Clark’s second half charge leads to third PASS North Super Late Model title

Clark's second half charge leads to third PASS North Super Late Model title

If you had to hang a title on Johnny Clark's run to the 2008 Pro All
Stars Series (PASS) North Championship, it might be "a tale of two
seasons". The Farmingdale Maine race car driver didn't start his 2008
campaign with a great deal of flourish, but his team came on strong in
the second half of the season to capture their third PASS Super Late
Model Championship.

His early season results were mixed at best. He finished thirteenth in
the PASS North season opener at Maine's Beech Ridge Motor Speedway,
but rebounded with a victory at Wiscasset Raceway. But after
Wiscasset, the results weren't there. A ninth at White Mountain,
sixteenth back at Wiscasset, a tenth place run at Beech Ridge. Solid
runs to be sure, but not up to par for a race team that has two PASS
super late model titles and thirteen race wins to their credit. To be
a title contender in the ultra competitive PASS North, top fives are
the key and you need them in each and every race.

Clark didn't score another top three until July at Thompson (CT)
Speedway, and he was mired back in the point standings. But, Clark is
quick to point to that Thompson race as a turning point in his season.
The family-focused team never gave up. With a new race car that the
crew painstakingly assembled over the off season and a set-up that
made that car run like it was on rails, Clark turned on the jets. He
claimed his second win of 2008 two weeks later at Groveton NH's
Riverside Speedway, and dominated the action at All-Star Speedway
before a flat tire set him back to fourth at the finish. Still, he
recovered from what could have been a disastrous result and scored
solid points, and it looked like the season might be turning around
for the Clark's Car Crushing team.

He contended for the Atlantic Cat 250 win in Nova Scotia but had to
settle for seventh at the checkered flag. Clark got back to his
winning ways at Wiscasset in August, rebounding for a $30,000.00
payday in the Toyota Tundra 250 followed by a second place run at
White Mountain and a $10,000.00 win at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in
the PASS 300.

It all came down to the Fall Brawl at Johnny's home track, Wiscasset
Raceway. When the checkers flew Clark had a fifth place finish,
beating four time series champ Ben Rowe by five spots to secure the
2008 PASS super late model title by ten points. On his way to the
crown Clark scored the most series wins (4) and led the most laps
(469). He raced home in the top five eight times, with eleven top
tens.

Clark put an exclamation point on a super 2008 season by dominating
the PASS South 250 lap feature at the Mason-Dixon 500 at Virginia's
South Boston Speedway, collecting yet another $10,000.00 payday along
with his first PASS South victory.

Johnny Clark, his race team and all the Pro All Stars Series
Champions, competitors, fans and sponsors will gather on November 15th
for the eighth annual PASS North Banquet of Champions at Verillo's
Conference Center on Riverside Drive in Westbrook Maine.