Johnny
Clark strung together three strong performances in Sunday's Pro All Stars Series Team EJP
150 to earn his first career PASS victory over Tracy Gordon and Jeff Taylor. In the first
PASS event to feature the popular "monza-style" format with three fifty lap
segments and two full field inversions, Clark tallied sixteen points for finishes of
second, eleventh and third in the three segments. Gordon earned twenty points for his
fifth, thirteenth, and second place results while Jeff Taylor had three top ten's (sixth,
eighth and tenth), garnering twenty-four points to come home third.
Ben Rowe topped the thirty car field in Sunoco Race Fuels time trials with a 15.165 second
clocking, twenty-three thousandths of a second better than Clark. Scott Mulkern, Gordon,
Richie Dearborn, Cassius Clark, Jeff Taylor, Bill Whorff, Travis Benjamin and Kenny Wright
rounded out the top ten time trialers. Travis Benjamin pulled the number one spot for the
Dash redraw and wired the twelve-lap sprint to earn the pole for segment one. Taylor came
home second with Rowe third and Kenny Wright fourth. Johnny Clark, Bill Whorff, Cassius
Clark, Gordon,
Mulkern and Dearborn completed the top ten, setting the front of the field for the first
segment.
Benjamin took off to a solid lead in Segment one, holding the point for the first thirty
-four laps until Rowe showed his strength low, ducking under Benjamin for the lead. With
Benjamin high on the race track the field
freight-trained by on the low side with Johnny Clark coming home second, Kenny Wright
third and Jim McCallum fourth. Tracy Gordon was fifth with Taylor seventh, Benjamin in
eighth, and the Whorffs, Bill and Jeremie, rounding out the top ten.
The field took a ten-minute break for service and adjustments and lined up inverted for
segment number two. Dave Gorveatt took advantage of his newfound spot near the front of
the pack to power into the lead and held off the advances of Scott Chubbuck and Dale Shaw
to take down the segment win. Larry Gelinas finished fourth and Scott King fifth Cassius
Clark, Donnie Whitten, Taylor, Darren Ripley and Chuck LaChance completing the top ten.
PASS points leader Ben Rowe saw his shot at victory go away on lap fourteen when the
double zero coasted to the pit area with driveline problems.
Another quick break
and another full field inversion saw Scott Mulkern up front flanked by Jeremie Whorff. It
was Sam Sessions' turn to show his strength on lap twenty- two and the 2001 series champ
wrestled the lead from Mulkern. Meanwhile, the three main contenders for the overall win
were locked in a battle of their own, picking their way up through the field. A string of
late race cautions jumbled the pack and Taylor saw his shot at the title dashed on lap
forty five when he got hung up on the outside groove. Gordon and Clark both took advantage
to give chase but it was Sammy's segment with Gordon second and Clark third at the stripe
to claim the overall title. Richie Dearborn finished segment three in fourth with Gary
Smith fifth. Bill Whorff, McCallum, Gorveatt, Larry Gelinas and Jeff Taylor completed the
top ten.
Heat race wins went to Jim McCallum and Mike Rowe. Travis Kheil earned the Northern Race
Tires Rookie of the Race award. |
