Ramstrom Rumbles to PASS Full Fender Frenzy win at Thompson
Thompson, CT — Derek Ramstrom turned in a dominant performance to win Saturday nights’ Pro All Stars Series (PASS) North Super Late Model Full Fender Frenzy 75 at Thompson International Speedway. Ramstrom took the lead on lap one and kept the field in his rear view mirror, leading from green to checker. Richie Dearborn continued his streak of top five finishes with a second place run and Johnny Clark finished third.
Heat race winners Jay Fogleman and Ramstrom brought the field to the green and Ramstrom quickly jumped out front over Travis Benjamin, Kelly Moore, DJ Shaw and Fogleman. The young man who calls Thompson his home track built up a ten car advantage by lap ten and looked dominant from the get go. The race stayed under green for better than fifty laps as Ramstrom continued his drive into the sunset, but the battle for second through fourth between Moore, Shaw and Dearborn heated up. Fogleman took the fifth spot away from Rowe on lap fifty three and set sail after the front four.
D.J. Shaw’s great run ended abruptly in the turn three wall with an apparent flat right front tire. The first caution flag of the night brought Ramstrom back to the field, erasing a huge advantage. The caution remained out for a few additional laps when Fogleman’s ride quit on the front stretch and the Durham North Carolina –based PASS South star was done for the evening. . When the green flew it was Ramstrom and Moore with Dearborn and a resurgent Travis Benjamin in the first four spots. The caution lights came on a second time when Ben Rowe stopped at the top of turn two. Rowe pitted for a right front tire and returned to the speedway but the four time PASS North champ received a one lap penalty for stopping on the track to draw the yellow.
Ramstrom held the point on a wild three wide restart but the third and final caution came four laps later when series point leader Adam Bates pounded the turn three wall in a carbon copy of DJ Shaw’s crash.
Ramstrom, Moore, Dearborn, Benjamin and Johnny Clark took the green on lap fifty-eight, and Ramstrom once again held sway but Dearborn, Clark and Benjamin all made their way around Moore.
Ramstrom continued to build on his advantage as Johnny Clark looked for a way around Richie Dearborn. Dearborn was able to pull away from Clark in the waning laps, but there was no challenging Ramstrom. The seventeen year old from just up the road in Worcester Massachusetts earned his second career PASS super late model victory in convincing fashion.
Eight cars finished on the lead lap in a fast paced shoot out slowed three times for cautions. Ramstrom is the fifth winner in the seven PASS SLM races to date. Only Johnny Clark and Ben Rowe have visited victory lane twice as the season reaches the half way mark.
The Pro All Stars Series super late models get back on track in a hurry with a special Tuesday night July 14 appearance at Lee USA Speedway for the PASS Bastille 200. The PASS Mod s return for race number two of the Twin State series, and Lee’s own small block supermodifieds and Iron Man series will fill the bill. The racing goes green at 6:00 PM.
For more information visit www.leeusaspeedway.com; The Pro All Stars Series is on line at www.racewithpass.com and www.proallstarsseries.com .
Sources: PASS North PR
Unofficial Results – PASS North super late model Full Fender Frenzy 75 – Thompson International Speedway – Thompson CT – 7/11/2009 – with finishing position, (starting position), car number, driver, hometown, (laps completed)
1 (2) 35 Derek Ramstrom, Worcester MA (75) 2 (5) 33 Richie Dearborn Hollis ME (75) 3 (13) 54 Johnny Clark Hallowell ME (75) 4 (4) 17 Travis Benjamin Morrill ME (75) 5 (3) 47 Kelly Moore Scarborough ME (75) 6 (10) 20 Steve Legendre St. Johnsbury VT (75) 7 (7) 6 Steve Desmarais (75) 8 (19) 17A Scott Alexander, Orrington ME (75) 9 (12) 4 Ben Rowe Turner ME (74) 10 (17) 85 Nick Ribbe West Kingston MA (74) 11 (9) 8 Cassius Clark Farmington ME 12 (74) (8) 12 John Danbrowski West Bridgewater MA (74) 13 (16) 7 Donnie Whitten Wells ME (73) 14 (14) 42 Dave Macomber Manorville NY (73) 15 (15) 36 Dale Silvia Warwick RI (72) 16 (1) 4S Jay Fogleman Durham NC (62) 17 (11) 98 Adam Bates Warner NH (58) 18 (6) 60 DJ Shaw, Center Conway NH (55) 19 (18) 70 Walter Sutcliffe East Haven CT (25)