by Jay | Sep 24, 2009 | ACT, New England, Thunder Road
Berlin, VT – Harvest Hills Larolupine, a genuine Vermont beauty, has been crowned the 2009 Miss Milk Bowl. The three year-old registered Ayershire will deliver the victory smooch at the 47th Annual Chittenden Milk Bowl at Thunder Road International Speedbowl this Sunday afternoon (Septemeber 27th).
Larolupine comes from a Scottish background and has been winning pageants since she was a heifer. She has earned the honors of “Miss Milk Bowl” after recently being named the Grand Champion at the World’s Fair in Tunbridge. Owner Anne Burke claims she is “very kissable.”
Over forty of the finest Late Model competitors from the Northeast are expected to be on hand to battle for the honor of locking lips with Larolupine this weekend. Saturday, September 26 is Booth Bros./H.P. Hood qualifying day with the 47th Annual Chittenden Milk Bowl on Sunday, September 27. Post time for both days is 1 p.m.
by Jay | Sep 23, 2009 | Maine, Wiscasset Raceway
Wiscasset, ME- The 2nd annual Ray Haskell Ford “Fall Brawl” weekend is set for this upcoming weekend September 26th & 27th at The “Center of Speed” Wiscasset Raceway. Last years “Fall Brawl” had many extended lap races with huge purses and this year won’t be any different. Actually track owner Doug White has added a few more events onto the racing card for Saturday and Sunday.
Racing will get underway on Saturday, September 26th at 2p.m. with qualifying races for the Super Streets, Strictly Streets and Mini Stocks. After the completion of the qualifying races for those three highly competitive divisions, the U.S. Cellular Mini Truck division will go 20 laps for a $250 to win and the Outlaw 350’s will go 30 laps for $300 to win. The action doesn’t stop there! Saturday’s racing will also included a 100 lap $1,000 dollar to win 6 cylinder enduro and the wicked good vintage racers will wrap things up for the first day of racing.
Sunday September 27th has just as much action as Saturday. Wiscasset Raceway will again get things underway at 2p.m. with a 100 lap Verizon Wireless Super Street Feature that pays $1,500 to the winner. The New England Transmission’s Strictly Street’s will then go 75 laps for $600 to win and the Aable Auto Parts Mini Stocks will do 50 laps for $400 to win. Here is the added bonus for all you race fans. Folsom & sons Auto has agreed to sponsor a $1,000 to win 100 lap 4 cylinder enduo to cap off a great 2009 season at Wiscasset Raceway.
For more information check Wiscasset Raceway out on the web at www.wiscassetraceway.info and check out one of our great race sponsor Ray Haskell Ford out online as well at www.rayhaskellflm.com
by Jay | Sep 23, 2009 | New England, Thunder Road
Waterbury, VT –The 47th annual Chittenden Milk Bowl will have plenty of action on September 26th and 27th at Barre, VT’s Thunder Road. The ‘toughest short track race in America’ will be a non-point counting race for both the American Canadian Tour (ACT) and the Thunder Road regular Late Model competitors. A record purse has been posted of $70,000. The purse includes bonus money for recording ‘low points’ in each of the three segments. If one team can win all three segments, they will earn a bonus of $5,000. That has only been done three times in 46 years (Larry Demar in 1967, Dave Dion in 1975, and Robbie Crouch in 1986).
Long known as the ‘grand-daddy’ of the Northeast short track Late Model special races, this year there is no pressure to win titles or count points. “This is my kind of race. Just put my foot on the floor and go!” said the defending and three-time winner, Patrick Laperle from Montreal. “I just love the Milk Bowl race. It is not like the 200 and 300 lap races we run, it is every man for himself, every lap. There is no time to wait for breaks, you have to make your own breaks”, continued Laperle. When Laperle was told about the $5,000 bonus for winning all three segments and the fact that it has not been done for nearly 25 years, he said “I guess it is time to change that in 2009!”
The hottest driver in ACT racing down the stretch is point leader Brian Hoar. Hoar joined the Rick Paya, RPM racing team this season and the team started an impressive string of top 5 finishes with two wins thrown into the mix during the second half of the season on the ACT. Hoar is one of the last drivers to win more than one segment in the Milk Bowl when he did it a decade ago. “I think it speaks to the present day competition and how equal these cars are now. If you are not on top of your game as a team, and ‘on top of the wheel’ as a driver, you are going to get beaten”, said Hoar. He is a two-time winner of the Chittenden Milk Bowl.
The history of the famous race indicates that it takes a veteran’s patience and a young driver’s risky attitude in order to win the ‘toughest short track race in America’. It also takes a lot of luck. Three-time Thunder Road Champion, two time Milk Bowl winner, and the winningest Late Model driver of all time at Thunder Road with 22 wins, Phil Scott of Middlesex, VT, says it best: “I have lost some Milk Bowls because of bad luck, but the two I have won I will remember for that one time, in one segment of each, when I risked it all for a lane – a position – the win. It could have gone the other way, but I know that my two Chittenden Milk Bowl wins rank up there as highlights of my racing career because winning at Thunder Road in any event is tough…to win the Milk Bowl is a racer’s dream come true, just ask anyone who has won it”.
