Ben Rowe Seals up PASS National Championship with SoBo Meltdown Win
It couldn’t have been a more fitting way for Ben Rowe to capture the 2009 Pro All Stars Series (PASS) National championship as he continued the norths dominance by winning the fourth annual Mason Dixon Meltdown at South Boston (VA) Speedway. The podium was a clean sweep of Maine natives as Ben held off his father Mike Rowe who finished second followed by defending Cassius Clark who rounded out the top three.
Defending race winner Johnny Clark managed a fourth place finish and Heath Hindman represented the south as the highest finishing PASS South regular with a fifth place finish. Mark Gibson and Ryan Blaney who came into the Meltdown second and third in national championship standings were both able to hold those positions and take home some national championship hardware. Gibson managed a season high finish of sixth in the process while young Ryan Blaney fought an uphill battle to finish seventh.
Rowe was able to cruise to victory in the final laps but it was another driver who looked as if he had the car to beat all weekend long. Corey Williams who picked up a win earlier in the year at Orange County scorched the field in qualifying and just as quickly made his way to the top spot during the race. Williams lead 140 of the first 145 laps quickly putting a lap on the field when several competitors battling for position spun a half turn in front of him. One would have thought Williams would have made it through untouched but Williams got caught up in the middle of it ending his night.
The incident brought the front runners to pit road for two fresh tires and handed the lead over to Cassius Clark who pitted the previous caution. Cassius did his best to hold off a pair of Rowes in the form of the father and son combo but Ben overtook Cassius for the top spot on lap 208 and never looked back for his fourth PASS South win of 2009. With the win Rowe expanded his PASS South points lead, all but wrapping up the southern championship heading into the final race of the year.
The season ending finale for the PASS South is right around the corner on Saturday night October 24th at the Greenville-Pickens (SC) Speedway. Fans that make plans to see the annual Howler 125 will not only see a race winner take home the hardware, but will also see the PASS South series champion crowned that night. For more information including tickets, contact the track directly at www.greenvillepickens.com or call 864-269-0852.
For more information including schedules, standings, and results for all PASS sanctioned touring series visit their home on the web at www.racewithpass.com. For marketing or media questions contact Norm Desjardins at 603-539-3368 or for technical information contact Scott Reed at 207-625-3230.
Official Results – PASS South super late model Mason-Dixon Meltdown 250, South Boston Speedway, 10/17/2009
1) 4N Ben Rowe
2) 2 Mike Rowe
3) 8 Cassius Clark
4) 54 Johnny Clark
5) 91 Heath Hindman
6) 26 Preston Peltier
7) 62 Mark Gibson
8) 10 Ryan Blaney
9) 4S Jay Fogleman
10) 60 DJ Shaw
11) 23N Lonnie Sommerville
12) 48 John Batten
13) 98 Justin Wakefield
14) 20N Steven Legendre
15) 74 Ryan Moore
16) 18 Bradley McCaskill
17) 47 Corey Williams
18) 05 Alex Fleming
19) 20X John Stancill
20) 11 Joey Doiron
21) 1 Louie Mechalides
22) 23 Jimmy Weller
23) 02 Tim Nooner
24) 15 Clay Jones