Joey Doiron Scores 1st Career PASS Win
Berwick Driver Dominates Second Half At Beech Ridge
Joey Doiron of Berwick, Maine, believed he had a car capable of winning at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway. By early evening, he’d proven it to everybody else.
Doiron led the final 63 laps on Saturday afternoon to win the season-opening PASS North Series SouthernMaineMotors.com 150 at Beech Ridge. The victory was the first PASS victory for Doiron, a three-year veteran of the series.
“It’s awesome,” said Doiron, who won a NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Super Late Model feature at Beech Ridge in the summer of 2011. “Everyone says if you can win here, you can win anywhere. Hopefully the next 15 races we can show that.”
Doiron started 10th in the 32-car field and wasted little time getting to the Top-5. From there, he worked the bottom groove of the race track to crack the Top-3 and battle with early race leaders DJ Shaw and Lonnie Sommerville.
He briefly wrestled the lead from Shaw on Lap 83 for a single lap, before taking it for good following a restart five laps later. His final margin of victory in the black and blue No. 73 JBJ Machine/Dale Shaw Race Cars Chevrolet was more than 6.5 seconds over Sommerville.
Doiron’s previous best career PASS finish was fourth – a finish he recorded in this very event one year ago. He also qualified on the outside pole for the PASS 300 at Beech Ridge in September 2010.
“We’ve gone to the race track, and it hasn’t always been good, but through the hard times we turned it around,” said Doiron, who changed his paint scheme in the offseason – the only significant change to the race team. “No more green (paint), apparently that was the bad luck, because our first race with the blue car and we’re in Victory Lane.
“Hopefully, maybe next week we can make it 2-for-2.”
The victory for a small, family-owned team was an especially emotional one for Doiron. His father, John, is the crew chief and owner of the car. Doiron was visibly choked up as he exited the car to celebrate in Victory Lane.
“I can’t thank them enough,” Doiron said of his family. “Other than my parents, they fund the whole thing, I’ve got to thank Dale Shaw and DJ (Shaw). They’ve really got this car dialed-in. This thing was a absolute rocket ship.”
The PASS North Series returns to action next Saturday, May 12, with the PASS 150 at Star Speedway in Epping, N.H.
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