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2008 Results & Photos - 7/12/08 to 10/19/08

 


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Derek and the Ramstrom Racing Team would like to extend a Happy New Year to all of our fans, sponsors, and fellow competitors. 

Derek is filling his time off with school and getting his adrenalin fix snow boarding at Mt. Wachusett every chance he gets.  The recent snow has taken him off the mountain and into a plow truck, plowing for the state.  Derek doesn’t seem to mind, at least he is behind the wheel of a vehicle. 

Thank you very much to all Derek’s supporters & we wish you a safe and happy holiday season.

Special thanks to:

West Boylston Auto Parts

Charter Communications

DeBoise Auto Body

Standard Auto Parts

All our friends at Lovey’s Towing & Recovery

Linc McDonald

Aluminex

Joe Clouatre

PASS NORTH
2008 BANQUET

The Pro All Star Series (PASS) banquet was held at Verillo’s Conference Center in Maine last Saturday night. The Ramstrom Crew took the long two hour ride to honor Derek and the other North drivers.

PASS President Tom Mayberry was first to speak, presenting several promoters awards, including Most Improved in all three divisions, Sportsmanship Awards, Rookie of the Year Awards and a lifetime achievement award. Tom also reviewed the 2008 season and touched briefly on some changes for the upcoming 2009 year.

The podium was then turned over to PASS announcer/comedian Mark Thomas for the presentation of the top ten in the three divisions.
Derek finished 7th overall in the Super Late Model Division, finally getting the elusive win at All-Star Speedway.

Derek and the entire Ramstrom Team would like to extend a heart-felt congratulations to Johnny Clark and the #54 Clark’s Car Crushing Team for it’s third PASS Championship. Clark is a well-respected driver; he is always willing to help the less experienced drivers on the PASS Tour.
Congratulations!

World Series WIN! - Oct. 19th


The #35 Ramstrom Racing Team headed to CT for the final race of the 2008 season, The World Series of Racing. This is a huge three day event with a car count of 338 in all divisions.

Rick and a few of the crew members were knocking on the pit gate early Friday morning, hoping to get a good parking spot for the hauler. Derek arrived after school and took a few practice laps. He felt the car was handling really well and he thought it was fast. Saturday brought a couple more rounds of practice and the Pro Stock heat race. The team was hoping the car would run faster in the cold weather and they were right, Derek won the heat race.

Sunday brought even more cold weather as well as a lot of excitement. Derek started outside pole and made quick work of taking the lead from pole sitter Jeff Connors. Connors retaliated and took the position away from Derek on lap 8. A restart on lap 11 gave Derek a chance to get to Connors side once again. After a fierce two lap battle Derek was able to pass Connors coming out of turn 4 and take off. Derek led the rest of the 30 lap feature and took the checkers for the final time in 2008. Derek was really happy with the setup, claiming the car hadn’t been that fast all year.

The Ramstrom Racing Team is thrilled with the year they had. Derek won 4 races at Thompson, his rookie year, and he got his first PASS win at All-Star Speedway. This was clearly a break though season for the team and they have already taken the car off the hauler and are beginning to prepare for the 2009 season. Derek and the entire #35 Ramstrom Racing Team would like to thank all their sponsors for the support this year. Derek would also like to thank all his fans, he sees you when he is racing at Thompson and your support truly motivates him.

We will update the site with 2009 racing information as soon as it becomes available.


7th Place at The FALL BRAWL
PASS Championship Weekend - Wiscasset Raceway -  Oct. 4th

Derek's Final PASS North
2008 Points Standings - 7th
(counting 12 best finishes of 14 races)

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10th Place at the PASS 300
A solid run to a Top 10 in the longest race of the PASS season. 300 laps of Beech Ridge are quite a test of the car, the pit crew, and the driver. The #35 didn't have the speed of the top running SLMs, but Derek battled through the traffic and kept on after contact with a car stopping short in front of the #35 dramatically deranged the nose. Hard rain shortened the race by 5 laps.

A post race inspection of the top five and of all the other competitors in the top ten in points was the next hurdle. The #35 passed the engine and fuel examinations AOK and picked up a spot as the #4 car did not.

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Thursday Thunder - Thompson - 9/25
5th place - 5th in points standings

Thursday the 25th of September brought the last points race for Thompson Speedway. Derek went into the race 5th in points, 30 back from the leader. Before the race Derek was awarded “Most Popular Driver”, an accolade given by the Thompson Speedway fans. Derek won this vote by a large margin, The Ramstrom Team is very proud of him.

Derek also won
“Driver of the Month” for July, in the PASS Series.
This award was given to him by Mainely Motor Sports.

Derek is also on the list to win
“Most Popular Driver” on the website Speed51. This website is one of the best motorsport sites around with continuous up to date information on tracks, series and drivers. Go to www.speed51.com and vote for Derek, under the PASS North division. You can vote once a day.

