Patterson Back in Pro Mod Challenge Winner's Circle

Words by Duke Ritenhouse
Photos by Ron Lewis
10/11/05

or Texas racer Thomas Patterson, his second AMS Staff Leasing Pro Mod Challenge presented by TLR event this season in his home state turned out about 180 degrees different than his first.

Patterson erased much of the sting from a disappointing DNQ earlier this season at his hometown race in Houston by coming from the No. 13 qualifying spot to win the O'Reilly Fall Nationals title Sunday in Dallas, sealing the deal with a final-round win over Steve Engel, who left before the Tree was activated. The win was the second on the Pro Mod Challenge tour for Patterson, who also claimed the 2002 Bristol title. Patterson also tied an AMS/TLR series record by winning from the No. 13 spot, which had only been accomplished once previously (Glen Kerunsky earlier this season in St. Louis).

Patterson's weekend in Dallas continued a second-half resurgence for the PMS Excavation team, which had struggled to make an impression in the early part of the 2005 season. Patterson is the only driver to win at least one eliminations round in each of the past seven Pro Mod Challenge events, a span in which he's also moved from ninth place to fourth in the AMS/TLR Cup points standings.

At the top of those same standings, Mike Ashley came close, but could not quite clinch his second consecutive AMS/TLR Cup world championship. Ashley, a first-round loser Saturday at the Fall Nationals, leads second-place Jay Payne by 591 points heading into the season-ending ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals in two weeks, with a maximum of 716 points available to either driver. Payne lost his bid for consecutive Pro Mod Challenge event wins when Patterson beat him by .007-second on a semifinal-round holeshot.