Bouvrette Goes Wire-to-Wire for World Series Win
Dubeau Clinches 2019 ACT Championship
Thompson, CT – Blainville, QC’s Jonathan Bouvrette earned his first American-Canadian Tour (ACT) win on U.S. soil at Connecticut’s Thompson Speedway on Saturday, October 12 in the World Series 75. Bouvrette, a multi-time Serié ACT winner, grabbed the lead from Graniteville, VT’s John Donahue after an opening-lap incident and went wire-to-wire for the win at the 57th Sunoco World Series of Speedway Racing. Meanwhile, Plainfield, NH’s Rich Dubeau clinched his first ACT championship with a 12th-place finish.
Bouvrette started sixth in the main event but was the beneficiary of a wild and wooly first two turns that set the tone for the early laps. First, fifth-place starter Jean-Francois Dery slowed entering the first turn after losing his clutch. Then, in the second turn, front-row starters Ryan Morgan and Tom Carey III got together. Morgan spun while Carey, Ryan Lineham, and Michael Benevides all ended up in the wall to bring out the caution.
Third-place starter Stephen Donahue also sustained damage in the incident and had to pit for repairs. As a result, Donahue’s father John and Bouvrette inherited the front row for the restart. Bouvrette got the jump off the outside, going from sixth to first in one lap.
The lead was exactly the right place for Bouvrette to be as he was out in front of five more cautions that flew over the first nine laps. Several potential contenders were hobbled along the way with Jimmy Hebert, Ryan Kuhn, and Derek Gluchacki all caught up in incidents. The carnage culminated with a pile-up on a lap-nine restart that forced out Stephen Donahue, Chris Pelkey, Jake Johnson, Paul Newcomb Jr., and Joshua Hedges. Dubeau was also caught up in the lap-9 incident but was able to continue after repairs during the lengthy yellow.
Following the clean-up from the second lap-9 caution, race control made the decision to go with single-file restarts for the remainder of the event. On the first extended green-flag run, Bouvrette gradually asserted himself over the field. Warwick, RI’s Mark Jenison was able to hang with Bouvrette for a spell but eventually fell back as well.
The field was bunched back together following the seventh caution on lap 30 for Brandon Lindahl’s spin. When the race resumed, the most thrilling battle of the event developed. While Bouvrette pulled out to a straightaway lead, the duel for second reached six cars. Jenison headed the pack while Scott Payea, Woody Pitkat, Bryan Kruczek, Kuhn, and Dylan Payea all taking turns trying to make a run.
The back-and-forth came to a head with 10 laps to go when Kruczek got into the back of Scott Payea coming off turn two. Payea ended up in the inside backstretch wall to bring out the eight and final caution while Kruczek was sent to the rear for his involvement. When the green flag flew again, both Jenison and Pitkat were able to stay with Bouvrette. However, Pitkat got underneath Jenison with four laps remaining, and the side-by-side racing allowed Bouvrette to get away from both for the win.
Pitkat cleared Jenison with two laps to go to finish second, matching his result from the June ACT race at Thompson. Jenison’s third-place effort was his best-ever with ACT. Kuhn and Dylan Payea completed the top-five. Gluchacki recovered from his early spin to finish sixth after starting 33rd. John Donahue, Michael Mitchell, Ryan Morgan, and Kruczek rounded out the top-10.
Meanwhile, Dubeau was able to work his way back up to 12th at the checkered flag. The result was more than enough to give him the ACT championship in his fifth year of Tour competition, It capped a dream season for Dubeau where he won two races and posted eight top-five finishes in the 10-race point-counting schedule.
The ACT Late Model Tour season is now complete. Information regarding the 2019 ACT Banquet of Champions and the 2020 ACT schedule will be announced in the coming weeks.
ACT has one more event on the 2019 calendar as the Flying Tigers make their first visit to Maine’s Oxford Plains Speedway on Saturday, October 19 at 1:00pm. The 75-lap Flying Tiger Oxford Open is part of PASS 400 Weekend, which also includes the Pro All Stars Series Super Late Models, PASS Modifieds, Honey Badger Bar & Grill Street Stock Series, and Bandit Triple Crown Series. The pits open at 8:00am and the front gates open at 10:00am. Admission is $20 for adults, $10 for kids, and $45 for a family of four (2 adults, 2 kids).
