SEEKONK, Mass. — Ben Rowe gave the 30th American-Canadian Tour season one of the most dramatic finishes in series history by passing D.J. Shaw on the final lap to win the Haunted Hundred at Massachusetts’ Seekonk Speedway on Saturday.
Rowe rode the outside rim on a green-white-championship finish to beat his rival by .043 seconds for the win and by five points for the championship.
It’s the first ACT title for Rowe, who has 10 Pro All Stars Series super late model championships to his credit. Rowe becomes the first driver to win both a Pro All Stars Series super late model and American-Canadian Tour championship. He also is the first ACT champion from the state of Maine.
Rowe started the night on the wrong foot by surrendering the point lead to Shaw in qualifying, with Shaw’s second-place heat race finish catapulting him a two-point edge over Rowe. However, the ACT plus-minus handicapping system put Rowe, who did not have an ACT victory this year entering the day, third on the starting grid to Shaw’s 13th. The veteran took advantage, grabbing the lead from Josh Hedges on a lap seven restart and pacing the field for the next 44 circuits — and picking up the crucial lap leader bonus points that went with it.
Derek Gluchacki, along with Tom Carey III and Shaw, were both slicing through the field behind Rowe. Gluchacki was underneath Rowe for the top spot when reigning Seekonk Speedway championship Vinny Arrenegado Jr. got crossed up on the frontstretch on lap 51, triggering a four-car pile-up. On the restart, Gluchacki made the outside work just as well and rocketed to the lead. Carey and Shaw followed him around Rowe, with the point lead seemingly flipping by the lap.
After two more yellows at laps 68 and 73, Carey went to work on Gluchacki as both pulled away from the field. Carey went to the inside of his fellow Tour sophomore entering turn one with 13 laps to go, and the two got hooked together going through turn two. By the time the cars finally separated and continued, Shaw had taken the second spot back, with Chase Belcher and Rowe also gaining spots when Carey pitted a lap later.
A lap-93 yellow when Jacob Burns and Shawn Swallow tangled in turn three set up the next act in the season-ending drama. The top-four all held serve on the restart, but just as they were staring at the two-to-go signal, Trenton Goodrow and Andrew Gillis got wadded up on the backstretch. By rule, the field when back to lap 97 for a nail-biting restart.
Coming out of turn two after the green flag, Shaw pulled a crossover move on Gluchacki, who tried to slam the door in turn three. Knowing what was on the line, Shaw kept his foot in the opening, and as they leaned on each other, Rowe rocketed up the outside. Shaw led lap 98 by an inch before Gluchacki went around in turn two, collecting Tyler Lallier along the way.
That put Shaw and Rowe on the front row for the 10th and final restart with the championship going to whomever reached the checkered flag first. Shaw led the white flag lap, but Rowe found one last bit of speed on the final circuit, beating Shaw to the stripe by about a foot for the victory and the championship.
The late-race scrambling allowed Erick Sands to come out of nowhere and finish third. It was the best career ACT finish for Sands also sewed up Rookie of the Year honors. Arrenegado recovered from his incident to take fourth with Belcher coming home fifth. Ryan Kuhn, Nicholas Uhrig, Burns, Richard Murray, and Jimmy Renfrew Jr. completed the top-10.
The finish:
Ben Rowe, D.J. Shaw, Erick Sands, Vincent Arrenegado Jr., Chase Belcher, Ryan Kuhn, Nicholas Uhrig, Jacob Burns, Richard J. Murray, Jimmy Renfrew Jr., Derek Gluchacki, Shawn Swallow, Matt Anderson, Peyton Lanphear, Tyler Lallier, Andrew Gillis, Reilly Lanphear, James Linardy, Trenton Goodrow, Louis Romiza III, Johnny Silva, Tom Carey III, Jimmy Hebert, Joshua Hedges, Stephen Donahue, Jeramee Lillie, Mike Benevides, Brandon Hammann, Fred Astle, Mark Jenison.