2019 PASS RACE

SATURDAY, OCT. 26th





















*Photos by Norm Marx*




		Photos by Mike Rothwell

PASS N0RTH SLMs at SEEKONK
OFFICIAL RACE RESULTS - 10-26-19

1) 15 - Mike Hopkins - 150 Laps
2) 72 - Ryan Kuhn - 150
3) 59 - Reid Lanpher - 150
4) 4 - Ben Rowe - 150
5) 47 - Gabe Brown - 150
6) 9t - Alan Tardiff - 150
7) 99 - Ben Ashline - 150
8) 60 - DJ Shaw - 150
9) 17ma - Eddie MacDonald - 150
10) 7 - Travis Benjamin - 150
11) 30 - Fred Astle - 150
12) 27nh - Wayne Helliwell Jr. -150
13) 97 - Joey Polewarczyk Jr. -150
14) 8 - Angelo Belsito - 150
15) 48 - Ryan Lineham - 150

16) 2 - Tom Scully - 150
17) 52 - David Darling - 149
18) 2ri - Derryck Anderson Jr.-149
19) 81 - Dan Winter - 149
20) 12g - Derek Griffith - 149
21) 12 - Bobby Pelland - 149
22) 46 - Dylan Estrella - 149
23) 24 - JP Josiasse - 147
24) 40vt - Nick Sweet - 144
25) 90 - Craig Weinstein - 135
26) 15ma - Jake Johnson - 135
27) 7g - Curtis Gerry - 105
28) 14 - Rich Martin - 59
29) 40 - Mike Mitchell - 7
DNS - 96 - Wyatt Alexander

-ENTRIES RECEIVED - SEEKONK 10-26

Rollercoaster Saturday at Seekonk
Decides PASS North Champion

Story by: Brandon Paul, Speed51.com Editor

A day full of ups and downs for a pair of championship contenders decided the 2019 Pro All Stars Series (PASS) North champion Saturday afternoon at Seekonk Speedway (MA).

Derek Griffith entered the season-ending race with an eight-point advantage over defending champion DJ Shaw. Ultimately, Shaw overcame that deficit to claim his fourth PASS North championship; however, the rollercoaster ride was anything but easy.

"This was about the worst day we could have possibly had and still pulled this off," Shaw said after the race. "I don't even know what to say. I can't believe it, really. It was a bad day. We missed it on the setup and Griffith got caught up in wrecks all day. We were just fortunate to survive."

The whirlwind day began at the start of the day during qualifying heats when Shaw started second and won his heat race. A few minutes later, Griffith pulled out for his heat race and made an early bid for the lead after starting third. As Griffith attempted to make a pass on Travis Benjamin, the two made contact and Griffith spun towards the infield. After restarting fourth, trouble continued when he was involved in another accident that forced him to retire from his heat race early.

At that point, Griffith's eight-point advantage was trimmed to just three points entering the 150-lap feature. Shaw started the race in 11th, while Griffith started 24th. When the green flag waved, Shaw took over the points lead.

The next turn on the rollercoaster ride occurred before lap 24 when Shaw decided to bring his No. 60 to pit road for adjustments. That decision gave Griffith, who had raced up to 15th at the time, the lead in the championship battle.

"He got to the front so fast," Shaw said of Griffith. "I came into this weekend content that I was second and that it was a long shot. After the heat, it became a reality and you had to go back into that mentality that you just had to beat one guy. On lap 20, after he starts 30th and I start 11th, if he's already there I'm not going to beat him in a 150-lap race. We had to take a swing at it."

A pair of incidents in the second half of the race collected Griffith, forcing him to pit road on two separate occasions. From there, the deficit was too large to make up. Shaw survived the chaos to finish seventh, while Griffith was credited with a 21st-place finish, unofficially.

"It all started with that heat race. We just got no respect from the people that we race with," Griffith said. "He runs us like that all the time, I have no idea. It's kind of mind boggling that we're running for a championship and just have no respect at all.

"After that, it was just an incident," he continued. "A guy got loose and cleaned us out, put us right into the frontstretch wall. He didn't mean anything by that. Then we just kind of picked our way up throughout he field. We had a restart on the outside and I got clear to the bottom and someone just ran right through me. Then we got caught up in another wreck after that."

