by Jay | Jan 14, 2010 | PASS
NAPLES ME (1/13) Super Late Model racers from all over the eastern seaboard are ready to shake off the winter doldrums and take on the high banks of New Smyrna Speedway when the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) Super Late Models invade the sunshine state on January 30th for The PASS WInterfest 150.
The entry list is growing daily and all indications point to a battle royal between Florida’s fastest, the PASS super late model touring pros and a host of outlaws that seek out the biggest races and the toughest competition.
Tim Russell was first to file his entry for Winterfest and the Apopka driver has to be considered one of the favorites. He’s got plenty of extra distance event wins at the legendary short track, and it will be tough to beat the home track boys at their own game. Still, there’s a bunch of tough customers that are going to give it their best shot, including four time PASS North Super Late Model Champion Johnny Clark, who will make the trip from Maine to tackle New Smyrna. Lonnie Sommerville is a journeyman racer from the Canadian Maritimes, and he can’t wait to take on the challenge. Brandon Ward has taken over the wheel of Jeff and Jane Day’s potent New Day Motorsports entry, and you can expect this combination from Winston-Salem North Carolina to make some noise right out of the box. Dale Brackett is making a run at the PASS National Championship in 2010, and he will tow all the way from Strong Maine for round one of the five race PASS National Championship schedule.
Local racer Shane Snipes will be behind the wheel of a Mike Skinner owned super late model, and two of the best from the Carolinas, Jay Fogleman and Preston Peltier, have both committed to the January 30 race. Heath Hindman will make the trip from Tennessee and North Carolina’s Clay Jones has his race car prepared for the 150 green flag laps that are one of the signatures of the Pro All Stars. Since the series’ inception in 2001, all feature events race the advertised distance under green; all restarts are double file, so the action is guaranteed to be fast and furious for all 150 laps round the tough oval.
For the hardcore race fan it will be a double header weekend of diverse motorsport. Just up the road at Daytona International Speedway the Rolex 24 at Daytona gets the green at 3:30 on January 30 and the checkered won’t drop until 3:30 PM on Sunday January 31th. It’s one of the most grueling endurance racing around and short track and road racing fans alike have a rare and unique opportunity to see the best of two motorsport worlds on the weekend of January 30 and 31.
All teams will have the opportunity to practice on Friday January 29 from 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM. Pit gates will open at 12:00 Noon. On race day January 30 the pit area opens at 10:00 AM, practice runs from 12:00 to 2:30 PM and Super Late Model time trials get underway at 3:30 P.M.
For more information visit www.racewithpass.com or www.proallstarsseries.com. New Smyrna Speedway is on line at www.newsmyrnaspeedway.net . Address media and marketing questions to Norm Desjardins at (603) 539-3368. For technical information please contact PASS Technical Director Scott Reed at (207) 625-3230.
by Jay | Jan 6, 2010 | PASS
NAPLES ME (January 6, 2010) The Pro All Stars Series (PASS) Super Late Models will race five times to determine the 2010 PASS National Champion.
The expanded National Championship schedule will include three new National Championship venues. PASS Florida Winter Fest will get the season underway January 29 and 30 at New Smyrna (FL) Speedway with a 150 lap event that marks the first PASS sanctioned event in the sunshine state. The popular Easter Bunny 150 at Hickory (NC) Motor Speedway on April 2nd and 3rd has been designated as stop number two on the National Championship trail.
July will see one of two northern swings with a July 22nd “Thursday Night Special” at Thompson (CT) International Speedway. September 11th and 12th are the dates for the PASS 300 at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough Maine. The 2010 PASS National Champion will be crowned October 16th at the Mason – Dixon Meltdown’s new home on the ultra fast high banks of at Newport (TN) Speedway.
In addition to being designated as National Championship events, Hickory and Newport will award PASS South Championship points while Thompson and Beech Ridge will count toward the PASS North title tally.
Turner Maine’s Ben Rowe is the defending PASS National Champion; Cassius Clark of Farmington Maine earned the inaugural National title. 79 super late model racers earned PASS National Championship points in 2009.
Keep tabs on all the latest PASS news at www.proallstarsseries.com .
2010 Pro All Stars Series Super Late Model National Championship Events
Date(s) Location Event Distance
1-29/30 New Smyrna (FL) Speedway PASS Florida Winter Fest 150 laps
4-2/3 Hickory (NC) Motor Speedway The Easter Bunny 150 laps
7/22 Thompson (CT) Int’l Speedway 75 laps
9-11/12 Beech Ridge (ME) Motor Speedway PASS 300 300 laps
10-15/16 Newport (TN) Speedway Mason-Dixon Meltdown 200 laps
Schedule Subject to Change
by Jay | Jan 5, 2010 | Canada, Maine, New England, PASS
FARMINGDALE, Maine — Johnny Clark is getting an early start on the 2010 PASS North Series season.
