Ben Rowe: PASS North Series Speedway 95 Race Preview
4-time PASS North Series champion Ben Rowe of Turner, Maine, opens the 2010 season with the PASS 150 at Speedway 95 in Hermon, Maine, on Sunday, April 18. Rowe will make his PASS North debut with Mulkern Racing, where he signed to drive the No. 48 during the offseason. He is trying to become the first 5-time PASS North Series champion and first driver to reach 40 wins in PASS Super Late Model history.
WHO: Ben Rowe, Turner, Maine
TEAM: Mulkern Racing/Community Pharmacies No. 48
BEST CAREER SPEEDWAY 95 FINISH: 1st (August 2003)
WHAT: PASS North Series PASS 150
WHERE: Speedway 95, Hermon, Maine. (.333-mile oval)
WHEN: 1:30 p.m., Sunday, April 18
PASS NORTH SERIES
LAST RACE: N/A
NEXT RACE: Saturday, May 1, Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Scarborough, Maine
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BEN, YOU’VE WON TWICE AT SPEEDWAY 95 IN THE PAST, BUT NOT SINCE 2003. WHAT’S THE SECRET THERE?
I’ve won there a few times, but I don’t know how. It’s just one of my tracks that I just dislike. It’s just a tough track.
You can’t really race the other competitors there, you just worry about not running off the race track. Once you get racing it’s fun. Practice and the heats, the place is just tough. It’s not bad once you get spread out in the race, because then you can go.
At the end there, it always comes down to who’s on the outside. Guys on the inside can just run you off the race track, but it’s hard to do. You just can’t go on the bottom at all.
HOW EXCITED ARE YOU ABOUT GETTING TO WORK WITH NEW CREW CHIEF SETH HOLBROOK FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS WEEK?
I can’t wait. Seth was really good there with Staples last year, and then they went and won at Beech Ridge the week after that. Hopefully he’ll be good enough to make up for where I’m not as a driver.
IS THIS NO. 48 TEAM GOOD ENOUGH TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP IN 2010?
I think so. Right now, the cars I have been running (in PASS National Series races), are the older equipment that Scott’s had. Now we’ve got all the eggs in one basket with a brand new car — putting together everything that I’ve used and Seth’s used in the past.
It’s kind of foreign to (car owner Scott Mulkern), but if we can get together and have it 100 percent, don’t see why we can’t compete right out of the gate.