Johnny Clark: PASS North Series – Seekonk Speedway Race Preview
PASS North Series points leader Johnny Clark of Farmingdale, Maine, rolls off to the PASS North Series PASS 150 at Seekonk Speedway in Seekonk, Mass., on Saturday, August 14. It’s just the second time the series visits the tight .333-mile track affectionately known as the “Cement Palace.” Clark is coming off back-to-back finishes outside the top-5 and hopes to get back on track at Seekonk, where he finished third last year in his lone career start there. The four-time series champion Clark nurses a 10-point lead over Ben Rowe atop the PASS North standings with four races remaining.
WHO: Johnny Clark, Farmingdale, Maine
TEAM: No. 54 Clark’s Car Crushing/Port City Chevrolet
BEST CAREER SEEKONK SPEEDWAY FINISH: 3rd (August 2009)
LAST RACE AT SEEKONK SPEEDWAY: 3rd (August 2009)
WHAT: PASS North Series PASS 150
WHERE: Seekonk Speedway, Seekonk, Mass. (.333-mile oval)
WHEN: 6 p.m., Saturday, August 14
PASS NORTH SERIES
LAST RACE: July 31, Riverside Speedway, Groveton, N.H. (7th-place finish)
NEXT RACE: Saturday, August 21, Spud Speedway, Caribou, Maine (.333-mile oval)
POINTS POSITION: 1st
****************
JOHNNY, DOES IT SEEM LIKE THE CHAMPIONSHIP PICTURE HAS TIGHTENED UP ALL OF A SUDDEN?
If you had asked me that after Beech Ridge (in early July), I would have told you that we just have to keep doing what we were doing and we’d be fine. Now, though, that doesn’t hold true. The last two races we’ve lost points. We’ve got to buckle down and win a couple of races.
There’s no doubt about it. Ben’s won twice since I last won. I really feel like we’ve got to win two of these last four races and have solid runs in the other two if we want to win this championship. It’s going to come down to the last race (at White Mountain Motorsports Park in September). I said that at the beginning of the season, and it’s still true.
HOW DO YOU APPROACH A RACE AT A PLACE LIKE SEEKONK SPEEDWAY?
No one has any experiencethere. It’s really a complete wild card, and that’s how I’m kind of looking at it. It’s a lot like a race at Beech Ridge — when you roll into the gate there, nobody really knows what’s going to happen. That’s kind of how it is at Seekonk, too.
DO YOU LIKE THE RACING AT SEEKONK?
I do. It’s a complete bowl, but it’s a rough race track. It’s got some Unity characteristics in it, because you have to be smooth on the throttle. I like the rougher race tracks. Put some bumps, some frost heaves in it and we’ll have some fun.
Experience does mean everything at Seekonk — just last time we saw that because the regulars ran so strong there. With our baseline setup we take to tracks that are unknowns for us — it usually works well. It’s kind of a middle of the road setup, but hopefully it will work on that rough, tough race track.