JOHNNY
CLARK CHASES PASS POINT LEAD
GOING INTO BEECH RIDGE
by MikeTwist
Former Champ Gains Ground in Second Half of '06 Season
As the Pro All Star Series North Super Late Model competitors head to Beech Ridge Motor
Speedway for the third attempt at running the rained-delayed New England Dodge Dealers
150, it is hard to imagine that there is driver looking forward to the event more than
Johnny Clark.
Clark is on a hot streak, moving right up into the thick of the championship battle in
PASS North, and he is the latest winner on the tour – taking the checkered flag at
the Atlantic CAT 250 at Scotia Speedworld nearly a month ago.
Heading into Beech Ridge, Clark is the only PASS North driver with a string of three
consecutive top five finishes. The 2004 champion started out struggling a little bit this
year by his own standards, but is now in the thick of a close three-way title fight. Only
43 points separate point leader Scott Chubbuck, Clark and third-ranked Mike Rowe.
“We had been kid of struggling this this year,” said Clark. " We’ve
been trying new stuff and I haven’t always had a concrete answer for the crew and
they haven’t had ones for me because we’ve been exploring new territory.
We’re just trying to find a sweet spot in our new set-up. Hopefully, we found it as
Scotia. The car was really good up there.”
The 2006 season has a different feel to it than Clark’s 2004 title-winning campaign,
but he’s hoping that the two years have the same final outcomes.
“In 2004, the championship was mine to lose at this point. Now, we’re right
there. We’ve got to have strong finishes in these final races. We can’t have any
more mediocre races. We know that the #29 car and Mike Rowe are on their game right now,
so if we want to beat them, we need to be too.”
The New England Dodge Dealers 150 at Beech Ridge is set for 1:30pm on Sunday, September
10th. |
