LOUDON, N.H. – Eddie MacDonald barely held off a hard-charging Mike Hopkins to win Sunday’s 50-lap Pro All Stars Series super late model main event, the headliner of the third annual New England Short Track Showdown at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
For MacDonald it was his 11th win at the Magic Mile, including scores in both PASS super late model races ever contested at the 1.058-mile oval.
He beat Hopkins to the line by maybe a foot, or .026 seconds according to electronic scoring, aboard his Hancock Electric-Grimm Construction No. 17.
Hopkins, a winner at the three-quarter-mile Richmond Raceway in Virginia to open the Pro All Stars Series season, solidified his position atop the Pro All Stars Series national standings with his runner-up finish.
Derek Griffith, the defending PASS Super Late Model national champion, swapped positions in front of the pack with both MacDonald and Hopkins before settling for a third-place finish, following up his win in the previous week’s race at Speedway 95 and injecting the LCM Motorsports operation right back into the PASS North title chase.
Canadian teenager Austin MacDonald posted an impressive fourth-place finish in his New Hampshire Motor Speedway debut, while five-time PASS national champion Ben Rowe rebounded with a top-five finish after nearly slapping the wall during qualifying.
Ryan Kuhn just missed out on a top-five finish, crossing sixth, while Alan Tardiff, DJ Shaw, Reid Lanpher and Johnny Clark rounded out the top 10.
The finish:
Eddie MacDonald, Mike Hopkins, Derek Griffith, Austin MacDonald, Ben Rowe, Ryan Kuhn, Alan Tardiff, D.J. Shaw, Reid Lanpher, Johnny Clark, Mike Rowe, Dillon Moltz, Brandon Barker, Cory Casagrande, Nick Sweet, Jake Johnson, Bryan Kruczek, Bobby Therrien, Devin O’Connell, Gabe Brown, Travis Benjamin, Evan Hallstrom, Mike Scorzelli, Bill Penfold, Garrett Hall, Ray Christian III, Jon Lowinski-Loh, Nick Lascoula, Derek Ramstrom.