The Pro All-Stars Series North Super Late Model tour will return to Hermon’s Speedway 95 this season.
The series returned last season after a five-year absence and Tom Mayberry, founder and president of the PASS Tour, said after the race that he was impressed with the crowd and the improvements made to the track by Speedway 95 owner Del Merritt.
This past season’s race was held in August but it will be earlier this season with the green flag scheduled to be dropped on Sunday, June 14.
The PASS Modifieds will also be on the schedule.
Farmington’s Cassius Clark, who won the race in August and won the points championship in 2013, and Morrill’s Travis Benjamin, the 2012 points titlist, said they are glad the tour is returning to Speedway 95.
“I’m excited,” Benjamin said. “To be honest, I wasn’t that excited going into into the race last season but it turned out to be a very good race.
“I really enjoyed racing there. They put that [traction compound] on the inside groove so now you have two grooves you can race on. It was fun,” Benjamin said.
Drivers used to complain because the outside groove was significantly faster but Merritt began applying the traction compound to the inside groove in 2010 and it has created more side-by-side racing.
“The crowd was great and I think they’ll have a better car count this year,” Benjamin said.
There were 21 cars in August’s race.
“I hope it will become an annual race,” Clark said. “It has always been one of my better tracks. And they had a pretty good turnout.”
He liked the track and said another benefit is it doesn’t require nearly as much travel for him as other tracks on the PASS Tour.
The PASS North SLM Tour will have its first race at Oxford Plains Speedway on April 18.
It will be one of four races at Oxford, including the 42nd annual Oxford 250 on Aug. 30.
There will be three races at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough and Autodrome Chaudiere in Vallee-Jonction, Quebec. There will also be one apiece at Star Speedway in Epping, New Hampshire; Thunder Road International Speedbowl, Barre, Vermont; Lee USA Speedway, Lee, New Hampshire; Airborne Park Speedway, Plattsburgh, New York; Autodrome Montmagny in Montmagny, Quebec; and Speedway 95.
For the first time since the tour began in 2001, it will have two points championships instead of one: one for drivers who do all of the races and the other for those that will run just the events in the United States.
“It’s obviously good for the drivers who can’t make it to Canada,” Clark said. “It might be a little bit complicated, especially for the fans, but it makes sense. Once it gets established, I’m sure it will become second nature.”
Benjamin said the travel expenses are a challenge for a lot of teams, so having the option of racing for a championship without having to race in Canada is a good idea.
“A lot of guys on my team leave on the morning of the race and come back right after it to save money. They don’t have to spend money on a hotel. They may not get back until four or five in the morning so it’s a 24-hour day for them,” Benjamin said.
He said he expects better car counts now that teams don’t have to travel to Canada to contend for a points championship.