American Canadian Tour
Eddie Mac’s hopes to win the second leg of the ACT Summer Showdown Series fell one position short as he scored a hard-earned second place finish in the New London-Waterford Speedbowl 150 on Saturday, June 16 at the Connecticut facility. Eddie Mac started the 150 lap feature on the flat, 3/8 mile oval in the 11th position.
After repairing significant damage to the front clip of the Freddie Peterson owned Chevy from a wreck at Speedway 51 two weeks ago, Eddie Mac struggled in the first practice. The crew leaped into action to make major changes to the car and their diligent action paid off as the EXIT Realty/Hancock Electric Chevy turned in some of the fastest times in the final two practices.
“I have the best guys for a crew that you could ever have,” said Eddie Mac after the race. “We fixed the car but didn’t have time to test so the first practice let us know what we needed to do. Everyone jumped in to make major changes and I can’t thank all of our guys enough. They are truly amazing.”
Eddie Mac posted a +3 in his heat finishing second from his fifth starting spot in the 12 lap qualifier. The field remained bunched up due to multiple cautions in the early going so passing was limited. By lap 25, Eddie Mac rode in the ninth position with a car handling on the loose side. After another caution on lap 50, one of ten yellow flags, Eddie Mac was able to make his way to third place on the long green flag run before the next caution on lap 86.
The top three point’s leaders, eventual winner Payea, Hebert, and Eddie Mac pulled away from the field before more cautions on lap 96, 97, and two on lap 105 bunched things up again for the final sprint to the finish. On lap 119 Eddie Mac passed Hebert for second place on an outside move and began his chase of Payea who jumped out to an eight-car lead. Eddie Mac chased the leader to close the gap to two car lengths as the checkered flag waved.
“I spent a lot of laps trying to get around Hebert and Ziter so when I finally got to second, Payea had a pretty good lead,” said Eddie Mac. “We needed another caution or for him to make a mistake but neither happened. My car was handling good on the outside so I was hoping I could get alongside of him but we ran out of laps. We were hoping to win the second leg of the Showdown for another $5,000 and a chance for the bonus but it was not meant to be. We still had a great finish after all the changes we had to make but the win would have been nice.”
“Derek Beatrice from EXIT Realty was with us today and we are thankful for the sponsorship and for the Hancock Electric sponsorship from Scott and Kenny Thompson. Kenny’s wife Carol has been under the weather lately so we wish her well. The Thompson’s are fantastic people and have been with us for eleven years. Thanks also to Rob Grimm from Grimm Construction for his continued support.”
ACT returns to Speedway 51 in Groveton, NH on Saturday, July 14 to kick off the second half of the season. Eddie Mac will compete at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the Granite State Pro Stock Series Short Track Showdown this Saturday and Sunday, June 23, 24. Practice is Saturday with the race on Sunday as Eddie Mac attempts to defend last year’s title.
