2001 Pro All Stars Series Champion
earned his first PASS feature victory on Saturday night, taking down the win in the D-J
Equipment 150 at White Mountain Motorsports Park. Sessions took the low road around a lap
86 spin to take the point away from race leader Ben Rowe and held off the current points
leader for the remaining laps to score a popular victory.
Rowe once again showed that he would be tough to beat, earning the top spot in the Sunoco
Race Fuels time trials with a 12.279 second pass under the clocks. Northern Race Tires
Rookie Challenge contender Wayne Helliwell Jr. was a tick off of Rowe's fast time with a
lap of 12.326 seconds. The luck of the dash draw saw Sessions claim the pole and take down
the pole dash win, with Johnny Clark second, Jim McCallum third, and Rowe lining up
fourth. Larry Gelinas, Louie Mechalides, Helliwell, JR Baril, Bill Rodgers and Scott
Mulkern rounded out the top ten starters.
At the green Clark made a great move from his outside starting spot to grab the lead with
Sessions, McCallum, Rowe and Gelinas in tow. A rash of yellows marred the early going,
ending the night for several teams including Bub Bilodeau, Randy Turner, JR Baril and
Louie Mechalides. Clark maintained the point through it all and looked to be a contender
for the win. McCallum was now second with Helliwell third and Sessions fourth.
On the restart McCallum made contact with Clark's rear bumper, sending the rookie leader
spinning. McCallum was penalized for the contact and joined Clark on the tail end of the
field. Helliwell was now in command and showed his strength, keeping Sessions and Rowe at
bay. Rowe worked his way past Sessions to challenge for the lead but Helliwell was up to
the task. Helliwell brought the field down to the green on a lap 36 restart and his race
car quit, coasting to a stop in the infield and ending his strong run.
Rowe was now on the point and looked to be in control; Sessions was maintaining in
second, while Kenny Wright and Larry Gelinas were doing battle for the third spot. Wright
had one of the fastest cars on the track at this point, recovering from an early off track
excursion to race his way up to the third place battle with Gelinas.
The race took on a new complexion on lap 86 when two cars spun just ahead of the leaders;
Sessions ducked under the melee while Rowe went high and Sessions came away with the lead
as no caution flew for the spin. Rowe challenged Sessions high and low but could not find
his way around. Sessions race car performed flawlessly and the South Paris Maine veteran
built up a ten car-length lead over Rowe who faded with a loose race car.
At the stripe it was Sessions' Typar/Auburn Metal Fabrication Monte Carlo earning the
victory over Rowe with Gelinas winning the war for third with Kenny Wright. Scott Mukern
came home fifth in the Community Pharmacy Dodge with Bill Rodgers a career best sixth.
Johnny Clark raced his D.N.K. Chevrolet back to seventh to earn the Northern Race Tires
Rookie Challenge award. Chuck LaChance, Joe Squelia and Russ Hersey rounded out the
unofficial top ten. The final 112 laps of the event ran caution-free.
Wright earned the first True Value heat race win in his Newmarket Sand and Gravel
Chevrolet, while David Avery topped the second in The Kawasaki-Yamaha of Laconia Monte
Carlo. Richie Dearborn won the consolation round in the Chadwick-BaRoss Monte Carlo.
The next stop on the 2002 PASS championship trail is Unity Raceway on Saturday June 27th.
Sunoco Race Fuel time trials get underway at 4:30; the racing action gets the green at
6:00 PM. |