Waterbury, VT – 2014 American Canadian Tour (ACT) Champions Alex Labbe, (21 years old), of St-Albert, Quebec and Joey Polewarczyk, Jr. (Pole), (25 years old), from Hudson, New Hampshire, have both been celebrated by their peers for their championship runs last season. They now lead twenty-nine (29) teams from eight (8) different states and the province of Quebec to the New Smyrna Speedway World Series of Asphalt Racing on Sunday-Tues, February 15-17, 2014.
Quebec leads the list with seven (7) teams, featuring, Labbe, former ACT Champions Patrick Laperle and Donald Theetge. Also making the trip will be Jean-Pierre Ouimet, Martin Latulippe, Daniel Descoste, and Brandon White.
New Hampshire and Massachusetts will each send five teams on the mid-winter southern trip. ACT US Champion Joey Pole is the defending champion of ACT’s first trip to New Smyrna in 2011 and will lead the New Hampshire contingent.
“I can’t think of a better way to start the defense of our Championship in 2015 than to grab the win in the American Racer Challenge Cup again. Even though these races are not point races for our upcoming season, it is a great way to get an early feel for the season. It is not going to be easy, last time at New Smyrna I only won by a point over Brian (eight-time ACT Champion Brian Hoar), and it looks like this year is really packed with talented teams”, said Pole.
Two-time ACT title holder Wayne Helliwell, Jr., Kyle Welch, Aaron Fellows and Luke Hinkley will make up the balance of a very potent New Hampshire team.
The surprise for the 2015 trip was the number of Massachusetts teams which will be represented on the Florida trip. The five teams feature one of the favorites to win any ACT event in Eddie MacDonald. The Rollie Lachance-led team has three (3) New Hampshire Motor Speedway Bond Auto ACT Invitational victories, (2) Oxford 250 titles, and the Freddy Petersen-owned team won the Thunder Road 52nd annual Milk Bowl last October. Veteran NASCAR racer Tom Carey, Jr., long-time ACT competitor Jimmy Linardy, Pete Yetman and Eddie Leclerc round out the Massachusetts field.
The State of Vermont will send four (4) teams to Florida. Both Jimmy Hebert and Emily Packard have proven to be skilled long track racers how finished in the top five of the 2014 ACT Standings. Long time veteran and former winner at NSS, Eric Chase and 2014 Thunder Road rookie Josh Demers make up the balance of the Vermont team.
The Pine Tree State of Maine, sends a trio of young talented racers of ACT racing. Rowland Robinson, Jr. will join Travis Stearns and Bradley Babb at the American Racer Challenge Cup.
The state of Connecticut will be represented by the Rocco brothers. Twins Keith and Jeff are both well known throughout southern New England for their Modified success at Waterford Speedbowl, Thompson Speedway and Stafford Speedway. Keith is also a multi-time Late Model Champion at Waterford.
Three additional states will send single team representatives.
Rhode Island sends ACT veteran Ray Parent from Tiverton. Parent finished third in his ACT Championship bid in 2014, won his first ACT point event on the ½ mile at Airborne Park Speedway, and is the 2012 New Hampshire Motor Speedway Invitational winner.
The 2014 Rookie of the year was Brandon Atkins from Au Sable, New York. This 18 year-old is one of the new young faces of ACT racing. This will be his first competitive effort at the super fast ½ mile.
A surprise entry makes up the eighth state represented. One of the newly appointed NASCAR “Drive for Diversity” team members, Dylan Smith from Concord, North Carolina, has entered the American Racer Challenge Cup. Smith started his career at Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl in Barre, VT in an ACT Late Model.
The ACT teams will open competition with a 100-lap event on Sunday, February 15, 2015 immediately following the season opening event for the NASCAR K&N Series at New Smyrna Speedway. Finishes in the 100 lap events on Monday, February 16 and Tuesday, February 17 will be combined to decide the overall finish of the American Racer Challenge Cup. Teams will draw for starting positions in the heat races and will use the unique ACT plus/minus system for feature line ups on Sunday and Monday. The second leg of the American Racer Challenge Cup on Tuesday will be lined-up based on an inversion from the first leg finish on Monday. (ACT’s plus/minus rewards driver’s points for each position gained in the heat races. Drivers who improve their position in the heats get a “plus” value, while drivers how lose spots in the heats get a “minus” value. These values decide the feature starting line-up). The total purse and prize money posted for the three ACT events is over $55,000.00.