For more information, contact the ACT offices at (802) 244-6963, [email protected], or visit www.acttour.com. You can also get updates on Facebook and Twitter at @ACTTour.
ACT LATE MODEL TOUR
WORLD SERIES 75
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Pos., Start Pos., Driver, Car #, Hometown, Laps
1. ( 6 ) Jonathan Bouvrette ( 41QC ) , Blainville, QC , 75 Laps
2. ( 20 ) Woody Pitkat ( 07MA ) , Bellingham, MA , 75 Laps
3. ( 7 ) Mark Jenison ( 22RI ) , Warwick, RI , 75 Laps
4. ( 15 ) #Ryan Kuhn ( 72MA ) , E. Bridgewater, MA , 75 Laps
5. ( 25 ) Dylan Payea ( 7NH ) , Milton, VT , 75 Laps
6. ( 33 ) Derek Gluchacki ( 03MA ) , Dartmouth, MA , 75 Laps
7. ( 4 ) John Donahue ( 26VT ) , Graniteville, VT , 75 Laps
8. ( 8 ) Michael Mitchell ( 44RI ) , Cumberland, RI , 75 Laps
9. ( 1 ) Ryan Morgan ( 31CT ) , North Franklin, CT , 75 Laps
10. ( 11 ) Bryan Kruczek ( 19NH ) , Newmarket, NH , 75 Laps
11. ( 24 ) Glenn Boss ( 3CT ) , Danielson, CT , 75 Laps
12. ( 12 ) Rich Dubeau ( 30NH ) , Plainfield, NH , 75 Laps
13. ( 13 ) Jimmy Hebert ( 58VT ) , Williamstown, VT , 75 Laps
14. ( 22 ) Mathieu Kingsbury ( 9QC ) , Blainville, QC , 75 Laps
15. ( 28 ) Alexendre Tardif ( 21BC ) , Notre Dame des Pins, QC , 74 Laps
16. ( 18 ) Jason Larivee Jr. ( 70RI ) , West Greenwich, RI , 74 Laps
17. ( 21 ) Frank Dumichich Jr. ( 42NY ) , East Quogue, NY , 73 Laps
18. ( 29 ) Remi Perreault ( 33QC ) , St-Paul-de-Juliette, QC , 73 Laps
19. ( 34 ) Allan King ( 30CT ) , Hampton, NC , 71 Laps
20. ( 10 ) Scott Payea ( 37VT ) , Colchester, VT , 65 Laps
21. ( 31 ) Lance Jenison ( 22SC ) , Mount Pleasant, SC , 30 Laps
22. ( 32 ) Brandon Lindahl ( 99CT ) , Uncasville, CT , 30 Laps
23. ( 19 ) Michael Wray ( 42CT ) , Northford, CT , 11 Laps
24. ( 17 ) Jake Johnson ( 15MA ) , Rehoboth, MA , 9 Laps
25. ( 9 ) Christopher Pelkey ( 64VT ) , Graniteville, VT , 9 Laps
26. ( 27 ) Paul Newcomb Jr. ( 7MA ) , Plymouth, MA , 9 Laps
27. ( 23 ) Joshua Hedges ( 29MA ) , New Bedford, MA , 9 Laps
28. ( 3 ) #Stephen Donahue ( 2VT ) , Graniteville, VT , 9 Laps
29. ( 14 ) Peyton Lanphear ( 22VT ) , Waterbury, VT , 3 Laps
30. ( 30 ) Reilly Lanphear ( 21VT ) , Waterbury, VT , 3 Laps
31. ( 2 ) Tom Carey III ( 5MA ) , Warwick, MA , 0 Laps
32. ( 5 ) Jean-Francois Dery ( 21QC ) , Quebec, QC , 0 Laps
33. ( 16 ) Ryan Lineham ( 10RI ) , Hope Valley, RI , 0 Laps
34. ( 26 ) Mike Benevides ( 50RI ) , Westerly, RI , 0 Laps
Lap Leaders: Ryan Morgan, pole; Jonathan Bouvrette, 1-75. (1 lead change among 2 drivers)
Time of Race: 1:09:29 Margin of Victory: 0.779 seconds
Cautions: 8 (laps 0, 1, 3, 3, 9, 9, 32, 65)
Heat Winners: Ryan Kuhn, Mark Jenison, Rich Dubeau
