Ben Rowe Wins PASS at Oxford, Completes Family Sweep of Weekend

Like father, like son? That was certainly the case in Super Late Model competition this weekend at Oxford Plains Speedway.

On Saturday, Mike Rowe scored his 153rd career feature win at Oxford Plains Speedway in the track’s Oxford Championship Series. When many of those same racers battled with the touring stars of the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) Super Late Models on Sunday, it was Mike’s son, Ben, taking the checkered flag.

Ben Rowe took the lead with 50 laps to go in the 150-lap race, then held off challenges from D.J. Shaw and Max Cookson to pick up the win in the last PASS race at Oxford before the Oxford 250 on August 25-27.

Naturally, the younger Rowe had plenty of motivation going into Sunday’s race after his father’s win on Saturday.

“First of all, this is his car,” said Ben Rowe in victory lane. “He went out and did it last night, and I said, ‘Jesus Christ, he’s still got it. He’s showing me up.”

With the victory, Ben Rowe now has 42 career PASS North victories. However, the win ended a five-year drought in PASS competition for the four-time series champion, dating back to September 15, 2018 at White Mountain Motorsports Park.

While it was a weekend for the veterans at Oxford Plains, Max Cookson represented the young guard well with a second-place finish on Sunday. The 20-year-old capitalized on a late restart to work his way up to second, but could not find his way around Rowe and settled for the runner-up spot.

“We knew the name of the game today was going to be to conserve,” said Cookson. “I feel like we did a really good job in the earlier portion of the race. We settled about fifth there, and that’s what it was good for with the track position we had.

“We got a late race yellow, got clear in line to fifth and managed to drive around all of them but one. Congrats to Benjie, and I can’t thank my guys enough.”

D.J. Shaw completed the podium, content with a strong showing as teams turn their focus to the Oxford 250 at the end of August.

“I think we have a good foundation,” said Shaw. “We tried a lot of different stuff today and worked with Joey [Doiron] today. I know he didn’t have the day he wanted, but he’s helped me a lot and I’m excited moving forward here to see what we can do at the end of the month.”

Super Late Models will have one more chance to race at Oxford Plains Speedway between now and the Oxford 250, as the Oxford Championship Series will race next Saturday, August 12.

-Photo credit: Will Bellamy, Racing America

PRO ALL STARS SERIES AT OXFORD PLAINS SPEEDWAY - AUGUST 6, 2023
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