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Dave St. Clair talks with runner-up Deane Smart after winning the Late Model feature at Unity Raceway on Friday night./Photo by Travis Barrett


St. Clair won't return to Wiscasset


Brad Bellows' Sportsman streak comes to end

By TRAVIS BARRETT
GWC Staff
07.11.08


UNITY, Maine -- Dave St. Clair confirmed on Friday night that he would no longer be competing at the track he used to own.

St. Clair, who won the 25-lap feature Late Model feature at Unity Raceway, said he would not return to Wiscasset Raceway. St. Clair sold the facility to Doug White last season, and White recently suspended him from competition for two weeks. On June 7, St. Clair rammed his own car into that of fellow competitor Steve Reno on several occasions after an on-track dust-up to earn the time off.

St. Clair was contrite more than a month later, but he did say he would not return to Wiscasset.

"I acted up," St. Clair said. "Doug's a good guy, and I wish him all the luck in the world with the place. He didn't do anything wrong (by suspending me). If I'd have still been running the track, I would have done the same thing."

St. Clair did say that there was "a lot of history" between he and Reno, and that it was his decision not to compete at Wiscasset any longer. Since selling the facility to White, St. Clair has raced sporadically at Speedway 95 in Hermon, Unity and Wiscasset.

Recently, he and family members Josh St. Clair, his grandson, and Puncin St. Clair, his son, asked Wiscasset for their impounded tires -- a sure sign that they were thinking of racing elsewhere. Wiscasset race director Derek Mingo confirmed the move on Friday.

"It's nothing I'm proud of," St. Clair said.

He could, however, be proud of the way he used the outside groove to the Late Model feature at Unity. Deane Smart finished second, while hometown driver Frank Moulton was third.

On a lap 20 restart, Dave St. Clair followed Smart on the low side of the track to get position on Moulton. Then he set himself to the outside to take the lead on lap 23.

"I'm glad (Smart) gave me the outside," St. Clair said. "You can really make it work out there. You can get over the lip (on the track) or go off to the banking and you lose (by yourself). If you're on the inside and you hit the curb or drive in too hard, you take somebody else with you -- and then that starts a whole bunch of other stuff."

In other feature racing on Friday night, Mark Dodge became the first driver to beat Brad Bellows in Sportsman competition. By taking the win in the caution-free 25-lap main, Dodge ended Bellows' win streak at 8 races -- a run that included the first five races of this season.

"He had a really good car tonight," Bellows said. "I was slowly reeling him in, but catching him and passing him were going to be 2 different things."

Dodge said that the team's decision to part with crew chief Judd Derbyshire has helped turn around a disastrous start to the season.

"We're footing the bill, but he didn't want to let us try anything," Dodge said. "It was his way or the highway, you know."

Wildcat points leader Dustin Hubbard waited out a 33-minute delay to win the division's main event.

The track went dark when four banks of lights running through Unity's second turn and down the backstretch lost power. Once the lighting was restored, Hubbard was also under full power.

Mike Wilson took the Mini Stock checkers in long race program that included 10 divisions and took five and a half hours to complete. Jeremy Ludden won his first career Teen division feature, beating out points leader Ricky Palmer. Palmer recovered from an early spin to finish second.

Posted at 1:40 a.m. by TBarrett

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