By Shawn Courchesne
STAFFORD – The For Sale signs were up and Mark St. Hilaire figured the best way to make a sale was to showcase the equipment in victory lane.
In what may have been his final event, Mark St. Hilaire rumbled to victory in the 30-lap Late Model feature Sunday at the CarQuest Fall Final at Stafford Motor Speedway.
Tom Fearn of Longmeadow, Mass. was second and Jim Mavlouganes of Bethany third.
St. Hilaire, of Berlin, said barring a major sponsor or supported showing up on scene, he’s likely getting out of the sport.
“You may have seen my last race,” said the 44-year old St. Hilaire, who has been racing since 1989. “Obviously I want to stay in the sport. If we can come up some more sponsors, maybe some deal with another car, something like that. We needed to put on a good show. That’s salesmanship. That was a big deal for me.”
St. Hilaire gave Fearn a bump out of the lead on the final lap to score the victory.
“I think the fans came here to see a race and once I gave that guy a shot,” St. Hilaire said. “… If he didn’t look in the mirror he would have been three car lengths in the lead. That’s what happened there. He slowed up, I didn’t go any faster. I knew I had to rattle him to get by him.”
Fearn seemed unfazed by the final lap contact, joking in the postrace victory lane ceremonies.
“I guess second is the first loser but there was a lot of other losers behind me," Fearn said.
(Photo: Nicholas Teto)