NAPLES, ME (June 23, 2008) – In recent weeks in the PASS Super Late
Model tours, fans have been treated to witnessing several first-time
winners. Zach Stroupe at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, VA; Trevor
Sanborn at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, NC; and DJ Shaw at
Wiscasset Raceway in Maine. Now you can add another name to that
list, Alex Haase.
The 18-year-old Haase took the lead on lap 47 at Wake County Speedway
(NC) from 2007 track champion Alex Fleming and held off the advances
of current PASS South point leader Corey Williams and series winner
Heath Hindman for the victory in the 150-lap "Capital City Clash." It
was his first victory in PASS Super Late Model action.
"I have run late models around the country, so I know what it takes to
do it," commented Haase, who is a Las Vegas native. "It is cool to
get the first win on the East coast. We had a blast; this is a fun
racetrack.
"We just took our time and took what was given to us. I knew when I
was about third-place we were going to have a good car. I went after
it and it worked out. We got the lead and never looked back. We are
excited. These guys worked their butts off to get this. It should
happen a couple more times this year, I think."
Haase beat some of the best Super Late Model competition in the South
on the tight confines of the ¼-mile Wake County Speedway. The race
was exceptionally clean with great competition throughout the field.
Three leaders, Alex Fleming, Clay Jones and Alex Haase, swapped the
lead four times. Only three cautions slowed the 150-lap event.
"It is a small place, buy real racey," said Haase, who is also a
Rookie of the Year contender in PASS South. "It is a real unique
track. I hope we come back here. It put on a good show for the
fans."
"I want them to come back here," said Williams, who set fast-time
during qualifying. "Honestly, no one really tore anything up bad
tonight. I thought it was a good show, so hopefully we will come back
next year."
Early race leader Alex Fleming faded with mechanical troubles and
still wound up with a 10th-place finish. Clay Jones, who also led a
handful of laps, scored his first top-five finish of the PASS South
season.
Haase had something else in common with the rash of first-time winners
in PASS, a successful mentor in the racing business. For Stroupe, it
is SPEED Channel's Bob Dillner; for Sanborn, it's Ben Rowe; and for DJ
Shaw, his father is former Busch North champion Dale Shaw. For Haase,
he has NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point leader Kyle Busch to lean on.
"I just talked to Kyle, and he was pumped," said Haase, who started
sixth in the field. "He is a racer, and he knows what it takes. I
felt we had a winning car at Motor Mile, but something happened there.
He was stoked about the win."
For Kyle, witnesses say he was smiling from ear-to-ear even before his
win Sunday in the Sprint Cup race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA.
It was his first victory with his Super Late Model development team.
"I won a race last year with my team, but this was my first win as a
team owner," stated Busch, who will compete in the PASS North event
this Saturday at All-Star Speedway in Epping, NH, during the Cup
weekend at the "Magic Mile." "To have Alex come out from the West
Coast and compete here on the East Coast is cool. He's been working
12-14 hours a day with the rest of the guys. It's tough on all of
them, but it finally paid off. It means a lot to me and him and the
family, so hopefully this continues on and we can get some more wins."
Busch, as Haase said, is a racer. He drives many different racecars
throughout the year, but Super Late Models are among his favorites.
His brother, Kurt, also a NASCAR winner, was a former NASCAR Southwest
Tour champion, and Kyle compares the PASS series to the good old days
of NASCAR's elite series.
"With no more Southwest Tour or Southeast Tour, those drivers needed
something else. PASS is now a big enough Late Model Touring Series
that it has sort of taken over that role in the Southeast," explained
Busch. "For me, it's a good series to be involved in. There are some
good rules, but there are not too many rules. We feel like it is a
good area for us to be in and for Alex to get some experience. I know
he enjoys it a lot, and I've always had fun running with PASS too."
The next stop for PASS South will be at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in
Greenville, SC, on Thursday, July 3rd. This will be the third-annual
running of the Firecracker 150, but the first time it is held at the
legendary South Carolina racetrack.
Unofficial Results
PASS South Capital City Clash / 150 laps
Wake County Speedway, Raleigh, NC
1) Alex Haase
2) Corey Williams
3) Heath Hindman
4) Mark Gibson
5) Clay Jones
6) Perry Brown
7) Brandon Johnson
8) Kevin Floars
9) John Batten
10) Alex Fleming
11) Matt Jones
12) Bradley McCaskill
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