Touring Series News
Dearborn Wins PASS At White Mountain, Clark Champion
PHOTO: Richie Dearborn won the PASS North season finale at White Mountain Motorsports Park on Friday as Johnny Clark earned an unprecedented fifth series championship. (PASS photo)
Sylvania 300 weekend coverage presented by New England Dirt Track Championships and Subway of VT/NH
(From series press release)
NORTH WOODSTOCK, N.H. -- Hollis, Maine’s Richie Dearborn got the better of Travis Benjamin on a late-race restart to capture Friday night’s 150-lap Pro All Stars Series North Super Late Model feature at White Mountain Motorsports Park. Benjamin, who had led from the green flag, held off Cassius Clark to finish second, 0.743 seconds behind the winner.
The victory was Dearborn’s first since PASS visited White Mountain in the fall of 2009 and his fifth in PASS competition. It was the third time Dearborn and his Chadwick-BaRoss/Dayton Sand and Gravel team earned the win in the fall PASS visit to the fast quarter-mile nestled at the foot of Franconia Notch.
Without that late race restart the results could easily have been different. Benjamin looked like he might run away from the field, hungry for his first series win since 2008. Benjamin has been strong in one of Richard Moody’s first-rate rides, and he seemed able to pull away from the field at will for the night’s first 130 laps. But Dearborn was on a charge, too, taking second away from Adam Bates on lap 120 and looking for a way to get to Benjamin. But the night’s second caution flew on lap 132, giving Dearborn the shot he needed and the PASS veteran got the job done when the green flag flew. At the stripe it was Dearborn, Benjamin, Cassius Clark, Trevor Sanborn and Ben Rowe first through fifth under the checkers.
Johnny Clark was in the mix from the start, charging up to third before rear suspension issues sent him to the pit area for the night with just 33 laps in the books. The rare DNF left Clark 21st at the finish but the Farmingdale, Maine star’s point cushion heading into the season finale held up. The Clark’s Car Crushing/Port City Race Cars team earned a third-straight PASS North title, their fifth overall. The championship broke a deadlock with Ben Rowe for most PASS North titles earned. Rowe kept the point race close until a DNF of his own at the PASS 300 took the four-time PASS North titlist out of contention.
Thirteen cars completed all 150 green flag laps. Two caution flags slowed the race which took just thirty-eight minutes from the initial green to the checkers. Heat race wins went to Johnny Clark, Travis Benjamin, and Dustin Hubbard.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS -- PASS 150
Pro All Stars Series North -- White Mountain Motorsports Park, North Woodstock, N.H.
Friday, September 17, 2010
(Pos.-Driver-Hometown)
# - denotes rookie
1. Richie Dearborn, Hollis, Me.
2. Travis Benjamin, Morrill, Me.
3. Cassius Clark, Farmington, Me.
4. Trevor Sanborn, East Parsonsfield, Me.
5. Ben Rowe, Turner, Me.
6. Donnie Whitten, Wells, Me.
7. Adam Bates, Warner, N.H.
8. Scott Dragon, Colchester, Vt.
9. Derek Ramstrom, West Boylston, Mass.
10. Tom Scully, Jr., Westport, Mass.
11. Steven Legendre, St. Johnsbury, Vt.
12. Nick Ribbe, Kingston, Mass.
13. # Joey Doiron, Berwick, Me.
14. Mark Patten, Belmont, N.H.
15. Gary Smith, Bangor, Me.
16. Sam Gooden, Jr., Whitefield, N.H.
17. Billy Brady, Cape Cod, Mass.
18. Scott Alexander, Glenburn, Me.
19. Kelly Moore, Scarborough, Me.
20. Randy Turner, Reaadfield, Me.
21. Johnny Clark, Farmingdale, Me.
22. Dustin Hubbard, Unity, Me.
