DJ Shaw Leads Pro All Stars Series To Beech Ridge Motor Speedway Saturday

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RacedayCT Northern Points Green 280For the first time since the green flag flew at Oxford Plains Speedway to begin the season in April, DJ Shaw is back atop the PASS North Series standings. It’s an interesting place to be for the Center Conway, N.H., driver, too — considering he’s taken over the top spot just in time to try and avenge his worst outing of the season.

Shaw, who won at Lee USA Speedway on June 26, finished fourth in the AIM Recycling 60 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last Sunday afternoon. With Mike Rowe finishing 10th in the 26-car starting field, it was enough for Shaw — the 2014 series champion — to stake his claim to the top spot with nine of 17 races complete.

DJ Shaw

DJ Shaw

Quietly, at least until snapping a year-long winless drought at Lee, Shaw has been killing the competition with dangerous consistency.

“We have all the tools that we had last year to do it, so hopefully we can,” Shaw said of getting on a midseason roll. “In other years, we’ve won in spurts with two or three in a row, so hopefully we can do that again.”

In the last five races, Shaw has finished no worse than fourth. Prior to winning at Lee, he finished fourth at Autodrome Chaudiere in Quebec, third at Speedway 95 in Hermon, Maine, and third at Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre, Vt.

It’s positioned the second-generation driver for a nice summer run, certainly, but that summer run kicks off this weekend at the one track that nearly derailed his hopes of a championship repeat almost as soon as the season started.

A mechanical issue relegated Shaw to a 13th-place finish at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in May, in the second race of the season. In nine races he’s posted seven Top 5 finishes and eight Top 10s. The lone blemish, of course, was the race at Beech Ridge.

PASS makes the second of three 2015 visits to Beech Ridge Saturday for the Southern Maine Chrysler Dodge Jeep 150. Bryan Kruczek scored his first career PASS win at the track in May, and the flat .333-mile is notoriously finicky. What worked one week at Beech Ridge doesn’t usually translate to the next.

Rowe is a multi-time race winner at Beech Ridge and a two-time NASCAR Whelen All-American Series track champion there. The 64-year-old Turner, Maine, driver is also the only multi-time winner in PASS competition this season with three wins.

He heads to Beech Ridge just four points behind Shaw — the difference of two finishing positions in the feature.

SWEET ON THE VERGE OF HISTORY

Nick Sweet of Barre, Vt., is a three-time winner of the Vermont Governor’s Cup 150 at Thunder Road. On Thursday night, Sweet has the chance to join Robbie Crouch as the only four-time winner of the event.

“Robbie’s obviously a legend in Northeast racing,” Sweet said. “To be on a plateau with him would be a dream come true – something you’d never thought you would do.”

The two-time track champion Sweet has won three of the last five Vermont Governor’s Cups, and he posted a pair of podium finishes in a four-day span last week. He’s got his eyes not only on the Governor’s Cup, but also on a third “King of the Road” title.

“We’re definitely chipping away, and the car is definitely getting faster and faster,” Sweet said. “I’ve just got to make good choices. I think as of late I’ve been making pretty good choices. Now we’ve just got to put a show on for the fans and try to get a win (Thursday).”

BRACKETT BACK ON TOP

Tim Brackett of Buckfield, Maine, became the first repeat winner of the season last weekend at Oxford Plains Speedway last weekend, padding his lead atop the Super Late Model point standings at the track.

Oxford will hold a special Friday night program this week. It’s “Fan Appreciation Night,” and adult grandstand tickets are just $5.

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