Doiron, Rowe, Teras Score Oxford PASS SLM Triple 100 Wins; Cookson Clinches Championships

Oxford Plains Speedway (OPS) played host to the championship weekend for the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) over a weekend full of various racing events. The series rolled into the weekend looking to determine both a National and North Champion for its Super Late Models.

Coming into the weekend, Max Cookson held a steady lead of over 50 points over D.J Shaw in both series standings. Over the course of a brand-new and special points format for the final weekend of racing of the year at Oxford Plains Speedway, where the PASS competitors ran three 100-lap feature events, it was Cookson who emerged as the North and National champion.

Cookson clinched the championships on the strength of top-10 finishes in all three 100-lap feature races on Sunday afternoon at Oxford.

While there were two championships on the line on Sunday, there was also a special points race for the overall best racer in the weekend's Triple 100s.

Each driver received one point for the position that they finished each Triple 100 race in (one point for 1^st, two points for 2^nd, etc.), with the driver accumulating the fewest points across those three races receiving the overall win for the Super Late Model weekend.

Any drivers tied in points after the three events would have the tiebreaker go to whichever one finished higher in the third and final Triple 100.

With $1,000 on the line for each Triple 100 victory, $6,000 on the line for the overall winner, and $1,000 posted for the winner by Studio 1187 (for a total of $7,000 for the overall Triple 100s winner), a payday of up to $10,000 was up for grabs by each of the Triple 100 competitors.

Gabe Brown would score the $7,000 payout as he accumulated the least points across the three events.

Here are the race-by-race recaps of the Triple 100s from Sunday afternoon at Oxford Plains Speedway:

Dorion Scores Win in Triple 100, Race No. 1

Angelo Belsito and Joey Doiron led the field to the green in the first of the three PASS SLM Triple 100s.

Doiron made quick work of Belsito, as he passed the No. 8 car on the outside of Lap 1 and pulled away from the field. His lead would continue to grow while Belsito slowly started to fade back through the field.

Doiron started encountering lapped traffic roughly 20 laps in, and by lap 25 Belsito had fallen out of the top 15 with an ill-handling car.

Travis Stearns started to chip away at Doiron’s lead as the no. 73D continued maneuvering through lapped vehicles. By lap 40, D.J Shaw, second in PASS SLM standings, had made his way into the top 10, with points lead Max Cookson staying within two or three spots of Shaw as they progressed through the field.

Belsito, the polesitter for the first Triple 100, was put a lap down by Doiron just prior to the halfway point in the event.

The first and only caution occurred on lap 44, when the No. 01 of Steven Chicoine went for a spin on the bottom out of turn two, which erased the big lead Doiron had built up.

Doiron led the field back to green but was not able to pull away as he had on the initial start, with Stearns keeping pace with the no. 73D. Doiron and Stearns battling allowed the no. 40VT of Nick Sweet to join the fray. Shaw made his way into the top five just past Lap 60, while points leader Cookson struggled just inside the top 20, closing the points gap between the nos. 39 and 60. Sweet faded back about ten laps after catching the top two, allowing Corey Bubar in the no. 12X to throw his name into the mix.

The top three found themselves bumper to bumper with 25 laps remaining, as Doiron continued to try and pass lapped vehicles while keeping Stearns and Bubar at bay. With 11 laps remaining, Bubar passed Stearns for the runner-up spot as Shaw passed Sweet for the 4th position.

Doiron strategically allowed the lapped No. 25 car of Shawn Knight to stay to his inside to block Bubar’s progress in the following laps, but the no. 25 eventually slid up into the path of Shaw, who lost multiple key positions while sliding through the backstretch grass. Despite the late charge from Bubar and Stearns and another off-track excursion from Knight on the final circuit, Doiron led all 100 laps and scored the win in the first Triple 100 and a $1,000 payout.

Doiron also received the coveted one point for winning the first Triple 100, a big step towards receiving the $6,000 overall payout. Shaw’s backslide late in the race erased the ground he made up in National and North points on Cookson, who struggled all race but managed a 10th place finish, one spot behind Shaw.

Mike Rowe Takes Win in Triple 100, Race No. 2

Tim Brackett in the No. 60B, and Lonnie Sommerville in the No. 23X led the second Triple 100 feature at Oxford Plains Speedway to the green flag. Brackett and Sommerville inherited the top two starting spots after the top 24 finishers from the first Triple 100 were inverted for the start of the second event.

