Sommerville Breaks Through at the Ridge

Posted Sunday, July 10, 2011 @ 6:21 a.m.; updated July 11 | Source - Series Online

Saint John, NB's Lonnie Sommerville (top) got his first career PASS win at Beech Ridge - with the help of his Mulkern Racing team (bottom)...

Scarborough ME (7/9) - Lonnie Sommerville took the lead for good on lap 116 of Saturday night's Pro All Stars Series (PASS) North Southern Maine Motors.com 150 at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway and drove away from the field to put an exclamation point on his first PASS race win.

Sommerville beat the best of the best. Johnny Clark ran second, Matt Frahm's third place marked his career best PASS finish and Joey Doiron rallied to come home fourth.

Ben Rowe ran second on the race track but after post race technical inspection he was moved to the fifth position (last car on the lead lap) and fined 25 championship points for a deck lid infraction .

Sommerville's win was the first PASS North victory for a Canadian driver since the late Scott Fraser scored at Speedway 660 in 2003.

David Oliver and Alex Gingras led the twenty eight car field to the green and it was Gingras out front in the early stages. Sommerville took his first turn at the front on lap 36, just as a restart melee sent a pack of cars into the front stretch wall. The red flag incident involved Donnie Whitten, Aaron Ricker, Travis Benjamin, Kirk Thibeau,defending race winner Bill Rodgers, Derek Ramstrom, Chris Thorne, and Scott Mulkern, among others. Thibeau and Benjamin were the only cars able to continue on to the finish.

Ben Rowe used the outside to take away the lead on a lap 68 restart and he managed to keep Sommerville in his mirror for just under 50 laps, despite a multitude of challenges.

Sommerville's move in lapped traffic sealed the deal for the Canadian Maritimer, and he built a lead of more than three seconds as the field raced to the checkers.

The top five were the only drivers to complete all 150 laps. Oliver, Gingras and Sommerville each claimed a twelve lap heat race; Travis Benjamin claimed the consolation round.

Andy Shaw continued his stranglehold on PASS Mod victory lane, earning his fourth straight win. Allan Wilson chased Shaw to the checkers once again and former Beech Ridge regular Bill Dixon earned the final spot on the podium. Dana Reed and Sumner Sessions were the heat winners.

PASS racers will be burning the midnight oil this week as the touring pros are back on track Tuesday evening at Lee (NH) USA Speedway. The 7:00 PM show features the third annual PASS Bastille 200 for the super late models plus 40 laps for the PASS Mods and a 75 lap PASS Sportsman showdown.

You'll find all the particulars on line at www.leeusaspeedway.com.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS - PASS 150 AT BEECH RIDGE MOTOR SPEEDWAY, JULY 9
1) 48 - Lonnie Sommerville - 150
2) 4 - Ben Rowe - 150
3) 54 - Johnny Clark - 150
4) 14m - Matt Fraham - 150
5) 73 - Joey Doiron - 150
6) 271c - Alexancer Gingras 0 149
7) 77 - Scott Chubbuck - 149
8) 29 - Trevor Sanborn - 149
9) 16 - Kevin Roberge - 148
10) 17a - Scott Alexander - 148
11) 28 - Kirk Thibeau - 148
12) 10 - Scott Dragon - 148
13) 47 - Kelly Moore - 147
14) 12 - John Dabrowski - 144
15) 17 - Travis Benjamin - 144
16) 24 - Mike Rowe - 139
17) 88 - Kyle Dessouza - 125
18) 29m - Ricy Morse - 121
19) 2 - Matt Matheson - 93
20) 60 - D.J. Shaw - 66
21) 35 - Derek Ramstrom - 46
22) 21 - David Oliver - 37
23) 22 - Aaron Ricker - 36
24) 53 - Bill Rodgers - 36
25) 17t - Chris Thorne - 36
26) 7 - Donnie Whitten - 36
27) 84 - Scott Mulkern - 36
28) 0 - Billy Penfold - 35