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Rich Unity DNK Select 250 set for Sunday, June 13

Unity, ME � Dozens of local short track racers from throughout the Northeastern United States and beyond will converge upon the historic Unity Raceway Sunday, June 13 for the first-ever running of the DNK Select 250. Pro Stock drivers from every state in New England have entered the rich, $160,000-plus event, along with racers from New York, North Carolina and at least three Canadian provinces.
    One of the favorites to claim the $25,000 winner�s share of the biggest purse in New England Pro Stock racing history is 64-year-old hometown racing legend Ralph Nason. The wily veteran knows how to get the job done not only at Unity, where he was triumphant in his only racing start last season in the annual Longjohn 150 classic, but in big open competition races as well. Nason is the only man to win the other Maine racing classic, the annual Oxford 250, three consecutive times.
     Nason won�t be the only representative of Maine�s �Old Guard� of racing looking for success in the best-paying race in his home state on June 13. Legendary veteran Stan Meserve, now a fabricator for DEI in Mooresville, North Carolina, will make a rare appearance at the DNK Select 250, driving for Massachusetts car owner P.T. Watts.
     Joining them will be four-time NASCAR Busch North / NASCAR North Champion Dick McCabe of Kennebunkport, who will be unretiring to steer a new Pro Stock for car owner Wright Pearson, who himself races in support division action at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway.
     Forty-plus year veteran Al Hammond, a multi-time Oxford champion, will have his DNK Select Used Cars-sponsored Pro Stock in the pits, as will eight-time Oxford champion Jeff Taylor and seven-time OPS kingpin Mike Rowe, who also has touring titles with ACT and NEPSA on his resume.
     The list of recent champions entered in the DNK Select 250 makes up the most impressive list of Northeastern racers entered in one Maine event in recent memory, led by two-time and defending NASCAR Busch North Series champion Andy Santerre, a native of Cherryfield, Maine. The Aubuchon Hardware-sponsored driver will hop in a ride owned by DNK co-owner Doug White.
     Two-time and defending Pro All Stars Series champion Ben Rowe is entered, along with the first-ever PASS champion, Sud�n Sam Sessions. Two-time and defending Carquest maritime Pro Stock champion John Flemming is hauling in from Halifax, Nova Scotia to lead the Canadian invasion. Add to that the likes of five-time Wiscasset Raceway Pro Stock Champion Scott Chubbuck, former Speedway 95 and Wiscasset multi-time champion Big John Phippen of Bar Harbor, multi-time Seekonk and Thompson champion Radical Rick Martin, and the two most recent Unity Raceway champions, Matt Lee and Dean Fuller, and you�ll see that it will be a tough starting lineup to crack, with just 33 cars slated to start the DNK Select 250.
      Current PASS points leader Johnny Clark, one of the fleet of DNK-sponsored cars throughout Maine, expects to be a threat, as do PASS regulars like Gary Smith, Larry Gelinas, Tracy Gordon and Scott Mulkern, who won on opening day this season at Unity Raceway.
     Pro Stock racers will draw for positions in a series of heat races on Sunday afternoon, and will need to race their way into the DNK Select 250, with the usual time trial-based PASS qualifying procedures suspended for this huge event. While all qualifying and racing will take place on Sunday, June 13, there will be Pro Stock practice sessions on Friday, June 11 from 10:00 a.m. � 4:00 p.m., and Saturday, June 12 from 10:00 a.m. � 3:30 p.m.