Derek Griffith Dominates For 1st Easter Bunny 150
HICKORY, NC (April 2) – Hudson, NH’s Derek Griffith took the lead on lap 28 and never looked back to take the win for the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) Super Late Models Friday night in the 15th Annual Easter Bunny 150 at Hickory Motor Speedway.
“I can’t thank my guys enough, this thing was a rocket ship from the start,” said Griffith after his first Easter Bunny 150 win. “I’m just so happy, we’ve started the season off strong. DJ [Shaw] made me work for it. He did a better job of saving his stuff and made it hard on me at the end.”
After just edging out Shaw in qualifying, Griffith started the 150-lap race in fifth while Carson Hocevar would move to the pole. Hocevar jumped out to the lead over Shaw at the start, but Griffith was wasting no time as he made his way toward the front. By lap 20 Griffith was in second and just eight laps later moved around Hocevar for the lead.
The first caution of the night did not wave until lap 63 for a spin by Jeremy Sorrell in turn four. The next caution would not wave until lap105 when 11th place runner Joey Doiron spun in turn four as he tried to avoid contact with Kyle Desouza. Just six laps later, Nick Loden spun exiting turn four after a bump from Trevor Bleau.
Through it all, Griffith continued to maintain a slight lead over Shaw. Griffith’s biggest challenge from Shaw came after a restart with 20 laps to go. The two battled side-by-side for several laps before Griffith would eventually separate himself from Shaw in turn one. Griffith led the rest of the way to take the win over Shaw, Mike Hopkins, Travis Stearns, and Joey Pole. Rounding out the top 10 were Desouza, Ryan Kuhn, Gabe Brown, Ben Rowe, and Derek Kneeland.
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Sources: Alan Dietz/PASS PR