Tom Mayberry, founder and president of the Pro All-Stars Series tour, said he is interested in going back to Hermon’s Speedway 95 next season.
PASS returned to the venue after a five-year absence on Aug. 24 and a large crowd turned out to watch the Hight Chevrolet 150 PASS North Super Late Model race along with the PASS Sportsman and Modifieds features.
“I was really surprised and impressed with how many improvements they’ve made to the track. They’ve done an awfully good job,” said Mayberry. “And there was a very good crowd. I was happy with it.
“I am definitely considering going back. There’s no doubt about it. We’ll see how the dates fall,” a dded Mayberry.
Speedway 95 track owner Del Merritt leased the track to Mayberry for the event.
“I gave him a good deal,” said Merritt, who wouldn’t disclose the financial terms.
“We have worked hard at (improving the track) the past three or four years. We’ve made quite a few changes,” he added.
Since the previous PASS race in 2009, Merritt and his staff have built a dirt wall between turns one and two to prevent cars from sliding down a deep embankment into bushes and trees; replaced 9,000 regular tires that served as barriers with skidder tires; and added a traction compound to the track’s inside groove that gives cars better grip and supplied them with a better opportunity to pass a car on the outside groove.
The inside groove used to be much slower than the outside groove.
“They did a great job by putting that (compound) on the inside,” said Morrill’s Travis Benjamin, who finished third. “I had fun. I usually don’t have fun there.
“There was also a great turnout and a good car count,” added Benjamin.
Twenty cars took the green flag in the SLM race.
Race winner Cassius Clark of Farmington said he would definitely like to see a race at Speedway 95 next season.
“I’d come here every weekend,” said Clark. “The track was the best it’s ever been. You could run on the bottom. You had a bunch of great fans and it was good racing.”
Merritt said he would welcome the tour back to Speedway 95 and said the fact it hadn’t been here in five years probably contributed to the large crowd.
The race featured a last-lap duel between Clark and D.J. Shaw of Center Conway, N.H. Clark bumped Shaw out of the way rounding turns three and four and the two got tangled up crossing the finish line with Clark’s car careening backwards into the banking between turns one and two.
Clark went to confront Shaw but was restrained.
Mayberry said Shaw was fined an undisclosed amount and was forced to start the heat races and features at the next two races in last place.
Shaw finished fourth at Autodrome Chaudiere last weekend and moved into the points lead by three over Johnny Clark of Farmingdale. Turner’s Mike Rowe is third, 28 points behind Shaw.
Joey Doiron of Berwick is fourth and Cassius Clark is fifth. Doiron trails Shaw by 56 points and Clark is 98 points in arrears.
The PASS tour will move on to Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough this weekend before finishing up at Oxford Plains Speedway on Saturday afternoon, Sept. 27.
Mayberry seeking 250 sponsor
Mayberry, who also owns Oxford Plains Speedway, said he is trying to lock up a sponsor for the 42nd Oxford 250, which is moving from July to Aug. 30 next summer.
TD Bank had been the sponsor for several years but did not do so this year.
“We’re talking to different companies. We want to get a long-term deal,” said Mayberry.
The Aug. 30 date represents an off weekend for the Sprint Cup series, which previously had its off weekend in July. That gave former owner Bill Ryan and Mayberry the option of trying to land a Sprint Cup driver for the race beginning in 2004.
There won’t be an off weekend next July.
Several Cup drivers, including Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin have run the Oxford 250 over the past 10 years.
Harvick won it in 2008 and Kyle Busch took the checkered flag in 2011.