Cassius Clark celebrates in victory lane after winning the PASS North season opener Sunday at Oxford Plains Speedway. Photo courtesy PASS Media
One year ago, the #77 Hight Motorsports team with driver Cassius Clark were looking for their first PASS North Super Late Model victory. They got that win in the season’s third event and advanced to the role of title contenders by the end of the season. Clark eventually finished second to Travis Benjamin in the final 2012 PASS North standings.
On Sunday afternoon at Maine’s Oxford Plains Speedway, Clark and the #77 team started out their 2013 season with a victory in the Ripley and Fletcher Ford 150 PASS North event. By coming out of the gate with a victory, Clark is already hoping that this might be the season where he can score his first career PASS North championship.
“We were pretty pleased with last year. We just fell short of a goal there,” said Clark. “We worked hard on things over the winter. Sitting at home and waiting to race since October has been tough. Winning was a good way to get out there and knock the rust off.”
Clark won the Ripley and Fletcher Ford 150 after coming out on top of a spirited battle with Joey Doiron over the closing laps of the race. Doiron took the lead for the first time on lap 11 and held down the top spot without much pressure for the next 102 laps. At that point, Clark took the lead – temporarily. Doiron edged his way back to the top spot and the two racers battled back and forth until the end of the race. At the conclusion of the 150 lap event, Clark crossed the finish line ahead of Doiron, Benjamin, Ben Rowe and Bobby Timmons.
“It was a tight race,” said Clark. “We were running door to door and never had any problems. We never put a doughnut on each other. We kept each other honest and raced hard. You can’t ask for anything better than that.”
“We put on a heck of a show for everyone here,” agreed Doiron.
The dogfight between Clark and Doiron capped off an action-packed afternoon of racing which also saw Billy Dixon, Joey Pastore and Ryan Hammar score victories.
The PASS Modified feature race was one where survival was the key to victory. Dixon wheeled his #33 car to victory lane after early contenders Scott McDaniel, Mike Carignan, Mitch Miller, Mark Lucas and Andy Shaw all encountered various problems. Dixon took the lead late and stayed out of trouble to score the opening day win. He was followed to the finish by Scott Alexander and Sumner Sessions.
In the 75-lap PASS Sportsman feature, Joey Pastore led every single lap on the way to victory lane, but it was anything but an easy win. Pastore had command of the race through its early and middle stages, but a hard charging Ricky Burgess ran him down in the final stages of the event. Burgess closed to Pastore’s bumper over the final 10 laps and even got sideways chasing him on the final circuit, but Pastore held on to score the victory. Burgess finished second, while Carey Martin, Rusty Poland and Dan McKeage completed the top five finishers.
Ryan Hammar won the NELCAR Legends feature after a fierce battle with his teammate T.J. Laro early in the race. Connecticut driver Shawn Buffington joined the fight and finished second to Hammar, while Laro hung on for a third-place finish.
Over 100 racecars were in the pits among the four divisions of racing on Sunday at Oxford. Despite unseasonably cool temperatures, the grandstands featured a healthy crowd as well to start off the 2013 season at the historic racetrack. Oxford’s regular divisions – the Pro Late Models, Strictly Stocks, Mini Stocks and Outlaw Sportsman – will start their seasons next Sunday afternoon.
The PASS North, PASS Modified and PASS Sportsman divisions will return to action on Saturday, May 4th with the running of the Southern Maine Motors 150 at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, Maine. Racing is scheduled to start at 3 pm. Visit www.proallstarsseries.com for more info.
PASS North Series
Oxford Plains Speedway – Oxford, ME
Ripley and Fletcher Ford 150 – April 21, 2013
1. 77 – Cassius Clark
2. 73 – Joey Doiron
3. 17 – Travis Benjamin
4. 4n – Ben Rowe
5. 48 – Bobby Timmons
6. 60 – DJ Shaw
7. 22 – Aaron Ricker
8. 94 – Shawn Martin
9. 57me – Austin Theriault
10. 28 – Kirk Thibeau
11. 91 – Patrick Laperle
12. 23 – David Farrington Jr.
13. 14 – Bradley Babb
14. 00 – Bryan Kruczek
15. 80 – Richie Dearborn
16. 47 – Kelly Moore
17. 42 – Corey Bubar
18. 7l – Glen Luce
19. 35 – Derek Ramstrom
20. 7 – Curtis Gerry
21. 97 – Joey Pole
22. 75 – Gary Smith
23. 27qc – Alex Gingras
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25. 84qc – Marin Latulippe
26. 84 – Scott Mulkern
27. 20 – Michael Landry
28. 55 – Tony Ricci
29. 21 – David Oliver
30. 24 – Mike Rowe
31. 54 – Johnny Clark
32. 39 – Mike Maittea
33. 60b – Tim Bracket
34. 13 – Dustin Hubbard
PASS Modifieds
1. 33 – Billy Dixon
2. 17 – Scott Alexander
3. 0 – Sumner Sessions
4. 4 – Josh Brown
5. 9 – Evan Armington
6. 14 – Scott McDaniel
7. 53 – Alan Wilson
8. 21 – Mike Carignan
9. 89 – Ryan Phillips
10. 60 – Dana Reed
11. 96 – Chad Binette
12. 05 – Ron Henry
13. 3 – Travis Buzzell
14. 5 – Mark Lucas
15. 00 – Bill Lake
16. 66 – Andy Shaw
17. 31 – Ryan Morgan
18. 7 – Mitch Miller
19. 28 – Mark Lundbland
PASS Sportsman
1. 20 – Joe Pastore
2. 34 – Richard Burgess
3. 18 – Carey Martin
4. 44 – Rusty Poland
5. 40 – Dan McKeage
6. 32 – Jeff Marshall
7. 36 – Nathan Leavitt
8. 01 – Rob Drew
9. 94 – Garrett Hall
10. 15 – Craig Smith
11. 58 – Lyman Mckeage
12. 48 – Jerry Harrison
13. 5 – Chris Warming
14. 1 – Dustin Bisson
15. 47 – Nathan Weston
16. 10 – Donnie Morse
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