A racing team formed by 1986 Portland High graduate Will Turner captured the 2011 Continental Tire Sports Car Grand Sports driver and team championships Sunday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.
It was the sixth professional championship for Turner’s team, which is based in Amesbury, Mass.
On Sunday, Paul Dalla Lana and co-driver Boris Said, who has raced in NASCAR events, needed only to finish 11th in their BMW to claim the titles. They stuck with a conservatively aggressive plan throughout the 21/2-hour race around the 2.6-mile, 13-turn road course to finish sixth.
Turner began driving in Sports Car Club of America events while attending Roger Williams College in Rhode Island.
“My passion was for sports cars, particularly BMWs, and racing for me was always road course stuff,” Turner said.
Turner Motorsports also sells and ships replacement and high-performance parts for BMW cars.
JOHNNY CLARK of Hallowell is threatening to break Ben Rowe’s record for most wins in a season in PASS North’s Super Late Model Division.
Clark, the division’s point leader, reclaimed the lead on Lap 220 of the PASS North 300 Sunday at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough for his seventh win of the season.
A six-time series champion, Clark, who has won seven of 12 PASS North events this season, could tie the Turner driver’s record Saturday night in a 150-lap race at White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H.
He could break the record in the Oct. 1 season finale, a 150-lap race at Oxford Plains Speedway.
THE RACE for the top spot in PASS North’s Sportsman Division suddenly has turned into a five-man race.
Going into last weekend’s race at Beech Ridge, Shane Tatro of Holden appeared to have the inside track to the division championship, but he had mechanical problems and ended up finishing 24th in the 100-lap feature.
With two races left, Carey Martin of Denmark holds a two-point lead over Gorham’s Dan McKeage, who rolled to his second win in four starts last Sunday.
Tatro and Craig Smith of East Waterboro are three points behind Martin, while Donny Morse of Windham trails the leader by six points.
THREE TRACK champions from Oxford Plains Speedway will be among the 43 drivers racing Saturday in the third annual ACT Invitational, a 50-lap race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H.
Among the drivers invited to compete in the race were Jeff White, the current OPS champion from Winthrop, and former track champions Ricky Rolfe of Albany Township and Shawn White of Turner.
WITH ONE EVENT left, Ben Ashline of Pittston holds a 13-point lead over David Farrington Jr. in the race for ACT’s rookie of the year honors.
Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at: pbetit@pressherald.com
Twitter: PaulBetit
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