Some of Beech Ridge Motor Speedway’s top drivers will rub fenders Saturday with drivers from the regional Pro All-Star Series tour during the season-opening SouthernMaineMotors.com 150 at the Scarborough track.

It will be the first PASS North event of the season for the Super Late Models, Sportsmen and Mods divisions, and some drivers who compete on the five-eighths-mile oval on a weekly basis said they may have an advantage over most drivers who compete on the regional tour.

“I hope I’ve got a little bit of an advantage using the setup I’ve been using there for the past several seasons,” said Billy Rodgers, the track’s reigning SLM champion from Old Orchard Beach. “Right now we’re going with what we would normally go with on a Saturday night. Pretty much we go like it’s every other race, but once it begins you have to pace yourself because it’s a longer race.”

Last year, Rodgers posted one top-10 finish among the three PASS races at Beech Ridge.

“Some of our Saturday night guys, in all honesty, are as good as the tour guys but there are a higher percentage of good tour guys,” said David Oliver, a 2002 track champ from Standish.

As of Thursday, 30 cars had entered Saturday’s SLM race, the featured event. Most Saturday nights, drivers at Beech Ridge race against no more than 20 cars.

“Personally, I like a big car count,” Oliver said. “It’s not just about who is running fast. You’ve got to be able to move through traffic and not everyone is good at that.”

Last season, Oliver ran in five of PASS North’s 14 SLM races.

“We didn’t run that well because we had engine problems,” he said.

“We’ve got all new stuff now. We spent a lot of money so hopefully there won’t be any mechanical problems.”

The rest of the entry list for the SLM race includes the top drivers on the regional tour.

Johnny Clark of Farmingdale heads the list. Last season he won seven of the 14 races to capture an unprecedented sixth PASS North SLM title, failing to finish in the top 10 just once.

Next is Lonnie Sommerville of Saint John, New Brunswick, who races for Mulkern Racing in Falmouth.

Last season he finished second to Clark in the final standings to earn co-rookie of the year. Last July, Sommerville’s first PASS North victory — his only win of the season — came at Beech Ridge.

Last season, Ben Rowe of Turner finished third in PASS North’s final SLM standings. He already has two top-10 finishes this season in PASS South competition.

Other top PASS North drivers include Alexandre Gingras, the tour’s fourth-place finisher from Quebec City, who recorded seven top-10 finishes, as did Travis Benjamin of Morrill, who placed fifth in the PASS North Super Late Model final standings.

The SLM field also includes D.J. Shaw, a son of the former NASCAR Busch North champion, Dale Shaw of Center Conway, N.H.; Cassius Clark, a Farmington native who runs on the PASS South and PASS North circuits; Joey Doiron, the 2010 PASS North Rookie of the Year from Berwick; and Scott Mulkern, a veteran driver from Falmouth who won last fall’s PASS North finale at Oxford Plains Speedway.

Saturday’s racing card also includes a 75-lap feature in PASS North’s Sportsman Division, a 40-lap final in its open-wheeled Mods division and a Legends tour race.

Racing in the qualifying heats will start at 3 p.m. The rain date is Sunday.

Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:

pbetit@pressherald.com

Twitter: PaulBetitPPH