Clark seeks repeat PASS series starts Saturday

The Pro All-Stars Series’ Super Late Model Division wasn’t decided until the last race a year ago.

Farmingdale’s Johnny Clark held off Turner’s Mike Rowe to claim his second points championship in three years. Clark edged Rowe by 31 points.

Clark will begin defense of his title this weekend when the series runs back-to-back races at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough on Saturday and Hermon’s Speedway 95 on Sunday.

Racing at Beech Ridge begins at 2 p.m. while the Speedway 95 card starts at 3.

Both PASS Super Late Model races will be 150 laps.

It’s going to be interesting,” said Clark. “These doubleheader weekends have probably produced some of the best racing we’ve ever had.”

Running on consecutive days at different tracks can pose problems for the drivers as they try to find the right setups.

But Clark said it won’t be too much of a problem.

“The set-ups won’t be too far apart,” said Clark. “Both are flat tracks. [Speedway 95] has a lot more bite built into the track. Beech Ridge’s track is more worn out. As far as the front end goes, just about everybody is going to have pretty similar setups. You’re just going to have to make a couple of spring changes.”

Clark enjoys racing at Speedway 95 and will be “real confident” going into that race.

“I grew up racing at Wiscasset [Raceway], Unity [Raceway] and Speedway 95 and those are the tracks I seem to go pretty well at. But I scratch my head at Beech Ridge. Beech Ridge has me a little nervous because I don’t know what the setup will be that you’ll need to win down there,” said Clark.

“Horsepower isn’t a priority at Beech Ridge because the track is worn out. It is a priority at Bangor,” Clark added.

Clark will try out a Chevy Monte Carlo he has yet to race.

“We had it out twice last year for testing and stuff. We’re pretty excited about it,” said said Clark. “But we’ve also got ‘Old Reliable’ [the 2004 Monte Carlo] that we’ve won two championships with. That will also be ready to go.”

He said he and his team are experimenting with different setups and they’re “definitely looking to win a few more races” than they did last year when they took just one trip to Victory Lane.

“That was the driest season [in terms of wins] we’ve had in a few years,” said Clark.

He expects the father-son tandem of Mike and Ben Rowe to be among the primary contenders for the points title along with Cassius Clark.

Turner’s Ben Rowe has won three PASS North points championships and Mike won the PASS South points a year ago while finishing second in PASS North.

Ben Rowe won the last three races last season.

Farmington’s Clark led the series in victories a year ago with five.

“Cassius has real good equipment right now. They seem to be on [top of] their game,” said Johnny Clark.

Hollis’ Richie Dearborn and Morrill’s Travis Benjamin are among other potential contenders.

“Richie picked it up quite a bit at the end of last year and he’s a real good distance racer,” said Clark. “And Travis has a new car so he should be tough.”

There will be a 100-lap PASS Outlaws race and a 40-lap PASS Modifieds race at Beech Ridge and the Mods will also race at Speedway 95 along with the weekly race card.