Derek Griffith Earns First Win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Hudson, New Hampshire's Derek Griffith is now a winner at "The Magic Mile."

Griffith took the lead from Eddie MacDonald shortly after a competition caution in the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) Super Late Model Northeast Classic feature. That led to Griffith's first win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in his sixth PASS appearance at the track.

"I feel like this place has owed us one," said Griffith. "We've been good here so many times and it just hasn't been our day."

The victory was also an emotional one. Along with dealing with his own personal health struggles that sidelined him near the end of the 2024 season, Griffith received good news in the week leading up to the Northeast Classic.

"Man, we've had a really rough few weeks with me. Really good news, me and my wife are expecting, we're having a boy. We had some really bad news and we didn't know if he was going to make it. We got news this week that he was going to make it. It was a long week.

"The guys worked hard to get this thing done after Thompson. It's amazing, man. I'm really happy. We've been so close so many times, but to get one done, I'm happy."

Eddie MacDonald is one of the winningest drivers in the history of New Hampshire Motor Speedway, with 13 wins across several different series including PASS, the American-Canadian Tour and NASCAR Camping World Series East (now ARCA Menards Series East).

However, "The Outlaw" settled for second on Saturday after his car tightened up following the break.

"Derek did a good job," said MacDonald. "He was fast coming up through there. We just tightened up that last run. Unfortunately, we didn't have anything for him."

Johnny Clark finished third, but felt fortunate to simply be running at race's end. Low air pressure in his right-rear tire during the first half of the race could have easily led to an early ending to the afternoon.

"I feel very, very fortunate. We had 11 pounds in the right-rear tire after the break. We wanted more than twice that. Nothing to hang our heads about. That put us behind a little bit, didn't know what to make for adjustments. We were just one little adjustment away from being able to run with them. Eddie got real tight at the end, but that thing has some smoke under it because I could roll the center off reallly damn good and back to the gas, but he'd leave me down the straightaway."

The next race for the PASS Super Late Models is scheduled for Sunday, April 27 at Oxford Plains Speedway. That event is part of a two-day weekend of racing at Oxford Plains, with the Oxford Championship Series taking the track on April 26.

-Photo credit: Will Bellamy