|
The PASS 150
Speedway 95 - Sunday, May 7th |
|
|
- |
# |
Driver |
Hometown |
Make |
Sponsors |
1 |
8 |
Cassius
Clark |
Farmington,
ME |
Ford |
EJP,
Chapman Trucking |
2 |
29 |
Scott
Chubbuck |
Wiscasset,
ME |
Ford |
Cushman
Competition |
3 |
4 |
Ben Rowe |
Turner,
ME |
Chevy |
Richard
Moody & Sons
Construction Co. LLC |
4 |
17 |
Travis
Benjamin |
Morrill,
ME |
Ford |
Belfast
Variety,
Morrill General |
5 |
33 |
Richie
Dearborn |
Hollis,
ME |
Chevy |
Chadwick
BaRoss |
6 |
24 |
Mike Rowe |
Turner,
ME |
Chevy |
LUX
Enterprises,
T K & Sons Concrete |
7 |
75 |
Gary
Smith |
Bangor,
ME |
Chevy |
UncleHenrys.com |
8 |
54 |
Johnny
Clark |
Hallowell,
ME |
Chevy |
Clark's
Cars and Parts,
TDS Telcom |
9 |
53 |
Alan
Wilson |
Hebron,
ME |
Chevy |
Wilson
Logging |
10 |
44 |
Travis
Khiel |
Denmark,
ME |
Chevy |
John
Khiel Logging & Chipping, Richard Moody & Sons Construction Co. LLC |
11 |
47 |
Corey
Williams |
Boothbay,
ME |
Dodge |
AEGIS
Investigations |
12 |
9 |
Tim Turner |
Freedom, ME |
Chevy |
Downer Logging |
13 |
35 |
Garry
Johnson |
Hollis,
ME |
Chevy |
Johnson
Trucking,
Watson Racing Heads |
14 |
0 |
Bill
Penfold |
Yarmouth,
ME |
Chevy |
VIP
Charter Coaches |
15 |
59 |
John Phippen |
Bar Harbor, ME |
Chevy |
- |
16 |
88 |
David Bath |
Arundel, ME |
Chevy |
LUX Enterprises |
17 |
72 |
Ralph Nason |
Unity, ME |
Chevy |
NewEnglandAutoParts.com |
18 |
38 |
Chuck
Lachance |
Cushing,
ME |
Ford |
Fuller
Auto Mall |
19 |
28x |
Matt Eaton |
Little Dear Island, ME |
Chevy |
Tirewarehouse,
The Granite Shop |
20 |
15 |
Paul White |
Corinne, ME |
Chevy |
- |
21 |
11 |
Erik Worster |
Winterport, ME |
Chevy |
Area Home Center |
22 |
8t |
Alan
Tardiff |
Lyman, ME |
Chevy |
Kevin
Bedard Contracting |
|
Its Cassius
Clark Again in PASS North This Time at Speedway 95 | Young Maine Driver Goes Two for Two
with Dominating Performance | by Mike Twist |
NAPLES, ME (May 8, 2006) Cassius Clark might have started deep in the field for
Sundays PASS 150 at Speedway 95 near Bangor, Maine, but that didnt matter much
in the end result. The 24-year-old Farmington, Maine, driver rocketed to the front of the
pack in almost no time and dominated the second Pro All Stars Series North event of the
2006 season.
Clark also won the first race of the season, contested at Oxford Plains Speedway last
Saturday night, in pretty much the same fashion. The young driver and his EJ Prescott #8
team have definitely shown their strength so far this year.
Winning at Speedway 95 should not have been easy for Clark. He started back in the seventh
row at a track where it is challenging to pass to say the least. But with other drivers
fighting over the outside groove, which is normally the fastest way around the track,
Clark just rocketed down on the bottom to pass his way up to the front early on.
We worked our way through, said Clark. The high groove is the preferred
lane, but the bottom is what is always open. They were all up there nose to tail, so we
took our time and worked our way through underneath. We got up there by lap 50 or so and
took the lead.
Passing down low at Speedway 95 can be an unnerving experience. A bad move can send a
driver back many spots, but Clark didnt hesitate to get his job done down there
early on.
You just have to bite your teeth and hang on, said Clark. You cant
give up. If you arent successful, youre going to fall back a long way.
Before Clark took over to top spot, Ben Rowe showed the way. Speedway 95 has not been one
of his best racetracks through the years, but Rowe still managed to win his heat race and
start on the pole. He showed the way early on before yielding the top spot to Clark after
a lap-50 restart.
Imagine that? I led at Bangor. Thats not right, laughed Rowe after the
race. We started out front and that makes it easy. It was a good run. Theres
not much that I can say. We just stayed in the top three all day.
The days best racing came after any one of eight restarts during the event.
Three-time PASS champion Ben Rowe and barnstorming driver Scott Chubbuck, both of whom
have won multiple races at Speedway 95 in the past, kept Clark honest and put up a good
fight. Both drivers led laps, but Clarks car was just so good on long runs that he
would pull away to a sizable lead once things got rolling again."It was a matter of who was on the
outside," said Rowe of the restarts.
And without a restart in the final moments of the race,
Clark rolled easily to the victory.
"A caution with two to go would have been about the
only way to catch him," said Chubbuck. "The outside worked well, but only for a
few laps. He was good. He was toying with us."
Chubbuck
finished second with Rowe, Travis Benjamin and Richie Dearborn rounding out the top five.
