The joy and jubilation for Eddie MacDonald and his team, family and friends in victory lane after winning the American Canadian Tour race at Riverside Speedway in Groveton, NH on Saturday night were soon dashed when the victory was taken away by ACT officials for a spring rubber violation. The Freddie Peterson owned and Hancock Electric Motor Service sponsored Chevy was given an eleventh place finish despite protests from the team.

ACT officials stated the new rule this year limits to three the number of spring rubbers in the rear right spring. The #17 had four spring rubbers and was stripped of the win with Eddie Mac saying, “This is our fun car. It is not our priority. Our commitment to the K&N Series takes up most of our time so we don’t spend a lot of time working on the ACT car. We love running with the ACT drivers and have a lot of fun. We only worked on setting up Freddie’s car for two days so we didn’t have time to pour over the rule book to look for an advantage. One of the officials said we probably read the rule book very closely and I can honestly say I have never read the rule book. We were totally unaware there was a rule change for the number of rear spring rubbers you could use. Obviously it was our fault for not knowing the rule but I feel the punishment did not fit the crime. Having an extra spring rubber made absolutely no difference between winning and losing. It is a minor tuning adjustment aide worth $13.00. It did nothing for the car. The car was fast and handled great when we got going after halfway. That is why we won. I just wished they could have fined us or something but to take away a win was way too severe I think.”

Crew chief Rollie LaChance was equally surprised at the punishment received for such a minor infraction saying, “I take responsibility for not knowing the rule. Ignorance of the rule is not an excuse. There was no attempt to deceive anyone. We were just not aware the rule was put in place this year. We even went through tech before practice with four spring rubbers in there. I could have easily changed it if we knew but we didn’t. We have used that same spring in a number of races including our win at Lee in the season opener with two spring rubbers . We used the same spring at Thunder Road last year with four spring rubbers and didn’t even qualify for the race. If I could invent a spring rubber that would make cars instant winners, I’d make a lot of money. We won the race because the car was fast, handled late when we needed it, and Eddie drove a great race. I really feel bad for Freddie (Peterson) because he is so passionate. Freddie provides the car, the front money and equipment and he loves it. It is all about the race. Last year when we didn’t make the Milk Bowl at the end of the season, he didn’t say a word other than to say we’ll get the Governor’s Cup next season. We did. It is just a shame that a great win was taken away for something that made little or no difference. We didn’t know about the rule change. We didn’t and that is the end of it.”

Both Eddie and Rollie were back at work today preparing for the K&N race scheduled for June 21 at Langley Speedway in Virginia.