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Turner, Maine’s Mike Rowe took over the lead on a lap 101 restart and cruised home to victory in the Southern Maine Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep 150 at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, Maine this past Saturday afternoon. The legendary veteran edged out Travis Benjamin and Austin Theriault for the win.
Threatening weather forced the PASS North Super Late Models to move their feature up in the schedule as ominous skies were looming over the horizon. Scott Mulkern got the jump on the start as the young gun, Reid Lanpher spun his tires on the initial start allowing Mulkern, Austin Theriault and Ben Rowe to race by him on lap one. An early caution for a slowing car in turn two forced a restart once again. Mulkern was a rocket as he jumped to the front and never looked back as several drivers were contending for the top five positions including Theriault, Cassius Clark, Mike Rowe, and Tony Ricci. The field stayed in that order until lap 75 when Rowe slipped by Clark for the third spot and winner of the PASS opener, Travis Benjamin cracked the top five. Heavy lapped traffic allowed the field to track down Mulkern, and on lap 90, Rowe dove underneath Theriault for the second spot and Benjamin moved up to fourth. Caution flew once again on lap 101 and Tony Ricci had a tire go down and came to a halt on the back stretch. There was no denying Rowe on this restart as he blasted by Mulkern and started to pull away only to see the caution wave again for a seven car melee that completely blocked the track on the back stretch as well. This would be the final caution of the day for the PASS Super Late Models, and Mike Rowe survived lapped traffic late in the race to hold off Benjamin, Theriault, DJ Shaw and Mulkern. Sixth through tenth included Johnny Clark, Joey Doiron, Dale Shaw, Cassius Clark and Bryan Kruczek. Qualifying heats went to Reid Lanpher, Mulkern and Mike Rowe.
The PASS Modifieds were out in force on Sunday as twenty of these sleek machines rolled to grid for their 40 lap main event. Newcomer Doug McClure led the first 22 laps before Mark Lundblad Jr. took command and held the field at bay for the next dozen laps. Mitch Miller came from the back of the pack to take over the lead with 6 laps remaining and fell under the checkers with a five car length advantage over Lundblad, as Andy Shaw, Scott Alexander, and Mark Lucas rounded out the top five. Post race inspection drastically altered the finish as winner Mitch Miller’s tires were deemed non-conforming to PASS Mod rules thus DQ’ing him from the event. Lundblad was awarded the victory thus moving Shaw to 2nd, Alexander to 3rd, Lucas to 4th and Scott McDaniel into the top five in 5th.
The PASS Sportsman 50 lapper saw Lyman McKeage and Chris Staples bring the eighteen car field to chief starter Shane Carr’s green flag. McKeage got the jump and opened up a solid lead before mechanical woes set in on his mount handing the lead to his son Dan McKeage. Shane Tatro tried to close the gap on McKeage, but couldn’t do it and he was forced to settle for second at the stripe. Joe Pastore Jr, Rusty Poland and Nathan Leavitt rounded out the top five. Heat checkers flew for Lyman McKeage and Chris Staples.
The NELCAR Legends put on a wild show, one that saw Tyler Braunschweig go up and over Todd Harrison’s right front tire sending him flipping, and sliding most of the front stretch with the room of his car slamming the tire barrier in turn one and then caught fire. After a few anxious moments officials put out the fire and attended to Braunschweig. He emerged from the car shaken, but walked back to the pit area. When the event concluded Matt Bourgoine carried the checkered flag ahead of Ed Getty, Matt Grant, Kevin Gerard Jr., and Bob Weymouth. Getty and Bourgoine were heat winners.
The PASS North Series will be back in action this coming Saturday, May 10th at Star Speedway in Epping, New Hampshire. The PASS Super Late Models will race 150 green flag laps, while the PASS Mods will run a 40 lap main event. Star Speedway’s own Roadrunners, and Woody’s Strictlys will also be in action. Post time for qualifying is 4:45pm.