Clark, a 4-time PASS North champion, was among the first three drivers to register with the sanctioning body for the upcoming season as he seeks to become the first driver to win five championships in the PASS North Super Late Model ranks.
“There’s no reason to believe we can’t contend for a fifth championship,” said Clark, who won back-to-back series championships in 2008-2009. “The same team is coming back, with (crew chief Robert Green) heading it up. I think it’s going to be a great year for us.”
That year kicks off this coming weekend, Jan. 8-10, at the Northeast Motorsports Expo at the Augusta Civic Center, just a few miles down the road from Clark’s Farmingdale home. Clark will be on hand to sign autographs on Friday night and again on Saturday afternoon.
The racing season begins in earnest with the opener at Speedway 95 in Hermon, Maine, on April 18.
Clark has 19 career PASS North victories to rank second all-time in the series. He’d not only like to break the 20-win plateau this season, but he’d also like to snap a tie with Ben Rowe for the most career PASS championships.
Green, of Benton, Maine, will be back as crew chief on the familiar black, red and yellow No. 54 Port City/Clark’s Car Crushing Chevrolet which won three times in 2009.
“The bottom line is that he wants to win races and that’s it,” Clark said of Green. “That’s really it. He doesn’t go to the racetrack to make friends. That’s a little hard sometimes, because it even goes for our own team, but he simply wants to win races.
“You’ve got to respect that.”
The 30-year-old Clark also won championships in the 2004 and 2006 PASS North seasons, giving him three of the last four series titles. He’s one of only two PASS drivers with multiple championships and more than 15 career wins.
He hopes that the momentum from last year will continue to right through the first half of the 2010 season. Four of the first five series races will be held at tracks where Clark has visited victory lane — Speedway 95, Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Speedway 660 in Geary, New Brunswick, and Unity Raceway.
But winning isn’t everything on the path to the championship, Clark said.
“You’ve got to be consistent all year,” he said. “The competition is so tough on this tour that you can’t really afford to have any bad races, especially early in the year.
“We’ll be ready, for sure.”
by Jay | Jan 2, 2010 | Maine, New England, PASS
PASS Stars Clark, Rowe, Fogleman highlight Northeast Motorsports Expo autograph sessions
Naples ME (January 1 2010) The New Year is upon us, and race fans from all over northern New England will converge on the Augusta (Maine) Civic Center next weekend for the Northeast Motorsports Expo, the traditional lid lifter to the new racing season. The Pro All Stars Series (PASS) will once again celebrate the New Year in Augusta with autograph sessions from racers in every division.
One of the many highlights of the January 8-10 event will be appearances by 2009 PASS North Super Late Model Champion Johnny Clark and 2009 PASS South and National Champion Ben Rowe. Clark is celebrating his fourth PASS North title, while Rowe now has the distinction of being the only driver to claim all three PASS super late model Championships.
A special guest will join Clark and Rowe in Augusta on Friday and Saturday. PASS South star Jay Fogleman will make the trip from Durham North Carolina to meet and greet northern super late model fans. Fogleman has more than 100 career wins to his credit and track championships at Orange County, South Boston and Ace Speedways. He’s won four times at Martinsville Speedway and has nine wins in the former Hooters ProCup series. In 2009 Fogleman finished fifth in the PASS South super late model standings with three wins, six top five and nine top ten finishes in his fourteen starts. Fogleman chased Rowe for the PASS National Championship title as well, finishing fifth.
PASS officials will be on hand throughout the weekend to answer questions; rules and schedules for all four PASS divisions will be available.
The autograph schedule:
Friday January 8 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM: Jay Fogleman, Ben Rowe, Johnny Clark
Saturday January 9 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM: Jay Fogleman
3:00 PM – 5:00 PM: Ben Rowe and Johnny Clark
Expect a number of additional drivers to join Clark, Rowe and Fogleman for the autograph sessions. Keep an eye on www.proallstarsseries.com throughout the week for more driver appearances.
Northeast Motorsports Expo gets underway Friday January 8th. Doors open at 5:00 PM and the show wraps up at 10:00 PM. On Saturday January 9th show hours are 10:00 AM – 9:00 Pm and Sunday January 10th the Expo runs from 10:00 AM until 3:00 PM.
by Jay | Dec 19, 2009 | Maine, New England, PASS
Center Harbor, NH (December 18, 2009): Former NASCAR Camping World Series East and American Canadian Tour Champion Brad Leighton announced today a partnership with Richard Moody Racing to race in the Pro All Star Series (PASS) Super Late Model Series for the 2010 season. Leighton will run his familiar #55 on RMR’s Ford Fusions. Sponsorship negotiations are still underway.
