NEWTON, NC :: PASS North regular DJ Shaw made his move on the last turn of the last lap to score the victory in the Easter Bunny 150 on Saturday. Shaw took the lead from Tyler Church, who has passed Shaw on a late race restart, coming to the checkered flag in a thriller at Hickory Motor Speedway.
“I got a little more aggressive than usual there,” Shaw said in victory lane. “I lost this race to Preston last year. I let him be aggressive with me. Church jumped that last start. I had passed him and worked and worked and worked and he jumped the last start there. I just couldn’t let this one get away.”
Shaw had run inside the top five for much of the race after starting in the fourth position. Biding his time, Shaw finally took the lead with eight laps to go from Church but the caution would come out on lap 145 when Daniel Hemric, who has two wins on the season, slowed with a tire problem. On the restart, Church got around Shaw but Shaw stayed with him and got to his inside with two laps to go and got around on the last lap to score the win.
“I knew I wasn’t good down here in turns three and four and I lost a lot at about the entrance to pit road,” Shaw explained. “I knew I needed to get a run through turns one and two. I had been better than him there for a little while. I carried my momentum down there in to the corner and finished for the win.”
DJ Shaw was ecstatic about the victory.
“It’s great to win at a historic place like this,” Shaw remarked. “I’ve got to thank the fans and PASS for getting it in today. I know a lot of fans wanted to be home with their families but they came out today to support us and it was a great show. I’ve got to thank everybody that help us. There are a few guys who race back home that come with us.”
Tyler Church was frustrated and disappointed with his second place finish after Shaw leaned on him when completing the pass for the win.
“We had that race,” Church said. “I try to race everybody clean and sometimes it doesn’t pay off. There’s always another race. I’ll be nice about the last lap and say it was just hard racing.”
Last year’s Easter Bunny 150 winner, Preston Peltier, finished third while Jared Irvan, Tyler Dippel, Roger Lee Newton, Trevor Sanborn, Cole Timm, Trevor Noles and Austin Theriault rounded out the top 10.
The race had originally been scheduled for Saturday but persistent rainfall forced PASS officials to postpone the race until Easter Sunday.
The Pro All Stars Series will be back in action next Saturday, April 26th, with the season opening race for the PASS North Series from Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine. The PASS South tour will be back in action on Friday, May 9th at Ace Speedway.
Unofficial Results
1. #60 DJ Shaw 150 Laps
2. #7 Tyler Church 150 Laps
3. #74x Preston Peltier 150 Laps
4. #28 Jared Irvan 150 Laps
5. #1 Tyler Dippel 150 Laps
6. #33 Roger Lee Newton 150 Laps
7. #29 Trevor Sanborn 150 Laps
8. #57 Cole Timm 150 Laps
9. #2 Trevor Noles 150 Laps
10. #4T Austin Theriault 150 Laps
11. #14 Clete Caywood 150 Laps
12. #7k Ted Mickelson 150 Laps
13. #54 Jake Griffin 150 Laps
14. #68 Clay Rogers 150 Laps
15. #12j Trey Jarrell 150 Laps
16. #09 Randy Gentry 150 Laps
17. #12 Harrison Burton 149 Laps
18. #8F Tate Fogleman 149 Laps
19. #98 Daniel Hemric 148 Laps
20. #70 Nick Tucker 148 Laps
21. #41 Jody Measamer 145 Laps
22. #9 Matt Daley 126 Laps
23. #4N Ben Rowe 117 Laps
24. #4F Jay Fogleman 110 Laps
25. #88 Lee Tissot 94 Laps
26. #48 John Batten 44 Laps
27. #74 Ryan Moore 5 Laps
28. #62 Brandon Ward 5 Laps
29. #71 Patrick Staropoli 5 Laps
30. #6 Brandon Setzer 5 Laps
#83 Joey Padgett Did Not Start