Farmington’s Cassius Clark isn’t sure how many times he has tried to win the Oxford 250 auto race, only to have it end in frustration.
But that all changed on Sunday evening when he took the checkered flag to win the state’s most prestigious race for the first time at Oxford Plains Speedway.
“It was awesome. I’ve been trying to pull this off 13 or 14 times,” said the 39-year-old Clark, whose previous best finish was third in 2017. “There have been so many heartaches over the years. … To finally get to Victory Lane was pretty sweet.”
He had posted six top-eight finishes and three top-fives over the previous eight Oxford 250s entering Sunday’s 48th annual race.
It was also special for Clark’s family, as his father, Billy, had back-to-back top-10 finishes in 1989 (5th) and 1990 (9th).
Clark started 25th out of 43 cars but felt he had a chance to win it.
“You have to keep your head on straight, stay out of wrecks and make forward progress and that’s what we did. We passed a lot of cars on the outside,” he said. “We kept the leaders in sight and saw what they were doing.”
The turning point came on lap 177 when a multi-car wreck involving the leaders and lapped cars enabled him to move to the front.
“We barely got through,” said Clark, whose car sustained some minor right side damage.
A pivotal four-tire pit stop ensued and Clark’s crew made an important adjustment to the track bar that enabled him to hold off a late charge by 2017 winner Curtis Gerry of Waterboro, who finished second.
Derek Griffith of Hudson, New Hampshire, was third.
“The crew did an awesome job on that pit stop,” Clark said.
The track bar is a lateral bar that keeps the rear tires centered within the body of the car. It connects the frame on one side and the rear axle on the other side. Changes to the track bar settings affect the weight distribution of the car and how it moves through the corners.
Clark races for Canadian Motorsport and Maritime Motorsport Hall of Famer Rollie MacDonald and his King Racing team from Pictou, Nova Scotia.
He entered his first Pro All-Stars Series Super Late Model North race of the season two weeks ago at Oxford Plains Speedway and won the 150-lapper.
It was his sixth career PASS race win at Oxford Plains and his 10th career win in a race of 250 laps or longer.
Clark is the first driver to win a 250-lap race at Riverside International Speedway in Antigonish, Nova Scotia; Speedway 660 in Geary, New Brunswick; and Scotia Speedworld in Goffs, Nova Scotia.
Gerry was in the fourth spot and Griffith was 29th when they dropped the green flag for the start of the race.
Joey Doiron of Berwick was fourth after starting fifth and defending champ Johnny Clark of Farmingdale rounded out the top five.
Johnny Clark, no relation to Cassius, started 31st.
Completing the top 10 were two-time winner Eddie MacDonald (2009, 2010) from Rowley, Massachusetts; Dennis Spencer from Oxford; Trevor Sanborn from Parsonsfield; 2012 winner Joey Polewarczyk from Hudson, New Hampshire; and 2018 winner Bubba Pollard from Senoia, Georgia.
Pollard started last, in 43rd.
Mike Rowe from Turner and Travis Benjamin from Morrill were each bidding to become the race’s first four-time winner. The 71-year-old Rowe, who won it in 1984, 1997 and 2005, finished 21st and the 42-year-old Benjamin, the 2013, 2014 and 2019 victor, was 22nd.