Cherryfield’s Andy Santerre, who claimed his second straight Busch North series points championship this past season, indicated he will probably return to defend his title next April.

“Right now, the big thing is to get all the sponsors back. If we have enough money to run the whole Busch North series next year, we will. If not, we’ll be up for anything,” said the 35-year-old Santerre.

Santerre drove the Aubuchon Hardware/Brickmill Marketing Services Chevy Monte Carlo for the Joe Bessey Motorsports Team this past season and said he intends to stay with Bessey.

“I’m pretty much committed to Joe. He took care of me this year. My first obligation is to him,” said Santerre who works out of Bessey’s shop in Charloette, N.C. with three other employees.

He said he would consider a full-time ride with a Busch Grand National or a Craftsman Truck series team “but I don’t see that happening. Down here, the money is tight.”

And he indicated he isn’t interested in being a part-time driver for a struggling team in either of those two series.

However, he wouldn’t mind taking a Busch North car to an occasional Winston West race if it didn’t conflict with a Busch North race.

Santerre and the Busch North drivers posted a convincing win over the Winston West drivers in the Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale (Cal.) Speedway two weekends ago, racking up 1905 points to Winston West’s 1660.

And Santerre finished second to Austin Cameron of El Cajon, Cal. in the 125-lap feature.

“I was a little disappointed. We had a fast car all weekend but the car wasn’t good enough to win,” said Santerre.

He said the first time event was enjoyable.

“We had a good time. They treated us well. The track was good. It was wide. There was plenty of room. The main groove was up against the wall like Darlington (S.C.). It was neat. The Busch North team really stepped up and brought its best stuff,” Santerre said.

Mayberry won’t lease Wiscasset

Tom Mayberry won’t lease Wiscasset Raceway next season and the family of track owner Dave St. Clair will run it again.

Mayberry is the founder and president of the Pro All-Stars Series tour, which will begin its fourth season next spring.

“It was overwhelming for me,” said Mayberry, who leased the track for just one season. “I want to concentrate on the tour and they [St. Clairs] were willing to take it back. There wasn’t anything negative. The St. Clairs were awesome about it.”

Mayberry changed the format from Saturday night racing to Friday nights and Tammy Reynolds, daughter of Dave and Sandra St. Clair and the track’s vice president of operations, said they will return to Saturday nights next season.

There were also some Sunday cards.

“We didn’t have that great a year,” acknowledged Mayberry.

However, he also said the PASS tour schedule for next season is close to being firmed up.

“Things went 10 times better than I thought they would,” said Mayberry.

They will open the season at Hermon’s Speedway 95 on April 24 and he said “it looks like we’ll have 16 races. Things really came together.”

They will also race at Unity Raceway and there is a distinct possibility of a race at another Maine track.

Tracks in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, New Hampshire and Connecticut will also host features and Quebec is another possibility.

It doesn’t look as though the lucrative Big Dawg 400 will return for a second year at Wiscasset Raceway but Mayberry indicated there will probably be another big-money event.