The last race of the season at Thompson proved to be yet another heart breaker. Derek started second in the feature after finishing second in the heat. Derek, the #48 of Fred Astle and the #1M of Norm Wrenn gave the fans an exciting Pro Stock race. The #48 took the lead for a few laps while Derek and Wrenn battle it out for second. They swapped positions a few times, including the lead. There were many cautions, giving the fans a thrill but causing a few gray hairs on the #35 team as the #35 and #48 battle it out for the lead. During any long green run Derek was to take the lead and pull away from the others, at one point having a 5 car lead on the second place race car. Following yet another caution, at lap 22, the #35 and the #48 were once again fighting for the lead in turns three and four when Derek either got loose, tangled with the 48 or was hit from behind and he spun. He was very lucky that most of the cars behind him were able to stop and the damage was kept to a right front flat. Derek pitted and the team changed the tire under caution. Derek was able to get back on the track and made some good time, finishing in the 7th position.

The Ramstrom Racing team is extremely proud of Derek, having f
inished 5th in points his rookie year at Thompson International Speedway. The points chase is over but Derek has one more chance to make it to Victory Lane.

The biggest race that Thompson Speedway hosts is the “World Series of Racing”. This weekend of racing consists of 14 divisions of racing and promises to be one of the best weekends of racing in New England.
For more information go to www.thompsonspeedway.com.

Thursday Thunder - Thompson - 9/18
8th place
The Ramstrom Racing Team headed to Thompson Speedway on Thursday, the 18th of September feeling confident that the outcome would be good, having been on the receiving end of some bad luck for a few weeks. Derek practiced the car and thought the set up was good. The #35 started on the pole for the heat race. Going into turn three on lap 1 Derek was punted from behind by the second place car. Derek hit the wall really hard and the car had to be cradled by two wreckers back to the pits. The Ramstrom crew did an outstanding job putting the car back together and made it out for the feature. Derek finished 8th, a result the team was very happy with, considering the significant damage done in the heat race.


11th place
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Thursday Thunder - Thompson - 9/11
5th place

TRACK WEBSITE REPORT:  Jeff Connors of Ellington, CT, led green-to-checker to score his first win of the 2008 season. The opening lap of the 30-lapper was marred by an incident that took out contenders George Bessette, Norm Wrenn, Ron Yuhas, Jr. and others. On the restart, Connors was able to grab the lead from Jeff Zuidema.  Dave Berghman immediately began to pressure Zuidema for second. Ramstrom, in turn, was now looking under Berghman. Neither was able to make the pass. Fred Astle and O’Sullivan were going at it for the sixth spot. 

All battles ceased on lap 9 for a single-car spin involving Derek Ramstrom. A few laps later, Chris Magee made hard contact with the outside wall on the backstretch but green flag racing remained.  Shortly after, Berghman was able to take over the second position from Zuidema.

During the extended green flag run, Berghman began to chase down Connors. Zuidema continued to fade as he lost positions to Macedonio and O’Sullivan. Ramstrom was already back, knocking on the door of the top five at lap 23. 

The final dash to the checkers was set up after an incident that involved Astle and Andy Johnson.  On the single file restart, Connors was easily able to retain his lead. Zuidema fell off the pace. Connors scored a popular victory over Berghman and O’Sullivan. Macedonio and Ramstrom completed the top five.


Thursday Thunder - Thompson - 8/28
4th place

Pro Stock Points Top 10 at 8/28
POS. - CAR # - FIRST NAME - LAST NAME - POINTS
1 - 48 FRED ASTLE, JR - 432
2 - 1M NORMAN WRENN - 422
3 - 14 JAY MACEDONIO - 414
4 - 15 GEORGE BESSETTE - 406
5 - 08 MICHAEL O'SULLIVAN - 404
6 - 35 DEREK RAMSTROM - 392
7 - 13 JAMES BANFIELD - 330
8 - 11 DAVID BERGHMAN - 324
9 - 36 DAVE SILVIA - 322
10 - 51 JEFF CONNORS - 314

Thursday Thunder - Thompson - 8/21
15th place

Wiscasset Raceway - Sunday, 8/17 - 30th

Tough day at the Tundra 250. After a win in heat #4, early in the 250 Derek was hit in the right rear and driven hard into the back straight wall with the #35 suffering major damage.


Johnny Clark Makes Good on Favorite Tag
at Wiscasset 250 By Mike Twist
It's a $30k Payday in PASS North
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Thursday Thunder - Thompson - 8/14
with BUDWEISER WMT 150L Special
15th Place

Be careful what you wish for! The #35 Ramstrom Race team was praying for Mother Nature to cooperate and after a torrential storm early in the day it dried up. Thompson Speedway did an outstanding job drying the track after about an inch of rain fell in a half an hour. The Whelan Modified Tour was on hand and practice times were somewhat limited. Derek took the #35 out for practice and a few adjustments were made.

