Darling‘s the PASS North kingpin at Seekonk

NAPLES ME – (8/15) Seekonk Speedway regular David Darling  took over lead from Derek Ramstrom on lap 107 of Saturday night’s Pro All Stars Series (PASS) 150 at Seekonk Speedway and fought back a challenge from Trevor Sanborn to defend his home turf and join the list of PASS Super Late Model feature winners. Trevor Sanborn was three car lengths back at the finish, followed by Ramstrom, Ben Rowe and Johnny Clark.

Darling and car owner Gary Johnson came to the track Saturday planning to use the practice sessions to tune up the Johnson Landscaping ride, with no plans to even enter the event. But the work Darling and his team put in during practice encouraged them to go ahead and take on the PASS touring pros and the result was a big payday and the hardware that goes with it.

Early on it looked like Rick Martin had the car to beat as the twenty four car field clicked off lap after lap without incident.  Martin withstood all of pole sitter Derek Ramstrom’s challenges through the halfway mark but the former PASS regular appeared to be slowing as both Travis Benjamin and Darling caught the front pair. The bottom was the place to be but it looked like Benjamin might make the outside work, briefly taking second away from Ramstrom before the defending Thompson super late model champ battled back on the bottom to reclaim the spot. Benjamin saw a good run destroyed when he lost the right front on his RMR mount to bring out the nights first caution period.

As Benjamin was losing his tire, Ramstrom’s relentless pressure on Martin finally paid off when he slipped under Martin on lap 100 to take over the race.  Ramstrom and Darling both got the jump on Martin when the green flag flew but Martin got loosened up and spun off of turn two to bring out what would prove to be the night’s final caution at lap 107.

When the green flag flew Darling took advantage of his front row spot to take the lead from Ramstrom. The top six pulled away from the rest of the field as the laps wound down with Darling, Ramstrom,Trevor Sanborn, Ben Rowe, Johnny Clark and Cassius Clark all jockeying for position.  Sanborn found a way to get under Ramstrom with 20 to go for second and that’s the way they finished as Darling made it Seekonk Pro Stocks two, PASS super late models zero at the Cement Palace. Darling joins Tom Scully Jr. in the record book as a PASS feature winner at the house that Venditti built.

Darling is the second home track hero to score in PASS super late model competition in 2010, joining Bill Rodgers (Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, 7/17) on that exclusive list.

Johnny Clark, Derek Ramstrom and Rick Martin each won a qualifying race. Two cautions slowed the action but the field still completed 150 green flag laps in 45 minutes. Twelve cars finished on the lead lap.

PASS  will travel north to the end of Interstate 95 and then some as the series makes its’ first appearance at Spud Speedway hosts both the PASS super late models and PASS Mods. Two time Daytona 500 winner Sterling Marlin will take on the PASS super late model regulars and meet and greet fans at the Caribou speed plant.

Get all the facts, figures, and photos for every  PASS racing tour at www.proallstarsseries.com . Fans planning to take in the action at Spud Speedway should check out www.spud-speedway.com .

Results: Pro All Stars Series 150 – Seekonk Speedway, Seekonk MA – 8/14/10

1   52  Dave Darling 150 2   44 Trevor Sanborn  150 3  35 Derek Ramstrom  150
4   48  Ben Rowe  150 5  54  Johnny Clark – 150 6  8 - Cassius Clark 150 7  98  Adam Bates – 150 8 73 Joey Doiron – 150  9   71 Gary Drew – 150 10 85 Nick Ribbe – 150  11 17A  Scott Alexander- 150 12 75 Gary Smith - 150 13 14 Rick Martin 149 14 17X Ray Parent – 149 15 88 Kevin Casper – 149 16 90 Craig Weinstein – 149 17 12 John Dabrowsski – 147 18  2 Tom Scully – 144  19 1 Randy Turner – 142 20 96 David Hutchins – 137 21 17 Travis Benjamin – 101 22 7  Donnie Whitten – 86  23  33 Richie Dearborn – 69 24 30 Fred Astle - 30