Garrett Hall Snaps PASS Winless Drought With Star Triumph

Garrett Hall snapped a winless drought with the Pro All Stars Series dating back to 2022 on Sunday, winning at Star Speedway.

Hall took the lead from Johnny Clark with 19 laps to go, then held off Clark on a restart with 15 laps to go. The Scarborough, Maine driver went on to the victory, his first with the PASS Super Late Models since the 2022 World Series of Speedway Racing at Thompson Speedway.

The win also comes at a track where Hall has traditionally struggled. In six previous PASS events at Star, Hall's best finish - and only finish in the top 10 - was a sixth-place result in 2019. He was happy to get back to PASS victory lane, and do so at a track that has stymied him for so long.

"Would have never believed it would be at Star Speedway," said Hall after the race. "We finally get the monkey off our back here. I've never liked this track, I've never went well here. Whenever I've had a decent car, I'd get taken out by somebody. It's one of those tracks that's very aggressive, but it's not quite my driving style.

"We ended up getting a good draw, had a fast car. It drove good the whole race. We just maintained and picked up the car underneath me and had a little bit of luck on our side."

Hall moved up to second on a lap 95 restart, as Joey Doiron had issues restarting from the lead and stacked up the inside lane. That allowed Clark to take the lead, with Hall in tow.

Finally, Hall set up Clark to make his move with 19 laps to go, moving underneath the seven-time PASS champion.

"I was following behind Johnny," explained Hall. "My spotter was telling me lap times and I was figuring out where the car was the fastest. I saw Johnny was getting a little loose, so finally he slipped up a little bit and I was just right there and close enough to capitalize on it."

Just when it appeared Hall was set to check out, the caution flew on lap 135 for an incident involving Mike Mitchell. This set up a restart with 15 laps to go, but Hall was able to hold off Clark and take the win.

"That restart, I was not looking forward to it," Hall said. "I needed a couple of laps for my car to fire off, but I just was able to maintain and have a good 15 last laps."

Clark held on for a runner-up finish. It was another strong showing on the year, but he couldn't help but wonder what could have been.

"Better luck today that the last time we were here, but, boy it's awful disappointing when you feel like that," said Clark. "The 73 car was the car you were racing and he has problems, so you think you're pretty good. I just flat ran out of right-rear tire. One of those things, we just ran a little too hard too early.

"The car was really good. It was probably too good, and it went to the free side at the end."

Sylas Ripley finished third, with Trevor Sanborn and Bobby Therrien rounding out the top five.

The next event on the PASS calendar is the non-points Celebration of America 300 at Oxford Plains Speedway on July 2. The midweek race pays $20,000 to win and is part of the Oxford Plains Crown Jewel Triple Crown Series.

-Photo credit: Connor Sullivan

PASS Star 150 Unofficial Results