During the warm up laps Derek was coming out of turn two, cleaning the tires when something in the front end snapped causing him to lose control. His car leaped into the back stretch wall causing substantial damage to the front end. Derek pitted before the green was shown and the crew determined that he should just attempt to run it, although it was evident he would be unable to be competitive. Derek made it 28 laps and decided to pull the car behind the wall as he was concerned his low speeds could be a hazard to the other competitors.

 
12th for Derek at the Atlantic CAT 250
at Scotia Speedworld, Halifax, NS



The weekend's journey started out with the #35 Ramstrom Race Team heading down to Thompson International Speedway. After our arrival, the weather did not co-operate and the race ended up being cancelled. We traveled back to West Boylston to switch to our PASS car and started the long drive to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

We arrived on Friday in time for a practice and heat race that could not occur due to rain. That pushed everything to Saturday. We finished 3rd in the heat race. That gave us a starting position of 12th for the 250 Green Flag Race. Derek worked his way up to 5th, when he made a pit stop on lap 128. In short order, Derek felt he a problem with his right front wheel, and he had to pit again under a green. Unfortunately, this caused him to lose four laps and he ended up placing 12th overall.

Please be sure to join us down at Thompson, August 14th for the Thursday Night Thunder Race in which Derek is the point leader.

In addition, Saturday and Sunday August 16th and 17th we will be in Wiscasset Maine for the Toyota Tundra 250, we would love to see you there!
 
       
Photos by Jamie Williams

 Thursday Thunder - Thompson - 8/7
Rained Out

Thursday Thunder - Thompson - 7/31
2nd to Mike O'Sullivan after a rain delay.

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Derek WINS His 1ST PASS Race
The ALL-STARS 200


Derek took his first PASS win over Mike Rowe in 2nd (#2, right) and Ben Rowe in 3rd (#4, left).


TRACKSIDE NOW RACE REPORT HERE

All-Star Proves Heartwarming for Ramstrom, Heartbreaking for Clark
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Mike Twist SPEED51 Race Story HERE

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3rd Place for Derek!
Race shortened to 131 laps by rain.
1st - Johnny Clark   2nd - Travis Benjamin

More at Green-White-Checker HERE

Race Report HERE
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Photos by
Chris Roy

Thursday Thunder - Thompson - 7/24
Rained Out



Derek Heading North to Oxford Plains for
TD Banknorth 250 on Sun. 7/20
Will drive a car owned by Seekonk (MA) Speedway regular Denny Stampfl of Norwood, MA.  FULL STORY


RACE RECAP STORY

Derek drew a starting spot of 5th in Heat 2.
His best Saturday practice time of 16.65 put Derek tied for 42nd fastest out of 86 cars present.
Derek makes the race!! with a finish of
3rd in Heat 2 and is locked into  a starting spot
of 14th out of 42. Full Grid Chart HERE

Repeated rain showers on Sunday forced the race over to Monday where fans and competitors faced yet another 3 1/2 rain delay which moved the race start to 7:30.

Derek posted a 16th place finish after battling back from spins at lap 9 and around lap 240. Derek was up into 12th at lap 98.

Follow the full race progress at Speed51's

LIVE RACE UPDATES HERE

Courchesne Blog with Oxford Stories HERE

Travis Barrett Green-White-Checker Blog with 250 Reports

Oxford Plains Speedway TD Banknorth 250 Page HERE

Photos by
Chris Roy

Thursday Thunder - Thompson - 7/17
USG
50 Lap Pro Stock Special Event
Top 3: Fred Astle Jr., Derek 2nd, & Norm Wren
Courchesne Story HERE

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Derek from Last to the Front
at the Full Fender Frenzy 75
5th place for Derek after Martin penalized and Ben Rowe
declared the winner. Contending for the win, Derek is
pushed into the grass and into the wall in "Physical PASS
Feature" at Thompson on 7-12.  Courchesne Story HERE

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It's Rowe....No, Martin....No, Rowe....at Thompson  By Mike Twist
Green-White-Checkers, Restarts and Rough Driving Produce PASS Drama

“I feel bad for Ramstrom,” said Clark.  “From my angle, he got used up pretty bad.” 

“The #14 [Martin] ran him all over the place,” said Rowe.  “The #35 [Ramstrom] was clearly the best car and the #14 didn't want to give it up.  Rick is hard; he's one hard, hell of a racer.”

