Series PR Report

Thompson, CT(July 23, 2011) — Johnny Clark snatched the lead away from Cassius Clark on a lap 60 restart to capture his fourth PASS North win of 2011 in a wild 100 lap Pro All Stars Series (PASS) National Championship event at Thompson (CT) International Speedway. Cassius Clark crossed the stripe in second and Travis Benjamin completed the podium

Round three of the National Championship was marred by wrecks at the front of the field. Nine cars wound up in a cluster atop the turn one banking on the initial green when contact bewtween third place starter Preston Peltier and pole sitter Scott Chubbuck sent the field scattering. Jay Fogleman and Steve Legendre received the worst of it; Fogleman was atop the PASS National standings heading into the event but his 19th place finish did little to help his championship chances. All those involved eventually got back on track despite varyinjg amounts of damage, and several were still able to challenge for the win.

Mike Rowe, Bill Penfold, Lonnie Sommerville and Ben Rowe were up front after the turn one melee and Mike Rowe kept Ramstrom behind him until lap 25 when the multi time Thompson track Champion looked low in turn three and the pair got together and wound up in the concrete, sweeping Lonnie Sommerville up in the process.. All three were done for the night.

Ben Rowe inherited the point and he had to contend with Cassius Clark, Johnny Clark and Travis Benjamin. Meanwhile Peltier was rumbling back through the field with zero aero from his lap one altercation but plenty of horsepower to carry him down Thompson’s long straightaways. A the half way mark it was Rowe, Clark and Peltier under a blanket but a lap 51 caution gave Cassius Clark a shot at Rowe and he took advantage, taking away the top spot with Johnny Clark racing up to third.

It was clear that Ben Rowe had issues as he slid back through the pack, eventually spinning on lap 60 and losing a lap to the leaders. The caution waved and Rowe pitted for a new right rear.to replace his flat one.

The two Clarks lined up side by side on the restart and it was J. Clark making the race winning move on the outside with Peltier charging up to second, shuffling Cassius back to third.

Peltier mounted a challenge and nosed out in front on lap 82 but the 26 and 54 touched and Peltier smacked the outside wall, sending him for a 150 mile per hour ride into the infield and back on track. It was a great save, but the damage was too much for the 2011 National Champ’s ride and he would eventually finish twelfth.

The final caution waved for Alan Tardiff’s trip into the front stretch wall and that put Ben Rowe back on the lead lap via the Lucky Dog rule. Rowe turned down pit road for a right front tire change, but PASS Officials determined that Rowe’s right front wasnt flat and the change wasnt a permissable one under series rules, handing Rowe a two lap penalty.

Cassius tried to mount a challenge on the night’s finall restart but he didnt have enough for the defending PASS North Champion and Johnny rolled on for his fourth win of 2011.

The margin of victory was .455 seconds. Six cars completed all 100 green flag laps. Ramstrom and J. Clark scored heat race wins.

There’s a quick turn around for the traveling super late model superstars; they’ll be back in action Saturday night July 23rd at Oxford Plains Speedway on Brackett Mechanical/RB Performance night for 150 green flag laps at the famed Maine oval.

The latest entry list and event schedule is posted at www.proallstarsseries.com . Oxford Plains Speedway can be found at www.oxfordplains.com.

Results:
1) #54 – Johnny Clark – 100 Laps
2) #8 – Cassius Clark – 100
3) #17 – Travis Benjamin – 100
4) #27qc – Alex Gingras – 100
5) #0 – Billy Penfold – 100
6) #17a – Scott Alexander – 100
7) #2 – Matt Matheson – 99
8) #4 – Ben Rowe – 98
9) #12 – John Dabrowski – 98
10) #88 – Kyle Desouza – 96
11) #88t – Alan Tardiff – 86
12) #26 – Preston Peltier – 85
13) #20 – Steve Legendre – 60
14) #77 – Scott Chubbuck – 49
15) #92 – Bill Brady – 39
16) #48 – Lonnie Sommerville – 26
17) #2x – Mike Rowe – 24
18) #35 – Derek Ramstrom – 24
19) #4s – Jay Fogleman – 6