Cassius Clark was adamant about two things Sunday afternoon at Oxford Plains Speedway.
After leading 120 laps in the Pro All Stars Series 150 before finishing second, Clark, of Farmington, insisted that he had not set too blistering an early pace. Asked if he’d not saved enough tires for the end — when Curtis Gerry passed him on a restart en route to the win — Clark pointed out that his lap times hadn’t varied much from Gerry’s, even as he was pulling away to a nearly half-track lead.
“We were never in traffic (early), so it kind of looked like we were really going fast, but we were still running the same lap times,” Clark said. “Honestly, I’ve never driven a race so easily in my life. (Crew chief Andrew Hicken) yelled at me once for driving around one time with my hand out the window. Fifty, 60, 70 laps in, we were literally going around there quarter-throttle the whole time.”
Clark’s No. 13 picked up a vibration in the right front, he said, after he and Gerry made slight contact late in the race. His car was never good enough to get back by Gerry.
While you may or may not be inclined to believe Clark on his first point that he’d done enough to save his tires, you’d be a fool not to heed his second point — a warning of sorts for the competition.
The King Racing team used Sunday as a bit of a test session for the Oxford 250 on Aug. 26. Clark said what they learned will only make them better for that race.
Clark has finished in the top six at the 250 in each of the last six years, winning the pole last summer before finishing third — his best career finish in 10 starts in the event.
Doubling down on his comments Wednesday during a podcast interview, Clark said he might have his best shot yet at finally winning the Oxford 250 this month.
“There’s been a lot of times I’ve had a good car and had a really good shot at winning it,” Clark said. “I honestly think this is going to be my best (shot).
“There’s so many guys from Farmington (area) that should have won it — Tracy (Gordon), Jeff (Taylor), my dad (Billy Clark),” Clark said. “They’ve been dominant. If you went to Oxford, they were the dominant cars and you’d think they’d probably have 20 250 wins between those three guys. But bad luck, and it’s never happened. I want to win it for myself, my dad and those guys, too — even though they probably don’t even like me — but still, they’re from Farmington. It would be cool for the community.”
More than a decade ago, Clark was essentially a two-man racing operation with his father. Now, at 36-years-old, Clark has settled into a sweet spot in his career.
He began driving for King team owner Rollie MacDonald in 2012, and it’s a partnership that’s grown into a successful one.
While not committed to any single tour, either here in the United States or in Canada, where the team is located, Clark focuses primarily on marquee short track events — like the Oxford 250, the Snowball Derby in Florida or the IWK 250 in Nova Scotia. There’s more prestige, more purse money and more strategy involved in the longer races, something Clark enjoys most.
Running roughly 8-10 races a year, Clark has been among the contenders to win everywhere he’s been. He gives most of the credit to Hicken.
“Andrew’s been working on that thing 24 hours a day to try and make it better,” Clark said. “If he’s not working on it with his hands, he’s working on it with his mind. I’ve got the best crew chief in the business, bar none… I couldn’t have a better guy on my side.”
NOTES: Gerry’s win at Oxford on Sunday gave him five straight PASS wins at the track, a series record. … Wiscasset Speedway will have a 50-lap Late Model race Saturday night. On Sunday, the track hosts the Maine Vintage Race Car Association’s annual “Summerfest” for the first time. … The PASS race scheduled for Lee USA (New Hampshire) Friday night has been postponed due to a forecast calling for rain. No makeup date has been announced.
Travis Barrett — 621-5621
tbarrett@centralmaine.com
Twitter; @TBarrettGWC
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