Khiel rolls to another solid start on PASS tour

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He is one of the youngest drivers on the Pro All-Stars Series tour at 21. And he has been racing for just six years.

But Denmark’s Travis Khiel has made his presence felt.

He was the Rookie of the Year a year ago when he finished 10th in points.

Khiel is off to a good start this season as he is currently sitting eighth in points after six races. He trails seventh-place Scott Mulkern of Falmouth by only four points.

“Things could be a little better. I’ve had a lot of bad luck. I got taken out in the first 25 laps at White Mountain [Motorsports Park, N.H.] and I was running really well at Lee (N.H.), I was fifth with 25 laps to go, when Ed MacDonald got loose and put me into the wall,” said Khiel.

He wound up 24th and 20th in those two races but has run in the top nine in the other four races.

“We set some goals as a team this season. We know we’re capable of being a top five car every week and we want to consistently finish in the top five. We want to win a couple of races and we’d like to finish in the top five in points,” said Khiel. “If it wasn’t for our stretch of bad luck, we’d be at least fifth in points if not better.”

Khiel began racing at Oxford Plains Speedway six years ago.

“My dad [John] sponsored a race team and I helped out on the crew,” said Khiel. “I thought I’d like to try it so I began racing late model cars.”

Late model is a far cry from entry level and Khiel found that out.

“You usually start out in a lower division. I raced two years in late model with little success. I had never driven a race car before and I knew I wasn’t going to go out there and dominate. I looked at those two years as learning years,” said Khiel.

He moved up to pro stocks in year number three and won his second pro stock race.

“I also finished second three times that year,” Khiel said.

Running 35-lap races at the same track every weekend got old so, after spending two years in pro stocks at Oxford Plains, Khiel decided to give the PASS tour a shot last season.

“I want to try to do this for a living. If I want to be racing on TV some day, I had to leave Oxford and the PASS tour was the next step. You get to race on more tracks, you get your name out there more and you run with better competition,” said Khiel who also prefers 150-lap races to 35-lappers.

He is more familiar with the tracks this year and said he’s more comfortable and confident.

“I’ve got a feel for all the tracks now,” said Khiel who added that he also has a better handle on the opposing drivers and their tendencies.

Khiel, a former Fryeburg Academy football player, drives a 2004 Chevy Monte Carlo and works for his father, whose John Khiel Logging and Chipping business is his primary sponsor.

Khiel’s crew chief is Les Babb, his car chief is Randy Pease and his crew members include Gabe Watson and Mark MacDonald along with Greg Khiel.

Moore says DEI deal is up in air

Busch North Rookie of the Year Ryan Moore of Scarborough said rumors about him driving seven Busch Grand National races for DEI (Dale Earnhardt Incorporated) next year and running a full BGN season for DEI the following year are just rumors.

“We’ve talked to them but everything is up in the air. We don’t have anything on paper,” said Moore, who hopes it becomes a reality.

“It would be a great deal to go to an organization like that. They’re the best team in the sport. It wouldn’t get much better than that,” said Moore who drives a Chevy Monte Carlo with veteran Rollie Lachance as his crew chief.

The 20-year-old Moore is off to an impressive start in his sophomore year on the tour. He is third in points thanks to three top-five finishes in six races.

He had five top-fives in 17 races while finishing 11th in the points last year.

He has been satisfied with his start, which includes his first pole, but he is quick to point out “we’re still looking for our first win.

“We’ve had a couple of bad runs that have really hurt us. I’d like to be closer to the top two (Andy Santerre and Mike Olsen) in points,” said Moore, who trails Olsen by 104 points and Santerre by 143.

“The top two guys haven’t had a bad week yet. That’s huge. We want to keep running up front and we want to be more consistent. We want to run in the top five every week. If we do that, the wins will come,” said Moore whose father, veteran Busch North driver Kelly Moore, is fourth in points.