Dale Shaw Becomes Inaugural PASS Race Winner
at Lee USA Speedway |
Busch North Series regular Dale Shaw won his
first Pro Stock race in quite some time when he won the inaugural race for the Pro All
Stars Series held at Lee USA Speedway on Sunday. Shaw, winning from the pole, led every
lap of the event, which was shortened from 150 to 129 laps due to curfew.
"The Plum Potter Automotive car was really hooked up today," Shaw said in
Victory Lane. "I want to thank Tom Mayberry for starting the tour. He's a really nice
guy, I look forward to racing with him as much as I can as the Busch schedule permits.
Jimmy McCallum gave me a heck of a run today, but he ran me clean all day."
With 47 cars in the pit area, time trials set the lineup for both the dash for the pole
and heat races. Jim McCallum set fast time with a lap of 15.154 seconds, beating Steve
Knowlton (15.187) and Sam Sessions (15.205). The top ten were represented by youngsters
from the stands who drew starting positions for the dash for the pole. Shaw got the front
spot for that race, and went on to win followed by McCallum, Knowlton, Mike Rowe,
Sessions, Johnny Clark, Dick Houlihan, Frank Flemming, Adam Friend, and David Avery.
The rest of the cars were slotted into heat races which were won by Ralph Nason, Larry
Gelinas, Scott Watts, and Ben Rowe. The last chance consolation race, won by Dan Bezanson,
set the field of qualified cars. Three drivers who had purchased PASS licenses and
intended to support the series, but had not qualified for the race, were added to the
field as provisional starters.
Shaw was in the lead from pole at the green but had McCallum was never too far behind in
the early going. Early cautions involved the cars of Andy Shaw, Gary Smith, Bill Rodgers,
Dave Gorveatt, George Philbrick, Tom Oliphant, Chuck Lachance, and Eddie MacDonald, but
most cars remained in the race through the first third of the scheduled distance.
Mike Rowe moved up to second on a lap 9 restart but lapped traffic proved to be his
downfall as he was involved in an accident with Larry Gelinas and Chuck Lachance on lap
41, leading to his having to make several pit stops for bodywork and other attention.
Steve Knowlton's top five run was also over early, as mechanical problems claimed his car
before halfway.
Adam Friend put on a show, getting around McCallum for second on a lap 62 restart and
running down Shaw for the lead only to spin trying to duck underneath Shaw coming out of
turn two. Friend rejoined the race as caution flew, resuming as the last car on the lead
lap.
Lap 70 was the start of a long green flag run that saw spirited charges from both Richie
Dearborn and Friend. Dearborn took the restart in fifth but dogged both Sam Sessions and
then Dick Houlihan to wind up third as the laps were winding down. Friend was outside the
top ten on the restart, but had worked his way up to sixth until lap 118 saw him spin off
turn four. No yellow came out as Friend was quickly back on track, but fell off the lead
lap.
Town curfew ordered everything to be done by 8PM, and the race appeared to be going over
that time limit. Town police allowed the race to continue to lap 150 since it was going
smoothly, but a yellow on lap 127 for a crash involving Norman Wrenn and Johnny Clark
forced a green-white-checker finish. With only seven cars on the lead lap, the field was
doubled up for a last run to the finish, which went without incident as Shaw won over
McCallum, Dearborn, Houlihan, Sessions, Louie Mechalides, Bezanson, Kenny Wright, Danny
Bubar, and Jarod Robie.
"My car was real good 75% of the time," Shaw said after the race. "At that
point it loosened up terrible. When Jimmy got caught behind lapped traffic I could drive
it at three-quarters throttle. Then I thought we'd get a late caution I said that I'm not
going to wear this thing out, I'm going to wait and save the car.
"Adam Friend, I thought he was going to win that race," Shaw continued. "He
was hooked up and right when he caught me my, car was so loose."
Shaw had praise for the Pro All Stars Series.
"I think it's a great series, and I think that as long as Tom [Mayberry] sticks it
out, that it's going to be successful because everybody likes him," the winner said.
"He's a racer, and I think that makes all the difference in the world. He's not
coming into this thinking he's going to et rich, he's probably expecting to lose money.
But he's hoping to build something, and I'll support it whenever I can if it helps him
out. A lot of different cars from a lot of different places ran together very
competitively."
McCallum was happy with his runner-up finish.
"I'm happy with it, I'm thrilled with it in fact," he said after the race.
"Can I put a four-barrel on it for the next race?"
Dearborn ran a strong race to finish third after starting 27th.
"It felt real comfortable at the end of it," he said. "We didn't want to
use our tires up too early so we could make that late-race charge there, we did our best.
That was a lot of fun. The guys raced me clean. "
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