The Pro All Star Series rolls into Speedway 660 this Saturday night for its only Atlantic Canadian event of the year. We are proud to bring the PASS Tour to our region and expect lots of fans from Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to be in the stands when the green flag flies Saturday night. Several car-loads of fans will also travel from Maine and Quebec for this race and we’ll even have a few folks from farther afield.
You can bet everyone will be keeping a close eye on Johnny Clark in car number 54. That’s because the Hallowell, Maine driver will be out for his fourth PASS victory in a row at Speedway 660!
“I love this place” Clark said from our Victory Lane, after dominating the second half of last year’s race. “We took a big swing at the car mid-race and the boys did an awesome job.”
Johnny did a pretty awesome job too – he always seems to rise to the occasion when he visits the Geary Woods. In addition to his three Speedway 660 Pro All Star Series victories, Clark also has two Auto Value 250 trophies.
Johnny Clark will be out for his fourth PASS victory in a row at Speedway 660
this Saturday night. Clark, who also has two Auto Value 250 wins, will face
some serious competition in the Geary Woods this weekend.
Last year Travis Benjamin gave Clark a good battle for the last 75 laps or so, but just couldn’t get it done. Perhaps he should have been pleased with second, but young Travis was obviously disappointed he couldn’t find a way to get around the 54.
“It seems like we are always the bride’s maid whenever we come to Atlantic Canada’s best race track” said Benjamin, the 2012 PASS North Champion. “One of these days, we are going to get to the Speedway 660 Victory Lane, either in the spring PASS race or the Auto Value 250.”
Last year Cassius Clark actually got the better of Johnny in one of the PASS qualifying heats with an amazing outside move that brought our fans to their feet. But Cassius, who is always quick to point out he is not related to Johnny Clark, had to settle for third in the last year’s big all-star race.
However, as most of you will recall, Cassius Clark was not to be denied last September when he finally won a big race at Speedway 660.
“Wow what a run, the King Racing team of Rollie MacDonald gave me a great car and I am thrilled to be the 2012 Auto Value 250 champion” Cassius said in Speedway 660’s Victory Lane. “I love Canada and to follow up the Atlantic Cat 250 win with a victory in the Auto Value 250 is certainly one of the biggest thrills of my racing career.”
We can expect lots of thrills this Saturday night when the Pro All Star Series rolls out onto Speedway 660 for 150 laps of excitement. And don’t be surprised if a few of our own pro stockers don’t take a shot at upstaging the visiting Americans!
Fans here will hope they have a little better luck than they did last year when Shawn Tucker ran in the top ten all day, but a late race fuel leak forced him into the pits and a 16th place finish. Lonnie Sommerville led several laps in the first half of the race, but his car faded in the 2nd half and he had to settle for 11th. Chris Duncan finished 13th, Matt Harris came home 12th and Matt Matheson had a 10th place finish.
So, who was the last winner of a PASS race at Speedway 660 other than Johnny Clark? Well, the year was 2009 and it was one of the most exciting Pro All-Star Series races we have seen. Just about everyone was running the outside groove that night, because it just seemed to be the fastest way around the track. However, Myles Harris showed us the inside might just have a little grip too, as he won the Martins Home Heating feature that night.
In the PASS race the pro stockers all wanted the high side and then late in the race, up through the pack came a racing legend. Ben Rowe must have watched Myles use that inside groove, because he used the same tactic to move from about eighth in the dying laps to win the race.
So who is going to be the big winner on Saturday night? It might be hard to predict who will win this year’s PASS 150, but you can bet the big winners will be the race fans! The Pro All-Star Series always steps up and always puts on a great show for its fans.
Can Johnny Clark make it four in a row? Will Cassius Clark follow up last year’s Auto Value 250 win with another victory? Will one of local pro stockers rise to the occasion? None of these questions will be answered until this Saturday night beginning at 7PM at Speedway 660. And by the way, the DMR Auto Sales & Service Street Stock and Martins Home Heating Sportsman divisions will also race this weekend.
The Pro All Stars Series is recognized as North America’s premier sanctioning body for asphalt Super Late Models and boasts such marquee events as the PASS Northwest Triple Crown at Wenatchee Valley Super Oval, PASS South’s Easter Bunny 150 at the historic Hickory Motor Speedway, the Autobus La Qubecoise Triple Crown, and the legendary TD Bank 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway.
