(Naples, ME – October 14, 2007) Why should the last race of the season be any different from many other PASS North shows in the 2007 season? It rained. Not for all that long, but it rained at the end of practice and pushed the start of the show ahead by an hour or so.
The skies didn’t clear, but the rain did stop and the heat races and the consis for all three divisions were run off quickly and without any major incidents.
The Wildcat/Super Street/Limited 50 lap feature was the first feature of the afternoon with the #56 of Mike Short of Auburn, ME quickly taking the lead on lap 7, with the #12X Skip Tripp of Sabbatus, ME, the #40 of Lyman McKeage of Gorham, ME, and the #45 of Cole Watson of Naples, ME right there on his tail.
A couple of quick yellows slowed the early pace, but things settled down and at the 25 lap mark it was Short, Tripp, the #113 of Tommy Thompkins of Carthage, ME, McKeage, and a fast charging Alby Ovitt of Barrington, NH in the #35. Ovitt took fourth from McKeage, and then took off after the top three.
With ten to go, it was still Short, Tripp, Tompkins, Ovitt, and McKeage. The leaders came up on a group of lapped cars having their own little tussle. The seas miraculously parted for Short, but then closed just as quickly before Tripp and Thompkins could make their way through.
At the checkers, it was Short, Tripp, Thompkins, Ovitt, and McKeage. The finish is unofficial and under review.
After his top five finish in the Wildcat race, Lyman McKeage settled in to watch his son Dan try to claim the first PASS Pullen Sportsman Series title. Dan McKeage started on the pole as a result of his win in his heat race in the silver #38 with a 33 point lead over second place runner Jerry Harrison. Unfortunately, Harrison started at the back of the field and had a long way to go to catch McKeage.
McKeage went out to the lead followed by Boe Green, the Lee USA Speedway Sportsman champion. The laps clicked off quickly with a few minor spins that didn’t bring out the yellow as everyone kept going, and at the halfway mark in the 50 lapper, down from the scheduled 75 because of the threat of rain, McKeage was safely out front. But the battle for second to sixth was intense, with the #9 of Mike Davis, the #8 of Clyde Hennessey, Jr, the #40 of Mike Landry ,the #18K of Justin Karkos, and #93 of Green all running nose to tail.
As good as it was in the first half, things went south quickly after halfway. On lap 26, Shane Tatro in the #7 came to a stop in turn four bringing out the yellow, putting a sour note on a strong season-long run for Tatro. On lap 30, everything went bad for eight competitors in a big mid pack tangle on the backstretch. The #68 of Jonathan Ledger got the worst of it as he sat there with his hat exposed to the clouds and his roof dangling off the rear deck. The #60 of Tommy Smithers, one of the original participants in the wreck slid all the way from the backstretch to the frontstretch and kept on going. The #66 of Ernie Wallace, Jr, the #28 of Steve Heinz, the 21X of Jason Welch, the #2 of Robert Emery, Jr, the #10 of Steven Bly, and the #64 of Robbie Bodwell were all involved.
After the red flag was lifted, some of the participants got going on there own and others went off on the hook. On the restart, Hennessey in the #8 got the jump on McKeage, but the #38 was too much to handle and McKeage took the lead back down the backstretch.
With ten to go, it was McKeage, Landry in the #40 up to second, Hennessey, Karkos, Davis, the #47 of Nate Weston trying to hold on to third in the points over Landry, Duane Seekins in the #19S, and the #35X of Kris Watson. Weston needed to get around the #9 of Davis to cement his position and he almost waited too long as he made the successful move with six to go.
At the checkers, it was McKeage, Landry, Hennessey, Karkos, and Weston. After a first class smoke show by McKeage, he and runner up Harrison exchanged high fives out the windows on the frontstretch.
The finish is unofficial and under review since this was the last race.