It did not take long for trouble to brew in the second race, as the No. 72 of Scott Robbins went for a spin out of turn 4 on the very first lap.

Sommerville, who lost second place to the no. 38 of Garrett Lamb on the initial start, was very sluggish on the following restart, and spun into the Turn 2 grass with the No. 32 of Nick Jenkins to bring out the second caution on Lap 2.

Brackett and the No. 14 of Scott McDaniel led the field to the second restart of the race, but the green flag action would be short lived. On lap 7, the race leaders made contact into turn 3, which sent Brackett and McDaniel into the grass in Turn 4, bringing out the third caution within the opening 10 laps of the race.

Brackett in the No. 60B would be unable to continue, which left both front row starters out of the event before Lap 8 had concluded.

The next restart was led by Lamb and the No. 24 of Mike Rowe. Rowe cleared Lamb very quickly and started to pull away from the pack. The second-place man in the point standings, D.J Shaw made his way into the top five and rose into second place by Lap 15.

The fourth caution of the event came out on Lap 19, as the No. 03 of Scott Moore spun in turn 4 in almost the exact same spot that Scott Robbins did on the opening lap. By this point, race one winner Joey Doiron had made his way up to 14th after starting in 24th due to the field inversion.

Rowe and Shaw led the field back to green, with Rowe clearing the No. 60 with ease by Turn 3.

The top two started to gap the remainder of the field by lap 25, with ARCA Menards Series East veteran Alan Tardiff comfortably sitting in 3rd place. However, the yellow flag would fly once again on Lap 29, as Travis Stearns, who finished third in the first Triple 100, blew a flat right front tire and came to a stop on the outside in Turn 1.

Rowe and Shaw remained in the top two spots for the restart but, within two laps, Tardiff passed Shaw on the outside for the second position. Points leader Max Cookson, who was looking to secure the PASS SLM National and North Championships, made his way into the top 10 while this occurred.

By Lap 40, Rowe had started to pull away from the field as Shaw, who regained second from Tardiff, tried to close the gap. Rowe maintained his lead over Shaw at the halfway mark of the race, as Corey Bubar, the runner-up finisher in race one, found himself inside the top 10 battling for position with Cookson.

Despite the string of early cautions, the field eventually found a groove to settle into and a long green flag run ensued.

Doiron, who made up a lot of ground during the early cautions, leveled off just outside the top 10 as he attempted to keep the Triple 100s points lead.

Rowe and Shaw had pulled almost an entire straightaway ahead of the field by lap 70, as Tardiff was passed for third by T.J Brackett in the No. 61.

With just under 20 laps ago, Shaw started looking to the outside of Rowe to try and take over the top spot but was unable to make the outside groove work to his advantage.

With 10 laps remaining, Rowe started encountering heavy lapped traffic, which allowed Shaw to close in on his rear bumper. Despite a strong push from Shaw, Rowe was able to hold him off and he took the victory in the second of the three Triple 100s.

With Doiron finishing in 12th, race one runner-up Corey Bubar took over the Triple 100s points lead after placing seventh in the second race. Shaw and Gabe Brown were tied for second with 12 points through the first two races, with Doiron one point behind them with 13. Max Cookson improved on his race one result, finishing in eighth to inch closer to clinching the National and North Series championships.

Austin Teras Takes Checkered Flag in Triple 100, Race No. 3

The third and final Triple 100 race at Oxford Plains Speedway was led to green by Mike Scorzelli and Dominic Curit after another top-24 field inversion following race No. 2.

Curit cleared Scorzelli after one lap, while fourth-place starter Sylas Ripley made his way up to second place in the running order. Ripley was able to hold that spot for just two laps before losing a few spots and then spinning out of Turn 4 in an incident that also involved race two winner Mike Rowe, the No. 44P of Rusty Poland, and the No. 61 of T.J Brackett.

Curit and Scorzelli led the field back to green, but both were quickly passed by race one polesitter Angelo Belsito.

The No. 32 of Nick Jenkins spun out of Turn 2 to bring out the second caution of the race just after Belsito made the pass for the lead. The No. 12 of Dennis Spencer, Jr. stalled in Turn 3 under the caution and needed a push truck to get his car to the pit area.

