7th in 2011 PASS North Points "DeSouza Makes His Mark" - Late Model Racer Magazine January/February 2012 -

SATURDAY,  MAY 12th Kyle Rallies for 6th Place Finish at Star Takes over 3rd place in PASS North SLM Points One week after their 6th place finish at Beech Ridge, Kyle DeSouza and his small race team marched into Star Speedway for the Star 150. Settling into the pits and taking the track for practice on Friday evening, Kyle quickly found himself near the top of the speed charts. After a few additional adjustments by crew chief TJ Bracket, another 30 laps on the track and another 1/10th gained, the 88 Chevy Impala was parked for the night. Race day brought a bright sun and 80 degree temperatures. It took only one practice for the team to realize that the 88 was not what she was the evening before. Despite the best efforts of the team, practice ended with Kyle sitting in the bottom third of the speed charts. With one final adjustment, Kyle took the track for his heat race, starting last in the 7 car field. Kyle was content to settle in the back of the field and save his tires until the caution waved at lap 11. With the field bunched up and Kyle up to 5th, Kyle made a quick move to capture and settle for 4th, garner himself a 10th starting position for the feature. As day turned into night and the temperature started to cool, the team made one final adjustment for the scheduled 8pm feature start time. When the green flag dropped, Kyle settled in running with lead pack. After a few cautions, Kyle found hismelf sitting in 7th around lap 38 when adversity struck. A spinning lapped car caused the leaders to all check up sending the 88 into the back of the 73. With the hood buckled and right fender dragging, Kyle headed for the pits. Retaking the track at the back of the field, Kyle found himself 20th and two laps down. After a short green flag run, Kyle realized that his car was still intact and capable of running near the front. When the caution waved next, Kyle got the "lucky dog" and picked up a lap. With the race half over, Kyle now sat one lap down and at the tail end of the field. The next green flag run was over 50 laps. During those 50 plus laps, Kyle worked past all the other laps cars putting himself into position for the next lucky dog. Unfortunately the long green flag run allowed the leaders to lap more of the field, with each passing of a lapped car, that newly lapped car became the lucky dog until Kyle himself passed that car. The caution finally waved with about 30 laps to go and despite being 6th on the grid, Kyle wasn't the lucky dog. Instead he was still sitting 12th one lap down. With 19 laps to go potential disaster struck the speedway. A power outage in the town of Epping, cast pitch black darkness over the track as the cars sped around at near 100 MPH speeds. In a tribute to the quality of the racers on the PASS Tour, all cars were able to safely stop on the track without incident. When racing resumed, Kyle got the lucky dog wave around and despite still being 12th (and at the end of the grid) Kyle was back on the lead lap. As the laps wound down, Kyle charged forward passing all but one of the lapped cars and five of the lead lap cars, crossing the line in 6th place. Said Kyle, "early on, I thought we had a top 5 car then after the wreck I was just hoping to finish. We worked hard to over come adversity today and got a great finish from what could have been a bad day".

Kyle Settles for 6th in Pass North Opener Kyle followed up his good runs in the South with a solid 6th place finish in the PASS North opening race at Beech Ridge. Kyle unloaded his car on Thursday morning for practice and quickly found himself nestled near the top of the speed charts. After a rainout on Friday and additional fine tuning by crew chief TJ Bracket, Kyle concluded practice on Saturday afternoon firmly entrenched as one of the fastest cars amongst the 36 competitors on hand. Kyle started 7th in the heat race and promptly got dragged back to 8th by a slower car before being able to break free. Once free, Kyle picked off three competitors to finish 5th, a fender out of 4th, in the 15 lap heat race. Thus, earning a 13th starting spot in the feature. In the feature, Kyle took his 13th starting position and quickly started to move toward the front. By lap 50 Kyle was firmly entrenched in 3rd place, sitting behind only DJ Shaw and Lonnie Sommerville. Together the three moved forward together lapping well more than half the field until the caution waved. Kyle got shuffled back on the restart, finding himself in 6th place on lap 75 before driving back to 3rd by lap 100. When the caution waved on lap 102, Kyle once again found himself comfortably in 3rd, trailing Sommerville and new race leader Joey Dorion. When the green dropped Kyle, Dorion and Sommerville quickly scooted away from the field. On lap 115 Kyle made his move on Sommerville, the two battled side-by-side with 2nd place changing each lap. By lap 122 with Dorion slipping away and Kyle unable to complete the pass on Sommerville, Kyle fell back in line, willing to settle for 3rd. Sitting in 3rd with 10 laps to go and once again in lapped traffic, the 88 started to noticebly give way (later it was revealed that the right rear tire was losing air). Over the last 10 laps Kyle gave up three positions and limped home 6th as Dorion captured his first career PASS victory followed by Sommerville and Derek Ranstrom. When the dust settled, the frantic pace by the leaders left only 8 cars on the lead lap. When interviewed, Kyle heaped the praise on his young crew chief, "TJ has been very patient with me this year and is always willing to make the car a little bit better. As we continue to gel as a team, I hope to have alot more top 5 runs." Kyle would also like to thank, Vanna, Steve, Mark, Pete and Tim Senior for all their help over the weekend as well as all his fans in attendance.

