PASS North 150 Saturday, May 5, 2007 Beech Ridge Motor Speedway Scarborough, ME

Event # 1 of 14

Feature Race Distance: 150 laps

Current Point Standings: n/a (season opener)

Schedule (local time/ET)

Friday May 4 - Practice 3 PM to 7 PM

Saturday May 5 - Pits Open 10 AM, Heats Start at 3 PM


Joey Porciello (center) won Saturday's PASS North season opener at beech Ridge Motor Speedway. Jeremie Whorff (left) was second and Mike Rowe third.

Rookie Porciello Wins Beech Ridge Opener

NAPLES, ME (May 5, 2007) – The rookies ruled the roost Saturday at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, Maine as the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) North Super Late Model Tour held their season-opening event. Joey Porciello held off the charge of 2006 Oxford 250 winner Jeremie Whorff to take the first checkered flag of the year.

Porciello first took the lead from Ben Rowe on lap 37, and then swapped the top spot with Cassius Clark throughout the middle stages of the event. With less than 20 laps to go, Porciello was out front, but Whorff was gaining rapidly. A restart with six laps to go gave Whorff a final shot at taking lead, but Porciello did not yield and was the first driver to complete the 150-lap event.

The victory is Porciello’s first in PASS North Super Late Model competition. The Lee, New Hampshire driver previously won a PASS Outlaw Late Model feature at Star Speedway (now known as All-Star Speedway) in 2006.

Finishing behind Porciello and Whorff were veterans Mike Rowe, Kelly Moore and Dave Dion.

In support race action, Scott Mulkern won the 100-lap PASS Outlaw Late Model feature over Jay Sands and Jimmy Rosenfield. In the PASS Modifieds, Kenny Harrison benefited when Chris Staples spun out of the lead with five laps to go. Harrison went on to win the race over Tom Oliver and Chris Smith.

PASS teams won’t have to wait long to return to action. On Sunday, there will be a 150-lap PASS North Super Late Model feature and a PASS Modified race support race at Speedway 95 near Bangor, Maine. The post time for that event is 2pm/ET.

Unofficial Race Results 1. Joey Porciello 2. Jeremie Whorff 3. Mike Rowe 4. Kelly Moore 5. Dave Dion 6. Ben Rowe 7. Richie Dearborn 8. Mark Patten 9. Cassius Clark 10. DJ Shaw 11. Steve Berry 12. Johnny Clark 13. Curtis Gerry 14. Bill Whorff, Jr. 15. Gary Smith 16. Trevor Sanborn 17. Kirk Thibeau 18. Bill Penfold 19. Travis Benjamin 20. Derek Ramstrom 21. John Flemming 22. Kevin Kimball 23. Bill Rodgers 24. Rick Martin 25. Lonnie Sommerville 26. Dale Shaw 27. Jeff Burgess 28. Ralph Nason 29. Mike Parks

Saturday Notes

The qualifying heat races are done, with Ben Rowe, Lonnie Sommerville and Mark Patten each grabbing checkered flags. John Flemming was seventh in the second heat (won by Lonnie). The top seven finishers in each heat tranferred to the feature - so both Lonnie and John are in!!!

Looks like 32 cars on hand for the show...Kevin Kimball won the consi.

Flemming was 14th quick in the first practice and fifth quick in the second, not shown in the third...

Sommerville was 15th in the first, 17th in the second and 28th in the third practice sessions...

Wiley maine racing veteran Ralph Nason is doing double duty today, having entered both the Super late Model and Outlaw divisions...

Alan Tardiff's car was too badly damaged to be ready for today after wrecking during practice on Friday. Tardiff has neck and back pain...

Friday Practice Notes

(May 5, 2007) - The weather finally co-operated and the PASS North season is underway (kind of) at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, near Portland, Maine. Friday's practice saw blue skies and sunshine allowing teams to prepare for Saturday's official season opener with the running of a 150-lap feature.

No official practice times were kept as PASS policy does not see transponders on the car except on race days, but unofficial times showed veteran Mike Rowe as the hot shoe of the day among the 31 teams that showed for practice.

The only serious incident of the day came when Alan Tardiff hit the backstretch wall. Tardiff walked away from the wreck, but did go to hospital for check-up; the car was havily damaged. The team loaded up the car and headed home. No doubt they worked all night to try and get the car back together for today.

New Brunswick's Lonnie Sommerville and Nova Scotia's John Flemming are both on site. We've got contact numbers for both so will try and reach them today to see if we can get a pre-race report - so stay tuned...

Practice starts at Noon/ET, qualifying heat races start at 3 p.m./ET. Today's Portland weather forecast calls for sunny skies with a high temp of 57F/14C.

Double-Header Weekend Ahead to Kick Off PASS North Season

NAPLES, ME (May 1, 2007) – It’s a racer’s dream and a team’s nightmare – two races in one weekend.