Ramstrom didn't hide his disappointment after the race. “It was tough…this is my favorite track,” said Ramstrom, who unofficially finished fifth.  “We've had three consecutive wins here and everything was going good.  I wish we could have got this one because it would have been bigger. It would have been my first PASS Super Late Model win and it would have meant a lot.”
 and it would have
PASS Race Report
Ben Rowe Declared Full Fendered Frenzy Winner

NAPLES, ME, JULY 14, 2008 – The Pro All Stars Series (PASS) North super late models made their annual trip to Thompson International Speedway Saturday night for a 75 lap shootout and The Full Fendered Frenzy definitely lived up to its billing. The wild night featured great racing, two attempts at a green, white, checkered finish and a post race ruling by PASS officials that declared Ben Rowe the event winner. Although Rick Martin took the checkers first, he was penalized for jumping the final green flag and relegated to second place in the official order of finish.

Martin took the lead at the initial green with Trevor Sanborn in tow. The duo was able to pull away from the pack early on. A lap six restart allowed Sanborn to take away the top spot for three laps before Martin regained the point.

Sanborn continued to challenge Martin and retook the lead on a lap fifty restart. Sanborn’s lead would once again be short lived as the bumps in turn one sent him skating up the track ,allowing Martin and local PASS stand out Derek Ramstrom by for first and second. Ramstrom’s run through the field was well received by the Thompson faithful, who have witnessed three consecutive weekly super late model wins by the West Boylston Massachusetts teenager.


Ramstrom and Martin put on a fearsome battle for the lead, but Martin slammed the door on Ramstroms’ repeated attempts to make a move on the bottom. The first green, white, checkered attempt of the night proved to be Ramstrom’s undoing; Martin moved up the speedway , making contact with Ramstrom who in turn made contact with the concrete, ending a great run that could easily have resulted in Ramstroms’ first PASS North victory.

The second green, white, checkered attempt saw Martin jump out in the lead with teammates Ben Rowe and Trevor Sanborn in hot pursuit. When the checkers flew the unofficial top five were Martin, Rowe, Johnny Clark, Sanborn, and Ramstrom. But Martin’s two car length jump prior to the drop of the green prompted series officials to declare the finish unofficial and the resulting review reversed the top two in the order of finish.

Naples ME (July 14, 2008)
Statement PASS President Tom Mayberry
concerning the PASS super late model finish at Thompson International Speedway on Saturday July 12.

“One of the signature procedures of the Pro All Stars Series is great race restarts, side by side, with the flagman always starting the race. This is to provide a professional show for the fans and the competitors.

After reviewing this event it was determined that the #14 car of Rick Martin had numerous borderline restarts. On the final restart at lap 74, with no respect for PASS race procedures or his fellow competitors, he left on his own with a two car length lead. As all the drivers were told in the drivers’ meeting, you cannot steal a finish by jumping the restart. We felt his jumping of the restart cost any other driver a chance of winning and cost the fans an exciting, side by side finish.

Therefore, after careful review and much consideration we have penalized the #14 of Rick Martin one position and there will be a significant fine. We feel this action is necessary to maintain the integrity of our restart procedures.”
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RAMSTROM RACING TEAM Race Report
The Ramstrom Racing Team had their work cut out for them Saturday night at Thompson Speedway following a rollercoaster ride that gave gray hairs to more than a few crew members.

The team arrived at the track with the car that Derek runs at Thompson every Thursday night to display on the midway, along with the PASS race car. Derek ran a couple of practice runs and thought the car was handling well. Having won three Pro Stock features at Thompson had the team feeling upbeat. Waiting for the elusive PASS feature win had the team feeling cautiously optimistic. Derek was ready to head out for another round of practice when the car failed to start. The team worked feverishly to get it started and missed qualifying. As luck would have it Derek had his Thompson car on the midway and he drove it to the pit area to prepare it for the PASS feature. With literally minutes to spare the team figured out the ignition problem and the car fired up.
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Derek was to start at the rear of the field for missing qualifying. Derek showed his ability to work the big 5/8 mile speedway and began passing cars and was in the second place by lap 52 behind the #14 car of Rick Martin. Derek battled him, trying to get by and on lap 65 Derek tucked under him coming out of turn four and Martin turned into him, sending him in the grass. Derek held on and kept fighting, trying desperately to make a clean pass Lap 64 brought out a caution and Derek tried to take him on the restart but he was sent high into the marbles coming out of turn 4. Derek caught what the team thought was a final lucky break when another caution flew at lap 74. This final restart was anything but fortuitous as Derek was once again bounced off the fence and he was sent back to the fifth position with no possibility for a win in the 75 lap feature.

Derek climbed out of the #35 machine following the race knowing he ran the absolute best and cleanest race he could. Many well respected PASS veteran drivers said that Derek ran a fantastic race, and sometimes hearing those words mean more to a young driver than a win.
Previous Race Results, Stories & Photos HERE