John Phippen was the highest finishing Speedway 95
regular. He brought his #59 car home in the 15th position.
The victory was Clarks fifth career point race
victory in PASS North. It also adds to a top-10 finish against the best Super Late Model
drivers in the country at USA International Speedways Speedfest in January and a
dominating run cut short by mechanical problems during the PASS South Easter Bunny 150 at
Hickory Motor Speedway last month.
"This just shows how awesome the team really
is," said Clark. "We worked hard all winter long and had an awesome car last
year. We should have won more races last year, and in the past three years, than what we
did. Were always fast and always there. We always had something happen or did
something stupid. Now, we are just trying to keep our heads on straight.
"The car was hooked up, just like it was last week
[at Oxford] and down at Hickory. We found something down at Lakeland when the guys down
there spanked us. We licked our wounds and tried what they were doing and it seems to be
working out right now."
The PASS Super Late Models return to action on May 21st
with their Southern Tour at North Carolinas Southern National Raceway Park. The PASS
North teams will next see the track at Canaan Fair Speedway on May 27th. |
PASS North Set
to Tackle Tough Speedway 95 Track by Mike Twist
Its Off to a Drivers Track for Round Two of the 2006
Season
NAPLES, ME (May 4, 2006) When the teams of Pro All Stars Series North roll into
Speedway 95 this weekend for their second race of the season, one thing will be for sure.
The 150-lap race might be scheduled for Sunday afternoon, but drivers can expect anything
but a Sunday drive in the race.
The track, which is located just south of Bangor, Maine, is a
throwback to an earlier time in motorsports. There isnt much banking to carry you
through the corners or wide passing zones. It is a track where you need to race hard just
to survive, much less finish well.
We always look forward to going to Bangor because its a different kind of
facility, said Corey Williams, who had two top-five finishes at Speedway 95 last
year. Its probably how racing used to be. Some tracks, you can ride around,
but at Bangor you need to put some wheel into it, throw the car around and have some fun.
Im sure its like Darlington (Raceway in SC). You can hang it out on the
outside and thats the kind of racing that I like to do.
Bangor is very tough to get around. Its got a distinctive groove to run and if
you arent in that groove, youre not going to be able to go fast at all.
Once a driver figures the place out, though, they can fly around the place.
Those kind of man-handling, get-on-the edge of your seat tracks are places where
Ive seemed to take a liking to lately, said 2004 PASS Champion Johnny Clark.
Places like Unity, Bangor and tracks like that are where Ive done well.
Clark is still looking for his first victory at the track, but its not from lack of
effort. In the last four races there, he has finished second three times and third once.
The last few races at Bangor were pretty good for us, said Clark. Last
year, out of two races, our average finish was second. Weve got a pretty good track
record there; its been a good place for us.
Speedway 95 is one of the odd places where the Rowe family has had a hit or miss record.
Ben Rowe has three victories there, but the latest one came back in 2003. Mike Rowe
finally broke through to win a race there last year, but surprisingly, it was his
first-ever PASS finish better than ninth at the track.
I know if you ask either Rowe, theyll tell you that its not one of their
favorite tracks, said Johnny Clark.
Cassius Clark joined Mike Rowe as the other winner at Speedway 95 in 2005. Clark won the
2006 season-opener at Oxford Plains Speedway last weekend and has to be considered one of
the favorites this week as well.
Ive always liked Bangor, said Cassius Clark. We should have won
both races up there last year. We ended up with first and third [in the two races there].
Ive liked the track since I raced Legends cars up there. Weve got some
momentum coming out of here and we feel pretty strong about it, so we should be all
right.
If a first-time winner is in the cards, it might be Williams who rises to the occasion. A
finish of third at Speedway 95 was his best result of the 2005 season and his team has
stepped up their program for 2006. He led at Oxford and ran strong before running into
problems in the PASS South Easter Bunny 150 at Hickory Motor Speedway.
I think Bangor has a lot of potential for us, said Williams. It is where
we can do well. Weve always ran decent there, and I like that kind of track.
Meanwhile, Johnny Clark might have been happy with his second-place finishes in 2005, but
he wont be satisfied until he wins at the track.
Im pretty excited about getting back there and hopefully, we can improve one
position, said Johnny Clark.
Another driver to watch is Scott Chubbuck, who has a pair of victories at the track. He
rides into the track on the heels of a third-place run at Oxford. His Jay Cushman-owned
team has a second-place finish at Speedway 95 to their credit with Louie Mechalides in
2001.
Other PASS winners at Speedway 95 have been Sammy Sessions (2004 and 2002) and Tracy
Gordon (2003).
The short track battle at Speedway 95 will draw fans from throughout Northern New England,
but has also been known for some international flair as well.
Its in Central Maine and thats pretty close to Canada, said Johnny
Clark. We always get a lot of fans coming in from New Brunswick. Its only
about three-and-a-half hours from Fredericton. To get some fans to come down from there is
important to us.
Also on the racing card for Speedway 95, will be the season-opening race for the TAT/Link
Belt PASS Modifieds. The growing division will start a 14-race campaign that will end with
the crowning of a champion at the October 14th Canaan Fair Speedway event.
Racing at Speedway 95 is set to start at 1:30 pm and will include four regular divisions
from the track - Limited, Super Streets, Strictly Streets and Sport 4s. |
|
|