Mechanical Failure Ends Top-10 Run in the Easter Bunny With momentum from his good run in the South Carolina Clash, Kyle again headed south, finding his way to the Easter Bunny 150 and the famous Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina. With 40 cars on hand, just making the show was going to be difficult. After two days of practicing, Kyle found himself in the middle of the speed charts and right on the cusp of qualifying on speed. Saddled with the disadvantage of running a crate motor, Kyle missed qualifying on time by .005 seconds, sending him off to one of the two last chance race. The first last chance race saw fellow Pass North racer Ben Rowe race his way into the field opening up the Pass North provisional for Kyle. With entry in the main event secured, Kyle went through the motions in his last chance race, finishing 4th in the 10 car field. In the feature, Kyle started 29th in the 32 car field. Over the first 50 laps, Kyle found a comfortable spot on track settling in around 25th place, saving his tires and under no threat of being lapped. After the caution flag waved around lap 70, the decision was made to start moving forward. With #25 of Ross Kenseth in tow, the two started to move forward in tandem. When the caution waved next, ten positions had been gained putting Kyle 14th and Ross 15th. On the restart, a slower car in the outside lane cost Kyle a few positions but within a handful of laps, he was able to get his spots back - this time clinging to the rear bumper of the 25. With the 25 sitting 13th and Kyle 14th, the caution flag waved again. On the restart, Kyle immediately dropped inside again hooking to the rear bumper of the 25. With Ross now sitting in 9th and Kyle in 10th, the push forward continued until lap 121, when disaster struck the #88. Without warning, the electrical system gave way, forcing Kyle to coast to pit road. Thirteen laps were lost changing the solenoid and ruining a top-ten finish. In the closing laps, Ross went on to finish 6th while Kyle returned to track and had to settle for 21st. Said Kyle, “Even though we didn’t get the finish we deserved, we showed that we can run and compete with the best drivers in the South. Today we passed guys that used to run NASCAR and a few more that someday will be running NASCAR.” Kyle added, “Although we are still underfunded compared to most of these teams, the addition of TJ Brackett to our team now gives us the chance to run in the top 5 or 10 every time we hit the race track. All we need now is a little luck.”

First Race of the Season.... 14th place finish in South Carolina Clash  Kyle made his 2012 debut a successful one, finishing 8th (revised to 14th - see update below) in the 150 lap South Carolina Clash at Dillon Motor Speedway. Being one of only 3 drivers in the 25 car field with a crate motor, Kyle struggled in qualifying, ending up 23rd fastest. In the feature, over powered by the bigger motors, Kyle found himself down a lap about 50 laps into the event. When the caution flag waved on lap 101, Kyle got the lucky dog and found himself in 17th, the last car on the lead lap. Over the last 49 laps, with the big-motor cars losing grip, Kyle plowed his way forward, passing the likes of Ross Kenseth and Johnny Sauter along the way, crossing the line in 9th place and on the bumper of the 7th and 8th place finishers. Post race inspection resulted in a disqualification moving Kyle up to 8th place. Update: Two days later, a review of the race by PASS officials suggests that Kyle should not have received the lucky dog and as such, Kyle is being docked a lap and relegated to a 14th place finish. The 88 had transponder issues which may have resulted in this error.  Whatever the scoring, Kyles impressive late race charge will be remembered.

fKyle's 2012 Hero Card with artwork by Erin Bomes from Converse Photo Supply Request a signed here card by emailing Kyle at kyle@kdesouzamotorsports.com fans can request a signed here card by emailing Kyle directly

The 2012 Cars are under construction:

. PASS NORTH BANQUET - FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2011  At the PASS North Banquet, awards for Super Late Model Co-Rookies-of-the-Year went to Kyle and to Lonnie Sommerville.

Kyle Crowned PASS North SLM  2011 Co-Rookie of the Year Kyle DeSouza left the comfortable confines of Seekonk Speedway in 2011 to tackle one of the country's toughest super late model series, the Pro All Stars .When the final checkered flag flew at Maine's Oxford Plains Speedway, the young man from Fairhaven Massachusetts raced home seventh in the season long PASS North point standings and was named the PASS North Co-Rookie of the Year, an award he shared with New Brunswick Canada's Lonnie Sommerville. Like most rookie campaigns, DeSouza's year had its ups and downs. The team concentrated on learning the new tracks and new race cars and the new drivers racing around him. DeSouza's used to winning; he won in every division he tackled at Seekonk and earned rookie of the year accolades every time he moved up a class. But Kyle and his father Eric knew that their definition of success would be to take on the best at their own game, and to do that they would have to hit the road. They choose the Pro All Stars super late models as the next rung on their racing ladder. According to DeSouza, “ I was encouraged by many to go out and run PASS and see how I stacked up against the stiff competition in that series. From a driver's standpoint the new tracks and longer races every week would help me better my driving skills.” DeSouza competed in all fourteen 2011 PASS North events. Season highlights included top ten runs at Canaan (NH) Fair Speedway, Lee (NH) USA Speedway, and Thompson (CT) International Speedway. The team approached the season with realistic goals with hopes for a top ten finish in the PASS North standings, no easy feat in a series that saw 87 drivers attempt one or more starts in 2011. After the season DeSouza reflected on his year. “We definitely surpassed our goals, says DeSouza. “ Racers with my level of experience aren't going to come in and win right away, but we had some great runs, and got as high as sixth in the point standings. The Co-Rookie Award was a bonus and I'm proud of that achievement. Every week we had a car capable of running in the top ten, and we hope to improve upon that in 2012.” Their 2012 campaign is already underway. They plan to upgrade their equipment, add additional personnel to meet the rigorous demands of touring, and tackle a PASS South race or two prior to the start of the 2012 PASS North season. The future looks bright for Kyle DeSouza. Look for the Maverick Investment Technologies/Jeff Allaire Realtor Chevrolet to be at the front of the PASS North super late model field in 2012.