Story By Evan Beaulieu
The Amsoil Nelcar Legends Tour visited the rough and tough Unity Raceway this past weekend. The Tour has been coming to this track for the past few years and having experience at this tricky oval is one of the most important attributes to be successful on the track. The stands were packed, and the race would not disappoint.
For the first race, it was Pete Cannel, who ran at Unity back when it was a dirt track, on the pole with the 2 of rookie Ryan Hammar on the outside. At the start, Hammar was able to grab the lead around the outside as he took the 46 of Legends Car veteran Chad Harrington with him. Harrington made a bid at the lead, but lost control of his car through turn one and spun to the bottom of the track. No yellow flag was flown as he was able to get his car back on the track. Hammar meanwhile was driving away, and he was able to take home his first heat win in a Legends Car in only his sixth start. The 59 of Reid Lanpher finished second with Harrington driving back up to third.
The second heat race had the 38 of Northern Maine favorite Mathew Bourgoine with the 56 of recent Unity winner, Evan Beaulieu on his outside. On the start, Bourgoine was able to clear Beaulieu through turns one and two and had the early race lead. While Beaulieu ran Bourgoine hard on the inside in a bid for the lead, Bourgoine held strong on the outside groove. He had enough, as Bourgoine took the heat win. Beaulieu finished second while the 33 of Alan Smith took third.
The two young drivers would be able to have a rematch on the feature start, as Bourgoine started on the pole with Beaulieu once again to his outside. This time however, Beaulieu made the preferred groove on the outside work to his advantage as he took the race lead out of turn two. The roles were reversed from the heat race as it was Bourgoine who making a bid for the race lead. The two battled each other hard for the rest of the race as the race ran clean and green for the entire distance. With just a few laps to go, Bourgoine closed in one last time, but it wasn’t enough as Beaulieu took the checkered flag, his second win at Unity. Bourgoine one upped his best career finish to finish second, while the defending champion, who came from the rear of the field, Bob Weymouth finished third. Smith and the 17 of Terry Kirk rounded out the top five.
After six races in the 2011 season, Weymouth holds the points lead by 57 points over Kirk. The Tour is headed back to Unity Raceway next weekend on Saturday, June 4th. With the Nelcar rules, the top three, Beaulieu, Bourgoine and Weymouth, will have to come from the rear of the field next weekend. There will be plenty of excitement and racing will start at 6PM. Fore more news, info and how you can get behind the wheel of a Legends Car, visit Nelcar.net.
