UNITY – It always helps to have a fast race car.

But it doesn’t help if you can’t survive the perils of short-track racing.

Unity Raceway was transformed into a mosh pit of metal for the DNK Select 250 Sunday night and when the checkered flag was finally waved, it was Farmingdale’s Johnny Clark who pocketed the $25,000 winner’s share.

Clark made a daring pass on the inside of Turner’s Ben Rowe with just 11 laps remaining and pulled away to win by 15 car lengths. Ben Rowe was second followed by his father, Mike Rowe, Bangor’s Gary Smith and Strong’s Tracy Gordon.

Clark and Ben Rowe swapped paint and Clark was able to take the lead as Ben Rowe tried to control his car.

“I went high in corners three and four and then came down [to the inside]. It’s a move I’ve seen Benny use numerous times,” said the 24-year-old Clark. “Then once we got side-by-side, I wasn’t going to lift [off the accelerator].”

Clark also said his crew had tightened his sway bar during a pit stop just moments before and that made all the difference in the world.

“That enabled me to go into the corners, which I hadn’t been able to do [without the car wobbling],” said Clark.

Just after they made the adjustment following the 21st caution, the restart saw second-place Mike Rowe try to go wide on his son only to have the two bump which sent Mike Rowe sliding temporarily into the dirt.

“It was my fault,” said Ben Rowe. “But Johnny would have caught me anyway. I had old tires on.”

Following four heat races and six other preliminary races to determine the 34-car field, Otisfield’s Gary Drew started on the pole with Ted Christopher of Plainville, Conn., Clark, Westport, Mass., native Rick Martin and Ben Rowe rounding out the top five.

By the time the mandatory caution came out on lap 125, there were just 22 cars remaining.

There were 15 cautions during the first half of the race and wrecks claimed the cars of such notables as Christopher, three-time Oxford 250 champ Ralph Nason and Mercer’s Jeff Taylor, the eight-time Oxford Plains Speedway points champ.

There were only 19 cars on the lead lap for the restart.

Wiscasset’s Scott Chubbuck, who passed Ben Rowe for the lead on lap 81, was the leader at the intermission. Chubbuck developed car trouble on lap 178 and Denmark’s Travis Khiel, in just his second season as a pro stock racer, took over the lead.

But on a lap 220 restart, Khiel and the Rowes got tangled up on the back stretch and Ben Rowe took the lead.

Bangor’s Gary Smith had passed Clark for second on lap 108 but spun Drew on lap 116 and was sent to the back of the lead-lap pack (19th).

But Smith maneuvered his way through the pack to take home his fourth-place finish.

“I’m happy with it,” said Smith. “The car was good. It was a little tight in the second segment.”

Cherryfield’s Andy Santerre, who won the Budweiser 150 at Seekonk Speedway Saturday night, was given a provisional after failing to qualify in his heat race and a couple of consolation races.

Santerre finished seventh after starting 34th. He was one lap down. Just six cars finished on the lead lap.

“I didn’t have any fun in the first segment,” said Santerre, who was involved in a couple of wrecks. “But the guys got the car better for the second segment and it was a lot of fun.”

Khiel wound up sixth.

Rounding out the top 10 were Drew, Ricky Rolfe and Matt Lee.