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Jeremy Davis had many in attendance Sunday at Thunder Road International Speedbowl scrambling to make sense of what they were seeing.
Where the usual powerhouses of the PASS North Series — and the ACT Late Model Tour, too, for that matter — were dropping off like flies in the first Super Late Model race at the track in more than 20 years, there was the Tamworth, N.H., driver giving eventual winner Joey Doiron all he could handle.
When he pulled his No. 09 to Doiron’s bumper with 40 laps remaining in the PASS 150, it looked like Davis was going to score the series’ biggest upset win since Scott Dragon won at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in July of 2012.
“I actually saved a lot (of tire),” Davis said of his strategy after starting fourth in the 25-car field. “I used mine just a little bit with about 30 to go, and once I started using them, I think it actually went slower. I probably shouldn’t have done that.”
His best chance to make an attempt at the lead came while he and Doiron were navigating through lapped traffic. But Davis, who like Doiron drives a Dale Shaw Race Cars chassis, said he wasn’t interested in making a move in a situation like that.
Jeremy Davis
“I wasn’t going to cheat him on a lapped car or anything,” Davis said. “I was going to wait until it was just me and him and I had a chance to get underneath him and get by him, but I just didn’t quite have enough to get underneath him.”
Much had been made entering PASS’ debut at Thunder Road of how different racing at the quirky, banked quarter-mile tends to be. Davis, though, said his many laps of experience at Speedway 51 (formerly Riverside Speedway) in Groveton, N.H., helped the most.
“It’s a little narrow on the frontstretch,” Davis said. “This track wasn’t really built for (Super Late Models), I don’t think. I’ve run a bunch of Groveton. Everybody says they’re not the same, but it felt just like Groveton to me.”
The runner-up effort was the best of Davis’ part-time PASS career. His only other top five finish in 13 career starts was a fifth-place effort at White Mountain Motorsports Park last season. It was also a nice redemption for Davis, who saw his Saturday night end early in the Granite State Pro Series Memorial Day 100 at Monadnock Speedway with a broken axle.
GRAY RIGHT AT HOME
Barry Gray of Belchertown, Mass., led every lap of the Memorial Day 100 at Monadnock Speedway on Saturday for his fourth career Granite State Pro Stock Series victory.
Gray won all four of his GSPSS races at Monadnock in seven starts there.
“My hats off to my guys, they work really hard,” said Gray, who tied Matt Frahm for the most career Granite State Pro Stock Series wins with the victory. “This is a home track for us, all the guys ran us good and clean.”
Larry Gelinas of Buxton, Maine, finished second with Frahm third. Point leader Derek Griffith finished fourth.
HAMLIN TO JOIN PASS
Autodrome Chaudiere officials announced Friday that NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin would compete in the PASS event at the track on Saturday, June 20.
Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch won the PASS Budweiser 150 at Chaudiere last August.
WRAP IT UP
Reigning Beech Ridge Motor Speedway champion Dave Farrington Jr. of Jay, Maine, won the Coastal 200 Late Model race at Wiscasset Speedway on Sunday afternoon… Corey Bubar of Windham, Maine, topped the Pro Series field’s 50-lap event on NASCAR Whelen All-American Series opening night at Beech Ridge on Saturday… Veteran Alan Wilson of Hebron, Maine, won the Super Late Model feature at Oxford Plains Speedway… Joey Roberts of Fletcher, Vt., won the 35-lap Modified feature at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in West Haven, Vt., Saturday, while Josh Masterson of Bristol, Vt., topped the Late Model division.
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