the job done,” said Burgess, who has also won two Pro Stock races at Wiscasset Raceway this season. “Once we got [past Thorne] to second, I thought we had a real good shot [to pass Fuller].”

Burgess added that when he got around Fuller, “it was the first time we had run the outside [groove] the whole night. I didn’t know if we were going to end up in the woods or not on turn one. But the car stuck. We knew we had to get to the outside and hang tough.”

In the Late Model Pro-Four class, Sidney’s Dixon Smith edged Winslow’s Paul Shorette by 11/2 car-lengths for his first victory.

Orrington’s J.R. Gray was third.

“It was a battle from the start to the end,” said Smith. “I think my car handled a little better than his but he had more power.”

Shorette had gotten the nose of his car under Smith’s rear fender with a couple of laps remaining but couldn’t get by him.

“It was a tough one. I didn’t want to wreck him so I lifted [off the accelerator],” said Shorette.

Seth Wills of Rome won the Mini-Stocks by a car-length over Kevin Douglass of Sidney in a battle of Toyota Celicas. Bradford’s Greg Markee was third.

“I tried not to make any mistakes,” said Wills, who posted his second win. “My car was loose at the beginning but I told myself it would come around at the end.”

“He was pretty fast and I didn’t think I’d be able to hang up on the outside the whole time. But I gave it my best shot,” said Douglass.

In the Street Stocks, Oakland’s Skip Conner collected his fourth win to extend his points lead. He beat Madison’s Marty LeBlanc Jr. by 20 car-lengths with Anson’s Mickey Landry finishing third.

“Skip’s got it going, that’s for sure,” said LeBlanc. “My tires were real good at the beginning of the race but the longer the race went, my tires went away.”

“He ran me real good,” said Conner. “I didn’t think he could make it [around me] on the outside so I stayed on the inside.”

Recent Lawrence High School of Fairfield graduate Chad Dow continued his impressive season by crossing the finish line in the Mini-Trucks division ahead of China’s Clarence Whitman and Sidney’s Bill Winter for his fifth win and third in four races between Hermon’s Speedway 95 and Unity Raceway.

“The truck has been better but it was working pretty well,” said Dow.

Tim Ferreira of Unity withstood a challenge from Jefferson’s Mike Hodgkins to win the Super Sportsman by 11/2 car lengths. Little Deer Isle’s Matt Eaton was third.

Ferreira was second to Sidney’s Chris Thorne on a lap 12 restart and took the lead for good when Thorne checked up and he bumped him.

“It definitely wasn’t on purpose. For some reason, he lifted a little, I was wide open and I got him. I was on the brakes and I just touched him and down he went. I feel bad for him,” said Ferreira.

Fourteen-year-old Cecil Bryant of Wilton won the Allison Legacy Series race for three-quarter size Winston Cup replicas with four-cylinder Mazda truck engines. It was the first time he raced his No. 88 car.

Points leader Bart Harthorne of New Gloucester was second and 17-year-old Katie Hager of Damariscotta was third. Hager is second in points.

UNITY RACEWAY RESULTS

Pro Stock: 1. Jeff Burgess, Oakland, 2. Dan Fuller, Albion, 3. Gary Thorne, Sidney, 4. Kris Huff, Orrington, 5. Matt Lee, Albion; Super Sportsman: 1. Tim Ferreira, Unity, 2. Mike Hodgkins, Jefferson, 3. Matt Eaton, Little Deer Isle, 4. Chris Thorne, Sidney, 5. Ed Drake, North Vassalboro; Pro Four: 1. Dixon Smith, Sidney, 2. Paul Shorette, Winslow, 3. J.R. Gray, Orrington, 4. Joe Allard, Glenburn, 5. Rusty Ramsell, Clinton; Street Stocks: 1. Skip Conner, Oakland, 2. Marty LeBlanc, Madison, 3. Mickey Landry, Anson, 4. R.J. Austin, Norridgewock, 5. Adam Gilman, Canaan; Mini-stocks: 1. Seth Wills, Rome, 2. Kevin Douglass, Sidney, 3. Greg Markee, Bradford, 4. Jonathan Smith, Sidney, 5. Justin Smith, Sidney; Mini-trucks: 1. Chad Dow, Fairfield, 2. Clarence Whitman, China, 3. Bill Winter, Sidney, 4. Mike Rackliff, Starks, 5. Wayne McCaslin, Winslow; Allison Legacy Series: 1. Cecil Bryant, Wilton; 2. Bart Harthorne, New Gloucester, 3. Katie Hager, Damariscotta, 4. Barry Orleans, Lantham, Mass., 5. Tom Abele, Norwich, Conn.