
Since winning the Pro All Stars Series North crown in 2022, Ryan Kuhn’s presence on the touring track had been pretty quiet.
At Star Speedway, he made some noise.
Kuhn made a late pass on Joey Doiron and held off the red-hot Mainer to win PASS’ long-awaited return to Star Speedway.
Late-season consistency and a pair of wins clinched the 2022 title for the East Bridgewater, Mass. racer, making him the first driver from the Bay State to earn the honor. But Kuhn’s PASS presence had been limited since then. Kuhn made four starts in 2023, with a best finish of tenth at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. A fifth-place run at Thompson started this year in better form, but Kuhn had been absent from the series since an early exit at NHMS.
Kuhn came out of the box strong at the Epping, N.H. quarter-mile, though, running out front until D.J. Shaw and Derek Griffith made their way to the point. The two veterans scrapped as Kuhn seemed resigned to bringing home a top-five finish at best.
But the duel between Shaw and Griffith turned more physical than usual for either of the two, with Griffith bulling his way to the lead and Shaw taking a retaliatory shot. Griffith went around, and as the yellow flew for the spin, Shaw was shown the black flag for his contact.
Doiron inherited the lead, but Kuhn was back to second. And with 16 laps remaining, Kuhn cleared Doiron for first, driving on to the victory.
Doiron, the runner-up in the previous night’s Keen Parts 150 Pro Stock open at Lee USA Speedway, held on for second, another podium finish in a prosperous month for the Berwick, Me. star.
Gabe Brown, still fuming from contact that cost him a win in the American-Canadian Tour Coastal Clash 125 earlier in the day, came home third, with Shaw climbing back to fourth in the closing laps. Bryan Kruczek, a three-time Granite State Pro Stock Series feature winner at Star, was fifth in his best run yet for new team Golden R Motorsports.
Griffith got as high as sixth by the finish, slotting ahead of Jeremy Davis and Austin Teras. David Oliver was ninth, with Rusty Poland rounding out the top ten in a car fielded by Star owner Bobby Webber.
PASS’ return to Star for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic was the final step in a long cooling-off between PASS’ Tom Mayberry and Webber, whose falling-out kept the series, track, and Webber’s race team distant since late 2020. The calming of long-frayed nerves has paid dividends for all. PASS and ACT have returned to Star along with the PASS-backed New England Supermodified Series, bringing big-block Supermodifieds back to the track the discipline has called its Northeastern home. And Webber’s race team has benefited, with his full-time PASS effort for Poland and a Modified operation for young racer Jeffrey Battle.
A planned feature for the NESS Supermodifieds was the one casualty of the day, with rain rolling in before the winged cars could be pushed off to the green flag.
Weather once again played a role in a New England race day, despite the schedule moving up several hours to chase a window of opportunity. The move created an even stronger conflict with racing up at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, though given the typical schedule of Saturday racing at NHMS on its annual NASCAR weekend, PASS and ACT were not likely concerned about the impact on their program.
For Kuhn, all that was immaterial. The win represented a chance to right the ship after a slow season and a half for the young driver.
Wherever it goes next, the momentum started here.
Unofficial Results
Pro All Stars Series North PASS SLM 150
Star Speedway
1. (72) Ryan Kuhn
2. (73D) Joey Doiron
3. (47) Gabe Brown
4. (60) D.J. Shaw
5. (5K) Bryan Kruczek
6. (444) Derek Griffith
7. (09) Jeremy Davis
8. (29) Austin Teras
9. (21) David Oliver
10. (19) Rusty Poland
11. (81) Dan Winter
12. (12S) Dennis Spencer, Jr.
13. (18) Michael Scorzelli
14. (5VT) Pat Corbett
15. (54) Johnny Clark
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Jeff Brown is a contributor to Short Track Scene. A native of New Hampshire and a long-time fan of New England racing, Brown provides a fan's perspective as he follows New England's regional Late Model touring series.


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