For Griffith, a five-time PASS winner this season, his performance Saturday was not indicative of the season his LCM Motorsports team had. After escaping major carnage for much of the season, a full dose of bad luck and misfortune was handed to them in the season finale.

"We haven't had body panels off this thing all year," Griffith said. "Now we have a whole door tore off, fender, quarter panel is half gone. Just no respect at all. It's a huge bummer because we had a good run this year. We were really close. It is what it is. Congrats to DJ and those guys, they did a good job this year.

"We've tried our hardest, had an awesome year and won a lot of races. We have to take second in points as what it is and move forward. We were real close. We beat everyone one in wins this year with PASS. Had a good year all year, just had one more bad day than he did."

While the championship race took turn after turn, Maine native Mike Hopkins collected his first PASS North victory of the season in his first career start at Seekonk Speedway. Hopkins passed local racer Ryan Kuhn with less than 30 laps remaining to claim the win. Speed51.com will have more on that story in the coming days.

Tight PASS North Points Battle To
Be Decided At Seekonk Finale

NAPLES, ME (October 23) - For only the second time since 2010, the final race for the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) North Super Late Model season will be at a track other than Oxford Plains Speedway. On Saturday afternoon, New England's fastest Super Late Models will complete for 150 laps at Seekonk Speedway in Massachusetts, along with the Haunted Hundred for the Tri-Track Open Modified Series. Last year, the series returned to Seekonk for the first time since 2012, with Travis Benjamin taking the win and DJ Shaw claiming his third PASS North title.

The championship fight for the Northeast's most prominent Super Late Model championship has come down to a battle between former PASS champions. Defending PASS National Champion, Derek Griffith, took over the points lead from Shaw last weekend at Oxford Plains Speedway by just eight points. 5-Time PASS National Champion, Ben Rowe, still has an outside shot at claiming his fifth north title as he sits 60 points behind Griffith.

After being involved in the same heat race crash at Oxford Plains, Griffith was able to salvage a seventh-place finish, while Shaw struggled to finish 15th, one lap down. Since the Oxford 250 in August, Griffith has consistently outpointed Shaw to move ahead in the standings as they head to Seekonk Speedway on Saturday afternoon.

"I love Seekonk, it's a fun place for us and we've had some good runs there before," says Griffith, driver of the LCM Motorsports Chevrolet #12G. "The championship would be a cool deal for us. We never try to go out and win a championship, more so we focus on winning races. The points, I would like to think, will play out as they should."

While the PASS North season will conclude this weekend, the PASS National Championship will finish up on Saturday, November 16 with the highly anticipated Lanier National 200 at Lanier Raceplex in Georgia. Richmond Raceway winner, Mike Hopkins, leads the national championship standings over Griffith, Benjamin, Rowe, Ray Christian, III, and Jake Johnson. Prior to Lanier, however, all of those drivers and more will also be racing for national points at Seekonk this weekend.

Last week's winner at Oxford Plains, Reid Lanpher, and multi-time Seekonk track champion, Tom Scully, will be among the favorites to challenge the championship contenders on Saturday afternoon at Seekonk. Former Oxford 250 winners, Curtis Gerry, Benjamin, and Rowe will be in the field, along with 2018 Oxford Plains Speedway champion, Gabe Brown. A strong group of drivers from Massachusetts will look to defend their home state honor, including Fred Astell, Dylan Estrella, Jake Johnson, Ryan Kuhn, along with Rhode Island's Ryan Lineham and New York's Michael Scorzelli. Entry forms and the complete weekend schedule for Seekonk Speedway and Lanier Raceplex are available at ProAllStarsSeries.com.

On Saturday, practice will run from 10 AM to 12:15 PM, racing for the PASS North Super Late Models, Tri-Track Open Modified Series, and Late Models will begin at 1 PM with heat races and will be followed by feature events.

The Pro All Stars Series is recognized as North America's premier sanctioning body for asphalt Super Late Models and boasts such marquee events as the legendary Oxford 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway, Easter Bunny 150 at the historic Hickory Motor Speedway, and the PASS Commonwealth Classic at Richmond Raceway.

For technical information concerning all PASS divisions please send questions to passracing@roadrunner.com. For media or marketing questions, please contact Alan Dietz at 704-231-2039 or alandietzpass@live.com. And, don't forget to "Like" the Pro All Stars Series on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @PASSSLM14 to keep up with breaking news as it happens.