gdfhdfhfLee, NH – Lee USA Speedway swung open the gates Sunday afternoon to drop the green flag on the 2015 season with the annual running of the New Hampshire Governor’s Cup 150 American Canadian Tour (ACT) Late Model event. The traditional season-opener also featured the NEMST Mini Stocks and Northeast Classic Lites doing battle at “New Hampshire‘s Center of Speed“.

The Northeast Mini Stock Tour got the honor of being the first feature that took to the fast 3/8th’s mile for the new season, with Cris King leading early and often before 6-time winner and 2014 NEMST champion Toby Wells finally worked his way past and took over the top spot.

Late in the race, John Larsen took a hard ride into the retaining wall, destroying his car in the process. He spent a few minutes with the track safety crew after the incident, but was seen helping his crew load the crumpled racer into their trailer a short time later.

When the action resumed, 2014 Lee USA Late Model Sportsman champ Niko Maniatis was past King and picked up the chase, but he didn’t have anything for Wells, who went on to post the win. Maniatis was just a few car lengths behind at the checkers, with King hanging on to complete the podium.

The Northeast Classic Lites main event that followed looked like it was going to be all Eric Skofield, as he took the lead at the drop of the green flag, and was still showing the way 24 laps later when flagman Bryon Callen displayed the white.

But second-generation racer Dave Helliwell wasn’t having any part of a green-to-checker run for Skofield, and he ducked to the low side heading off turn four to the checkers. Helliwell made it stick, and he nosed ahead at the line to grab the win by a couple of feet.

It was Helliwell’s first-ever Lee USA victory, adding his name to a long list of winners at the track that includes his father Wayne Sr., and brothers George and Wayne Jr. A disappointed Skofield took second place honors, with Jake Cray, Eddie Gilman, and Duane Skofield rounding out the top five.

Hometown favorites Wayne Helliwell, Jr. and Eddie MacDonald battled hard for the win in the New Hampshire Governor’s Cup 150 ACT Late Model main event, with Helliwell eventually prevailing to score his first-ever ACT win at his longtime home track.

Helliwell has raced and won in Street Stocks, Late Model Sportsman, Late Model, and Supermodified events at New Hampshire’s Center of Speed, but he’d never been able to prevail in the Governor’s Cup, despite winning several other ACT races and pair of ACT Late Model championships in the past few seasons.

Wayne started up front after posting a strong plus-four in his qualifying heat, and he led the first 77 laps before early-race challenger Jeff White snuck past to lead laps 78-81. Helliwell muscled his way back to the front on lap 82, but eleven circuits later, Eddie “The Outlaw” was on the move and charged past to take over.

Defending race winner MacDonald held serve through lap 106, when the resurgent Helliwell battled past once again to lead laps 107-109. Their fight for the top spot was anything but over, and MacDonald took another turn on point from lap 110-117.

Helliwell pulled off the race’s final lead change on lap 118, and he was all but gone from there. MacDonald soon fell into the clutches of Brad Babb, who eventually made it past to get to second. At the checkers, it was Helliwell, Babb, MacDonald, Alex Labbe , Travis Fadden, Larry Gelinas, White, Kyle Welch, Joey Polewarczyk Jr., and Nick Sweet taking the top ten spots.

The next event on the calendar at Lee USA goes green on May 17, when the Tri-Track Modified Series rolls into town for the running of the second annual Bullring Bash for open-competition Modifieds. This year’s edition should be another must-see show, with upwards of 40 teams from all over the Northeast representing all the major Modified tours and tracks expected to compete.