Johnny Clark’s third straight PASS 200 win at Speedway 660 reminded me of that old MeatHead, I mean MeatLoaf song: “Two out of Three Ain’t Bad”. Only in Johnny’s case it’s four out of five.
Yup, Clark’s win on Sunday was the fourth in his last five trips to the Geary Woods. In 2010 Johnny won our PASS race and the Auto Value 250. In 2011 he won the PASS 200 again and finished a disappointing, for him at least, 9th in the Auto Value 250. And of course this past weekend Clark made it four out of five by taking his third straight PASS 200 at Speedway 660…and please excuse my English, but that ain’t bad!
Here’s Johnny! Johnny Clark wins his 3rd consecutive PASS 200 at Speedway 660 and 4th race in his last five appearances in the Geary Woods!
So why is Johnny Clark so good? I think it’s the total package. Great car, exceptional crew and the best driver I have seen since the late Scott Fraser wowed us all back in the nineties.
Little wonder Clark loves coming here. He’s got this place figured out, our fans love him and as he mentioned in victory lane on Sunday, he likes those big cheques he receives at the Speedway 660 pay window!
You had to feel for Travis Benjamin on Sunday. This kid always has good runs when he comes up for the PASS 200 and the Auto Value 250, but he’s never made it to Clarksville, whoops I mean Speedway 660’s Victory Lane. Sunday he had to settle for 2nd best yet again.
Cassius Clark made an amazing last lap, front stretch pass on Johnny Clark to win his PASS heat race on Sunday, but all that did was just tick Johnny off enough to go out and win the race that mattered most. Cassius, who is quick to point out that he is not related to that other Clark, came home 3rd in the PASS 200.
It was a day to forget for New Brunswick drivers. Matt Matheson, Chris Duncan and Matt Harris were never really contenders in the race. Shawn Tucker ran just outside the top five for most of the afternoon, but a late race fuel leak sent him to the pits. And Lonnie Sommerville, who had high hopes of winning on his home track, led several laps in the first half but the car just didn’t respond the way he wanted it to when the race was on the line.
Our fans really enjoyed the long stretches of green flag racing in the PASS 200. These drivers really respect each other and have the talent and confidence to run bumper to bumper and door to door at break-neck speeds, lap after lap after lap. It’s short-track racing at its best and a lot of fun to watch.
If four out of five ain’t bad, then what would five out of six be? Johnny Clark will be back on SpeedWeekend to see if he can make that happen.
How about Shawn Warren and Brad Slipp? Both of these guys have been running with us for the last few years and on Sunday their hard work and patience finally paid off. Shawn won his first ever Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman feature and Brad got his first podium finish by crossing the stripe third in the RV World Street Stock division.
It wasn’t a very good day for two of the top sportsman teams at Speedway 660. Glyn Nott blew an engine in practice. The team scurried back to Burton, changed the engine and got back in time for the feature. But all that hard work didn’t pay off, because a right rear tire let them down late in the race. And I never did find out what happened to the Camry Kid. Brent Roy had some sort of mechanical issue as well.
This weekend Speedway 660 hosts another important Weekly Points Series event. And that means we’ll see the Bandos and 4 cylinders in action as well as street stocks, sportsman and pro stocks. Most drivers say it’s too early to think about points and championships, but I say it’s never too early because a great run now could propel a team to a division title in late August.
Well the 2012 PASS 200 is now history. Although the weather caused a postponement on Saturday night, we had great Sunday afternoon sunshine and a race to remember. And Johnny Clark had a smile as big as the Geary sky, all the way home to southern Maine!
Tell your friends, tell your neighbours, tell everybody that Speedway 660 has got some great racing scheduled this Saturday night at 7PM. And if you want to see the Bando and 4 cylinder heats, get here early because they run at 6:20. We’ll see you at the races!