Belsito and Scorzelli were on the front row for the restart, but Sweet in the No. 40VT took the lead from third place and started pulling away with Belsito in tow. As the top two pulled away, Ben Rowe in the No. 5 passed Scorzelli for third place.

After 20 laps, Corey Bubar found himself one spot behind Joey Doiron as they battled for the overall Triple 100 points lead, but Bubar proceeded to lose multiple positions, including one to Max Cookson.

D.J Shaw remained mired in heavy traffic in the back half of the top 20 as time started to run low for him to catch Cookson in the PASS SLM points.

By lap 30, Cookson had clawed his way up to 12th, one spot behind Doiron, who needed to stay five spots ahead of Bubar and two spots clear of Brown and Shaw to take over the Triple 100 points lead. Mike Scorzelli spun in turn three from sixth place a few laps later, which put the field back under yellow for the third time in the race.

Sweet and Belsito led the field back to green, but another caution quickly came out as the No. 54 of Johnny Clark spun in turn one, and he collected Cookson and Bubar among others in this accident. Bubar would head to the pit area for repairs, severely hampering his chances of taking home the $6,000 payout for winning the Triple 100s overall.

Belsito got a big jump on the following restart but Steven Chicoine promptly spun out in Turn 2, and race one winner Joey Doiron, another contender for the Triple 100s overall lead, was swept up in the accident along with Rusty Poland, who was involved in the race’s first incident with Sylas Ripley.

Doiron made quick repairs under the caution and rejoined the back of the pack for the restart, led once again by Belsito and Sweet.

Two laps later, on Lap 41, Ripley, Scorzelli, and Poland would each be involved in another incident, with Scorzelli taking a hard hit to the backstretch wall and retiring from the race. Scorzelli climbed from his wrecked No. 18 under his own power and examined his damage as his car was put onto the tow truck.

Belsito and Sweet would once again set the pace coming back to the green flag, but Ben Rowe immediately went to work on the No. 40VT to try and gain the second position.

D.J Shaw, who started deep in the field with the inversion, climbed into sixth place and battled Gabe Brown for the overall Triple 100s points lead with the issues to Bubar and Doiron. Shaw would eventually pass Brown for fifth just prior to halfway, as Sweet lost spots to Ben Rowe and Austin Teras.

Further in the field, race two winner Mike Rowe climbed back into the top 10 as he tried to throw his name into the overall Triple 100 points lead with Brown and Shaw.

PASS SLM points leader Cookson also made his way back up to 11th after spinning in the earlier incident with Clark, who had also clawed back up to 10th.

Shaw and Brown continued to battle as Mike Rowe’s ascent back to the front continued with a pass on seventh-place Trevor Sanborn.

With 40 laps remaining, Rowe powered by both Brown and Shaw on the outside to enter the top five. Ben Rowe and Teras remained bumper to bumper for second as Belsito’s lead at the front remained steady.

As the race approached 30 laps to go, Gabe Brown finally cleared Shaw, who found himself in a hornet’s nest with Sanborn and others in the back half of the top 10.

Austin Teras maneuvered his way around Ben Rowe for the runner-up spot shortly thereafter and set his sights on race leader Belsito.

Max Cookson’s run got stronger at the same time, passing both Shaw and Sanborn.

Teras quickly caught Belsito after passing Ben Rowe and passed the No. 8 for the lead with 21 laps to go in the final Triple 100. Belsito continued to fade in the wrong direction, losing spots to both Rowes and Nick Sweet.

With 12 laps to go, Brown got into the rear of Belsito, who drifted through Turns 3 and 4 before saving it and dropping even more positions.

Max Cookson caught up to Brown and the no. 83 of Corey Hall, passing Brown and reached the rear bumper of Hall.

Despite a late race charge from Ben Rowe, Austin Teras in the no. 29T took the checkered flag first to win the third and final Triple 100 event. Ben and Mike Rowe, Sweet, and Hall rounded out the top five.

Cookson finished in sixth place to clinch the PASS SLM National and North Series championships, and Gabe Brown in the no. 47 won the Triple 100 points battle to secure a $7,000 payday with the base $6,000 and the $1,000 bonus provided by Studio 1187. Trevor Sanborn and D.J Shaw finished tied for second in Triple 100 points, with Sanborn winning the tiebreaker by finishing higher than Shaw in the third race. Shaw did, however, finish in second in both PASS SLM series championships behind Cookson.

Written By: Dewey Schramm III

Photo Credit: Connor Sullivan