Six times already, D.J. Shaw had finished second in a Pro All Stars Series-sanctioned race this year.
It turns out six was enough.
Shaw pummeled the PASS North field Saturday night, winning the annual Bay State Classic at Seekonk Speedway for his first PASS win of 2024.
Not that Shaw had had much to complain about. The Center Conway, N.H. veteran racer entered the weekend with the PASS North points lead, finishing no worse than sixth in eight prior races. On the American-Canadian Tour Late Model circuit, where Shaw is the two-time reigning champion, he sat third in points at the season’s midway point. An extracurricular win in the Granite State Pro Stock Series gave Shaw’s sponsors something to talk about.
But when winning is the goal, six runner-up finishes fall agonizingly short.
Saturday’s PASS show at the “Cement Palace” was a quick affair, with only one caution slowing a race that took just over half an hour to complete. Shaw started out front and escaped from the pack on a long green-flag run.
Eddie MacDonald, victorious in April’s Northeast Classic at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, looked to add a second win to his season total. The veteran began making time on Shaw late in the going, but too late to mount a serious charge without a caution flag.
And without the yellow, “The Outlaw” could only watch as Shaw coasted to a 3.739-second win over the field.
MacDonald notched his third podium finish in four starts this season. A second and a half back, local favorite David Darling finished third to pick up his first PASS podium since 2022.
Seekonk graduate and 2022 PASS North champ Ryan Kuhn, a winner at Star Speedway earlier this year, was fourth, while Craig Weinstein scored a career best with a fifth-place finish.
Seven-time PASS North titlist Johnny Clark was sixth, joined by Joey Doiron and Dylan Estrella on the lead lap. Angelo Belsito was ninth, a lap back, while Dennis Spencer rounded out the top ten.
The fifteen-car grid was missing two drivers who had made every PASS North event so far this season. Austin Teras, running his first full touring campaign and the first in years for car owner and father Jay Cushman, was not at the “Action Track of the East,” trying to rebound from a tough schedule to focus on August’s Oxford 250.
More surprising, though, was the absence of Gabe Brown, the rising star in his fifth full season of PASS competition. After wrecking one car at White Mountain Motorsports Park a couple weeks back, and awaiting a freshened powerplant for his second car, Brown opted to sit out the race and regroup for Oxford himself. Brown instead spent the evening closer to home at WMMP, winning a shakedown for the upcoming ACT Midsummer Classic 250 and taking a few laps in a Tour-type Modified.
Unofficially, that leaves five full-time drivers in the running for the PASS championship, with Shaw carrying a commanding 100-point margin over Clark. After two years of fresh faces in the championship battle, the title race has reverted to the five-time champ from New Hampshire and the seven-time winner from Maine. Shaw has not won the championship since earning three straight from 2018 to 2020, missing a couple starts in 2021 and 2022 to chase his first ACT Tour crown.
For many drivers, though, the PASS North points race takes a back seat to the Oxford 250, the historic race that Clark once said he would trade his titles for before winning in 2020. The upcoming Pierson Heating and Cooling 150 at Oxford is the last points-paying race before the 250, one final long-distance shakedown before the big dance.
For Shaw, the win at Seekonk was about momentum, getting to the top of the heap after missing it six times already.
But at the same time, for Shaw and his fellow racers, there are bigger priorities ahead.
Unofficial Results
PASS North | Bay State Classic 150
Seekonk Speedway, Seekonk, Mass.
1. (60) D.J. Shaw
2. (17MA) Eddie MacDonald
3. (52) David Darling
4. (72) Ryan Kuhn
5. (90) Craig Weinstein
6. (54) Johnny Clark
7. (73D) Joey Doiron
8. (46) Dylan Estrella
9. (8) Angelo Belsito
10. (12) Dennis Spencer, Jr.
11. (18) Michael Scorzelli
12. (17) Kevin Folan
13. (12RI) Bobby Pelland III
14. (19) Rusty Poland
15. (30) Jacob “Rowdy” Burns
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