photo by Norm Marx
It may have taken Travis Benjamin an extra day, but the wait was worth it as he scored a popular win in the season opening Ripley and Ftcher Ford PASS 150 at Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Maine on Sunday afternoon. The race was actually scheduled to take place on Saturday, but due to steady rains the event was postponed until Sunday. The race was even in doubt for Sunday, as the showers persisted until late morning. After a lengthy track drying process, qualifying began around 1:15, and you could tell that the thirty-five PASS Super Late Models in attendance were anxious and ready. DJ Shaw, Joey Doiron and Trevor Sanborn claimed wins in the highly competitive qualifying rounds.
Shaw, fresh off his win in the Easter Bunny 150 at Hickory, bolted to the lead and held the point til lap 7 when Trevor Sanborn grabbed the lead. Scott Mulkern raced to the lead on lap 11 and held it until Trevor Sanborn raced by. Sanborn’s lead was short lived as Richie Dearborn took the top spot on lap 65 and was on cruise control through lap 130. At that point, Dearborn, Benjamin and Shaw picked up the pace dramatically and pulled away from the rest of the field. All of a sudden heavy lapped traffic made the trio dice back and forth, weave in and out, causing each of them to try bonsai maneuvers to get to the front as laps continued to wind down. This traffic jam allowed Benjamin to pinch Dearborn behind a lapped car and into the lead on lap 138. Over the final laps Benjamin opened up a couple of car lengths lead as he crossed the line ahead of Dearborn, Shaw, Johnny Clark and Scott Mulkern. Completing the top ten were Austin Theriault, Mike Rowe, Joey Doiron, Trevor Sanborn and Brent Dragon.
The PASS Sportsman event was a wild one as several cautions continually changed the outcome of the event. When the dust settled Joe Pastore Jr. scored the victory over Rusty Poland, Chris Staples, Dan McKeage and Nathan Leavitt.
Andy Shaw easily outdistanced a nineteen car field of PASS Mods, as he ran away and hid from Scott Alexander, Evan Armington, Andy Saunders and Ryan Phillips.
The NELCAR Legends main event was won by Kevin Gerard Jr. Rounding out the top five were Matthew Bourgoine, Wyatt Alexander, Terry Kirk and Alan Smith.
The PASS Tour is right back in action this coming Saturday, May 3rd at the pristine Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, Maine for the Southern Maine Motors Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, PASS 150. The card will feature PASS Super Late Models, PASS Mods, PASS Sportsman and NELCAR Legends. Post time is 3pm.