It’s The Rowes and the Clarks at Antigonish
October 15, 2006 (Naples, ME) It was a day late but not short of
anything as the PASS North Super Late Model Series visited
Riverside Speedway in Antigonish, Nova Scotia for the first time
for the Fall Foliage 250. The rains came early Saturday and
washed out any attempt to get the show in, but close to 6,000
Maritime race fans came back on a sunny Sunday afternoon to see
the best from the Carquest Maritime Pro Stock Series mix it up
with the visiting Pass North Super Late Model Series.
Corey Williams of Boothbay, ME set a new track record on the
ultra fast high banks of the newly rebuilt Riverside Speedway
with a blistering 13.805 second lap in time trials, and as it
sometimes happens Corey ended up on the pole after the redraw
and Dash race
When the green fell shortly after 1PM it was Travis Benjamin in
the Irving Oil #17 jumping to the lead from the outside pole
with Corey settling in behind. After two quick yellows for
debris and a spin by the #19V of Darren Vanderaa of Price Edward
Island and the #81 of Bobby White of Kennetcook, NS, the field
settled down as Travis took the lead again with Corey second,
Scott Mulkern in the Community Pharmacies #84 third, the #02 of
Mike MacKenzie of Montague Gold Mines, NS fourth, and the NAPA
#47M of Kelly Moore of Scarborough, ME fifth.
On lap 11, the S & t Rentals #8T of Alan Tardif of Lyman, ME and
the #44 of Wayne Smith of Timberlea, NS tangled in turn one,
effectively ending the day for Tardif. Williams and Benjamin
traded the lead several times with Mulkern solidly in third as
the filed settled in for a long green-flag run
On lap 63, Williams reclaimed the lead with Mulkern following
him through on the low side with the #4 of Ben Rowe coming along
for the ride. Rowe moved past Mulkern on lap 70 for second as
Benjamin started to fade back with electrical problems and had
to pit under green on lap 78 to chase the electrical gremlins.
At the 100 lap mark, it was Williams, Ben Rowe, Mulkern, points
leader Johnny Clark in the #54 fourth, Cassius Clark in the EJP
#8 fifth, the #13 of Rollie MacDonald of Pictou, NS, the #24 of
Mike Rowe, Richie Dearborn of Hollis, ME in the #33, Donald
Chisholm of Antigonish, NS, and Gordie Ryan of Truro, NS in the
#67 rounding out the top ten.
Dearborn in the top ten is a story of its own. Richie blew his
motor in the final practice session Saturday, but with a motor
borrowed from Johnny Clark and help from just about every team
in the pits, both PASS and Maritimers, the Dearborn team was
ready to race.
With the competition yellow scheduled for lap `125, Ben Rowe
decided that lap 110 was the time to take the lead as he got
under Williams going into turn three and came out of turn four
with the lead. But Williams wasn’t done as he came back on lap
113 to take the lead after three laps of side-by side racing,
but Ben took the point again two laps later.
At the halfway mark, it was Ben Rowe, Williams, Johnny Clark
third, Mulkern fourth, Cassius fifth, and Mike Rowe sixth. After
the ten minute break, it was Ben and Corey leading the restart
with Travis Benjamin back after major repairs and many laps
down.
On lap 130, Johnny Clark moves past Williams for second as the
#13 of MacDonald, Mulkern, and Mike Rowe tangle on the
frontstretch but all three veterans keep going, but on lap 138
the caution flew again as MacDonald had a fire under the car and
had to retire to the pits for the day.
On the restart, Johnny Clark and Ben went side by side down for
three laps until Johnny took over down the backstretch on lap
141, but on a lap 149 restart Ben took the lead. Cassius Clark
was starting to make some noise and on lap 155 went by Johnny
for second.
A spin in turn four by Corey Williams after contact with another
car on lap 167 brought out the yellow, the inside row of Ben and
Johnny moved out past the outside line of Cassius and Mulkern,
but on lap 189 Cassius got by Johnny for second, and at the 175
lap mark Dearborn moved to fourth past Mulkern with Donald
Chisholm sixth.
Chisholm was forced to pit on lap 200 out of sixth place with
electrical problems, killing any chance for a top five finish as
he lost two laps in the pits.
Mike Rowe was starting to assert himself and moved into the top
five with less than fifty laps to go as he worked his way back
to the front after a tire change on the lap 167 yellow.
On lap 247 the final yellow came out as Dearborn and Johnny
Clark tangled going into turn one with Scott Mulkern into the
turn one wall. Clark was able to keep going and after a quick
visit to the pits to pull off the right-front fender Dearborn
was back for the green. white, checker finish.
At the line, it was Ben, Cassius, Mike Rowe, Johnny Clark,
Dearborn, Gordie Ryan, Curtis Gerry in the #7 with a solid
seventh-place run, Kelly Moore, George Koszkulics of New
Glasgow, NS in the #88 ninth, and Scott Chubbuck in the #29
tenth. |