After sitting idle since their 2006 season concluded at Unity Raceway (ME) in October, the PASS North Super Late Model teams now have a busy weekend ahead of them with two events on consecutive days. First up is this Saturday’s season-opener at Maine’s Beech Ridge Motor Speedway and Speedway 95. Teams will race in Southern Maine’s Beech Ridge Motor Speedway on Saturday afternoon and then head up the Interstate a few hours to compete in another 150-lap event at Speedway 95, located just outside of Bangor, on Sunday.

Rain and flooding pushed the Beech Ridge race back from its original late-April date until one day before the scheduled race at Speedway 95. With a good forecast set for this weekend, it is going to make for a busy stretch for teams.

“It’s great,” said multi-time PASS victor Mike Rowe with a smile. “I just love it – racing twice in a weekend. Hopefully, we can get out of Beech Ridge with a good run and go up to Bangor and run well there. I like both tracks a lot.”

The tight schedule does put a strain on teams, with a trouble-free first leg of the weekend at Beech ridge critical to even making the starting field at Speedway 95.

“As a racer, it is good, but for a team is could be tough,” said 2006 PASS North Rookie of the Year Alan Tardiff. “If you can make it through the first race without any trouble, it should make for a good weekend. If something happens and you get torn up at Beech Ridge, it could make for a very long weekend.”

So will that make competitors more cautious at Beech Ridge on Saturday? The jury is out on the answer to that question.

“For us, it won’t be bad because we’ll have a car ready for Beech Ridge and another one ready for Bangor,” said three-time PASS North champion Ben Rowe. “But if you have one car, you’ll have to tip-toe through Beech Ridge.”

Not everyone agrees, though. After all, these guys are racers, and they don’t really know much about running in low gear.

“Probably not,” said Tardiff when asked if he thought the drivers would be more conservative at Beech Ridge. “It’s the first race of the season. People are anxious to go racing, everyone wants to do well in the first race of the year, and they can’t wait to get on the racetrack.”

A number of Beech Ridge Pro Series competitors will enter the PASS North race, but that does not mean that they will have an advantage against the touring stars.

“We used to have an advantage over other people there, but as the races go on, everyone started to catch up,” said Tardiff, who raced weekly at the track before moving up to PASS. “There are more people who are on their game at “The Ridge” now than there were a few years ago. It should be a pretty close race.”

The Speedway 95 show should be just as exciting, as both tracks have a lot in common.

“Both tracks are similar in the way that we run our setups,” said Cassius Clark, who won the spring races at both tracks last season. “It will be a busy weekend, but we should be okay. There will be some routine maintenance. We might choose to skip a practice and go over everything. We’ll go back to our shop in Farmington after the Beech Ridge race, bring it home and go through it.”

Can Clark back up his winning performances of last year? Time will tell, but his competitors already have their eyes on him.

“He’s good up there at Speedway, he’ll definitely be the one to beat,” said Ben Rowe.

But Clark isn’t focusing beyond race number one of the weekend yet. He knows that winning at Beech Ridge will provide plenty of momentum for Speedway 95.

“If you can win at Beech Ridge, you’ll be looking good for the next day,” said Clark. “We’ll be trying to win them both [again].”

The full weekend for PASS teams actually starts on Friday, May 4th, with an open practice at Beech Ridge for PASS North Super Late Model, PASS Outlaw Late Model and PASS Modified competitors from 3 - 7pm. On Saturday, May 5th, the Beech Ridge pit gates will open at 10am with practice taking place from Noon until 2pm. Racing will start at 3pm.

On Sunday, May 6th, there will be a 150-lap PASS North Super Late Model and a PASS Modified race at Speedway 95 near Bangor, Maine. The post time for that event is 2pm.

Nor’easter Damage Delays Start of North Season
Flood and Mud Postpone Beech Ridge Race until May 5th

NAPLES, ME (April 19, 2007) – This weekend’s scheduled Pro All Stars Series event at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway (ME) has been postponed until May 5th due to the effects of several days of heavy rain and damaging winds in Southern Maine.

Turns three and four of the track are still flooded, while the pit and parking areas are saturated with water. In the interest of safety, PASS and Beech Ridge officials made the decision on Thursday afternoon to postpone the races.

The schedule set for this weekend will remain the same for the new race dates. On Friday, May 4th, there will be an open practice for PASS North Super Late Model, PASS Outlaw Late Model and PASS Modified competitors from 3-7pm. On Saturday, May 5th, the pit gates will open at 10am with practice taking place from Noon until 2pm. Racing will start at 3pm.

This will set up a doubleheader weekend for the PASS North teams. On Sunday, May 6th, there will be a 150-lap PASS North Super Late Model and a PASS Modified race support race at Speedway 95 near Bangor, Maine. The post time for that event is 2pm.

Photo Gallery - stay tuned...

IMPORTANT: All information, schedules and/or scheduled events is/are subject to change without notice. Please check with the source to confirm.