The Nelcar Legends Tour made the trip up to Unity, Maine for the final time in the 2009 on Friday night. Some of the best Legends Cars drivers looked to take home the final checkered flag at the tricky speedway. The race would not disappoint, as some familiar faces made their way to the front.
The first of two heat races saw the 10 of Ed Getty on the pole, with the 33 of Alan Smith lined up on the outside. Getty got the jump from the pole, but Smith rallied hard on the outside and took the lead out of turn two. He opened up a long gap over Getty and didn't look back as he took his first ever heat win. Getty was able to keep the 72 of Kevin Hutchens, driving the car his dad usually runs, behind him as he took second and Hutchens had to settle for third.
When the high point heat hit the track, it was the 29 of Tyler Jordan leading the field to the green with the 17 of Terry Kirk on his outside. Kirk got the jump on Jordan from the outside, and led for the first half of the heat before the 38 of Bobby Timmons took it away, making the inside line work well. From there it looked as if Timmons would roll to the victory, but the 20 of Max Zachem had other plans, as he took the lead with two to go and cruised to the win as Jordan spun his 29 car in turn three while the 399 of Bob Weymouth and the 56 of Evan Beaulieu made abasive action to avoid. Timmons finished second and Kirk held on for third.
Getty once again sat on the pole for the feature race, as Jordan was lined up to his outside for the green flag. When the field roared into turn one, Jordan was able to take the lead as Beaulieu followed close behind in second. Those two were able to check out, running bumper to bumper for the race lead, and it looked for a while the race would be decided by the two sophomore drivers. Coming up through the pack however was Nelcar tour points leader Zachem, as he picked off the cars one at a time and made his way to the front, making his way to Beaulieu's bumper around the half way point. Zachem tried a couple times, but the three drivers made their way around the track mostly single file before Zachem drove under Beaulieu, and was able to clear, and went around Jordan on the very next lap. In hot pursuit was defending champion Weymouth, as he made his way to second, but it was too little too late as Zachem took the checkered flag again at Unity. Weymouth finished second, Jordan had his best tour run and finished third, while Beaulieu put the rough luck he's had to rest with a fourth place finish, and the 19 of Jim Manchester had his best run of the season, rounding out the top five.
With the win, Zachem increased his already demanding points lead, and will probably lock up the title after he takes the green flag in the final race on September 12th at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway. The fight for second though is close, as only 30 points are between second place Weymouth and fourth place Beaulieu when the throwaways are in affect. It will be an interesting final race, as many drivers are still winless in the '09 season, and want to end the season on a high note going into '10. It will all be apart of the biggest Pro Stock race in Maine, the PASS 300 weekend at Beech Ridge. The Nelcar tour will be apart of the Saturday night show, the day before the PASS show on Sunday. For more info, news and points, visit Nelcar.net.