“I’m very excited to be announcing this deal,” said Leighton. “One of the most important reasons I decided to do this was because of the people – it’s a good team. I worked with (crew chief) Brian Burgess and some of the other team members a few years back when I ran some races with SP2 Motorsports, and he’s a real sharp guy. At that time, SP2 was at the top of their game, and I view this team, Moody Racing, at the same level. This is one of the best teams in the PASS series – no doubt about it.”
Richard Moody Racing has raised the bar on competition in the PASS Series. With driver Ben Rowe, the team earned the 2009 PASS South Championship and finished runner-up in the 2009 PASS North point standings. Their combined regional accomplishments earned them the PASS National title for the 2009 season. In addition, they won a championship in 2007 with Rowe behind the wheel.
Leighton has been equally successful in his driving career. He’s won championships in the American Canadian Tour (1995) and NASCAR Camping World Series East (1999 and 2000), won the New Hampshire Motor Speedway track championship four times (1998, 2000-02), and finished 11th in the American Canadian Tour point standings last season after competing in only eight races. He won at Thunder Road and Lee USA Speedway.
“At this point in my career I don’t view any opportunity as one of filling anybody’s shoes or a seat, or needing too live up to their success,” said Leighton about the new partnership. “Ben (Rowe) has been extremely successful with this team and obviously inherited the genes from his father. I have a lot of respect for both Mike Rowe and Ben. It’s a father and son that have enjoyed success that’s unparalleled in the Northeast and possibly at any short track level.”
Leighton will kick off his duties as RMR’s driver late next month when they head to New Smyrna Speedway in Florida for the Winter Fest 150, a PASS National race.
“Some of the guys in my race shop had worked with Brad in the past and told me that we should talk to him about driving our cars,” said car owner Richard Moody. “I met with him at his hotel in Auburn (Maine) and we got along really well. We want to have fun racing and I think we’ll be extremely competitive. We’re going to put some good cars underneath him and Brad’s record speaks for itself.”
Leighton’s schedule will include venues on both the North and South divisions of the Pro All Star Series. Full details of his schedule, which will include stops on the American Canadian Tour, are pending and will be announced at a later date.
by Jay | Dec 1, 2009 | Canada, New England, PASS
Naples Me (11/30/2009) Pro All Stars Series (PASS) President Tom Mayberry has announced the series’ tenth anniversary super late model schedule .The fastest full fender short track racers in the east will visit ten speedways in four states and the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The venues range from New England’s fastest short track, the 5/8 mile Thompson International Speedway, to the tight confines of the Riverside Speedway quarter mile.
Caribou Maine’s Spud Speedway is a new stop for the series, with an 8/21 race date scheduled. The season will open on April 18th at Speedway 95 and conclude at White Mountain Motorsports Park on either September 17 or 18. One additional race date is still under negotiation. A finalized schedule will be confirmed by January 1, 2010.
PASS will get the season off to an early start with the PASS Florida Winter Fest at New Smyrna Speedway on January 29 and 30, 2010. The Winter Fest 150 will award points toward the 2010 PASS National Championship.
2010 License forms and the entry blank and schedule for PASS Florida Winter Fest are available for download now at www.racewithpass.com and www.proallstarsseries.com .
2010 PASS North Super Late Model Schedule
(Tentative – Subject to Change)
DATE TRACK LAPS
4/17-18 SPEEDWAY 95 HERMON, ME 150
4/30-5/1 BEECH RIDGE MOTOR SPEEDWAY SCARBOROUGH, ME 150
5/22 WHITE MTN MOTORSPORTS PARK N WOODSTOCK, NH 150
6/12 SPEEDWAY 660 FREDERICTON NEW BRUNSWICK 200
7/3 CANAAN SPEEDWAY CANAAN, NH 150
7/10 BEECH RIDGE MOTOR SPEEDWAY SCARBOROUGH, ME 150
7/13 LEE USA SPEEDWAY LEE, NH TBA
7/31 RIVERSIDE SPEEDWAY GROVETON, NH 150
8/14 SEEKONK SPEEDWAY SEEKONK, MA 150
8/21 SPUD SPEEDWAY CARIBOU, ME 150
8/26 THOMPSON INT SPEEDAY THOMPSON, CT TBA
9/9 -12 BEECH RIDGE MOTOR SPEEDWAY SCARBOROUGH, ME 300
(PASS 400 WEEK END)
9/17 OR 18 WHITE MTN MOTORSPORTS PARK N WOODSTOCK, NH 150
ADDITIONAL DATE TBA, FINAL SCHEDULE CONFIRMED BY JANUARY 1, 2010
