A first national champion will be crowned in the Pro All-Stars Series this season as the two Super Late Model divisions will have four combination races, one of which has already been held, to determine the titlist.

Boothbay’s Corey Williams won the first race, the Easter Bunny 150 at Hickory Motor Speedway last weekend.

The others will be the Southern Sizzler 200 at the Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, N.C., on July 19; the PASS 400 at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway on Sept. 21 and the Howler 150 at the Greenville-Pickens Speedway in Easley, S.C., on Oct. 18.

Drivers will be able to drop their worst finish among the four races for the points tabulations.

That is the latest innovation for the PASS tour under the direction of founder Tom Mayberry.

The tour will again have five divisions and Mayberry said the PASS South Super Late Model class has shown the greatest jump.

“We’ve gone from eight to 14 races this season,” said Mayberry. “It has kind of exploded down there. It is going really well.”

This is the third year of the PASS South series.

“And our 2009 schedule is already over half-done. It’s really exciting,” said Mayberry.

PASS North will also have 14 races and, as is the case with the PASS South series, the drivers can drop their two worst finishes in tallying up the final points.

Mayberry began the PASS series with the PASS North Pro Stock division. This is the eighth year for PASS North.

They also feature the Modified, the Outlaw and the Sportsman classes to go with the two Super Late Model divisions.

There will be 10 Modifieds races, eight Outlaw events and seven Sportsman races.

One of the changes in the PASS North SLM division is they will make just one trip to Canada this year instead of two or three and that will be for the Atlantic Cat 250 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Aug. 9.

“The Canadian fans are unbelievable. We really like going up there. But with the cost of hotels and fuel, we had to cut back. Going up there two, three or four times just isn’t feasible for the teams,” said Mayberry. “So we thought it was better to have one big race and one show up there. People can make it a mini-vacation.”

He said the tracks for rest of the schedule are “pretty much within two or two and a half hours” of the race teams.

Races will again be held at Wiscasset Raceway and Hermon’s Speedway 95 as well as Beech Ridge.

They don’t have races scheduled at Oxford Plains Speedway or Unity Raceway.

The PASS North, Modifieds and Sportsmen will kick off their seasons at Beech Ridge on April 19. The Modifieds are in their fifth season and the Sportsman Division is in its second.

The Outlaws will begin season number three at Speedway 95 on May 3. All four northern divisions will race that day.

The Sportsman class is for cars that are “more like Super Streets,” according to Mayberry. They have eight-inch tires instead of the 10-inch tires used in the other divisions.

“It went really well last year and it will be status quo this year,” said Mayberry.

The Outlaws were added two years ago to ensure Pro Stock cars had a place to race. Unity Raceway, Oxford Plains and Speedway 95 have all dropped their Pro Stock classes.

Wiscasset Raceway dropped the expensive class but has since brought it back.

Mayberry said he’ll be happy with “15-18 cars” in the Outlaw class each week.

“It’s a real good stepping stone to the Super Late Models. We’re pretty excited about it,” said Mayberry.

The Modifieds are doing well and “holding their own” and Mayberry said they are looking at “building it up” in the future.

In the PASS North series, Turner’s Ben Rowe will be gunning for his fifth points title and second in a row.

He nudged his father, Mike, by seven points last year.

lmahoney@bangordailynews.net

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