Over 50 of the best Late Model teams in the Northeast are expected to enter the 47th annual Chittenden Milk Bowl. They will time trial, then race in a 50-lap qualifying event on Saturday, September 26. If they fail to get into the first segment through time or the 50-lap dash, they will have a final opportunity in a ‘Last Chance Race’ on Milk Bowl Sunday. Gates open at 10:00 am each day. Adult tickets are $25 and are good for both days of racing, kids 6-12 are $5 for two days. Post time each day is 1:00pm.
by Jay | Sep 23, 2009 | ACT, Canada, New England
Waterbury, VT – The American Canadian Tour (ACT) crowned Quebec City, Quebec veteran racer Donald Theetge as the 2009 Série ACT Castrol Champion. It was the second ACT Championship for the Theetge team. Theetge led the JPN Racing Patrick Laperle team by 33 points going into the final and longest race of the season, a 300-lap event on the 4/10ths mile oval at Autodrome St. Eustache, just outside Montreal.
Theetge was racing comfortably past the halfway mark in the 300-lap grind when he was involved in a major wreck on the front stretch. The race car suffered what appeared to be irreparable damage. “My team never gave up. My guys literally rebuilt the entire left side of the front suspension during the middle of the race. I have won this ACT Castrol title because of them. They were unbelievable, and I am very proud of how hard they worked to give us a chance to win the title”. Theetge finished 18th after returning to the race 50 laps down. He won the Championship following a bizarre set of events.
Laperle led a total of 189 laps of the event. He was leading around lap 268 when he appeared to have a tire going flat. Maintaining the lead but slowing dramatically until lap 270, Laperle knew he was in trouble. Sylvain Lacombe took over the lead on lap 270 and was then passed by eventual winner Jonathan Urlin of London, Ontario. Laperle started going back through the field. At this point there was not much question that he would have to pit under green flag conditions unless he could catch a ‘lucky’ caution flag.
On lap 273 Laperle’s cousin, Jacques Laperle, racing in only his second ACT Castrol event of the season, was running sixth on the lead lap. Suddenly, and for no apparent reason, Jacques Laperle stopped his car under green in the outside lane on the backstretch, bringing out a yellow. The Jacques Laperle team claimed that they had a flat tire. ACT officials observed that the tire was not flat. Jacques Laperle was disqualified from the event for his actions of intentionally bringing out a yellow.
Following a timing and scoring re-check of several positions which was requested by the Patrick Laperle team, there was a scoring adjustment on the Daniel Descoste finishing position. There was also a procedural penalty issued to the Patrick Laperle team by ACT officials for violation of the ACT rules and procedures. A Patrick Laperle crew member left their pit stall and entered the pit stall of cousin Jacques Laperle, just prior to the alleged ‘flat tire’ on the backstretch. Patrick Laperle was issued a one-lap penalty for this infraction. Under ACT rules and procedures the driver is responsible for the conduct of his team. Patrick Laperle finished the event in 8th position, the first car two laps down.
With only 17 of the 33 cars that started the event finishing, Donald Theetge managed to complete the race in 18th position. The final results awarded Theetge the Championship by a single point.
The event had 13 cautions, five lead changes among 4 different drivers. Jonathan Urlin won $5,000 for winning the race.
The top ten final standings of the 2009 ACT Castrol Série are:
Pos. Car # Name Points
1. 80QC Donald Theetge 733
2. 91QC Patrick Laperle 732
3. 48QC Karl Allard 697
4. 21QC Jean-Francois Dery 641
5. 51QC Patrick Hamel 630
6. 5QC Patrick Cliche 596
7. 27QC Alexandre Gingras 523
8. 97QC Jacques Poulin 500
9. 11QC Claude Leclerc 496
10. 92QC Jonathan Desbiens 485
The annual Banquet of Champions will be held in November and the 2009 Série ACT Castrol will be honored.
by Jay | Sep 23, 2009 | PASS
Naples, ME 9/22/09- It’s been almost a year since the pit gates of Southern National Speedway have swung open to greet race teams. However, with the cooperation of track owner Kirk Leone and Pro All Stars Series (PASS) South owner Tom Mayberry, the silence will be replaced with 150 laps of green flag racing from some of the top super late model drivers in the country this weekend. The “Southern National Comes Alive 150” will mark not only the twelfth stop on the fourteen race PASS South tour but it will also double up as the third race of the four race PASS National championship series between both the PASS North and PASS South drivers.
The track has stood idle since last season’s Thanksgiving Classic race in which three time 2009 PASS South series winner Preston Peltier claimed the victory, starting shotgun on the field after showing up the day after qualifying had taken place. Durham, NC resident Jay Fogleman also scored a win last season at Southern National, winning the USAR Pro Cup race.
Several other drivers including Joey Coulter, Brad Bischoff, and two youngsters in Devin Jones and Bradley McCaskill have all filed entries for this weekends’ return to Southern National. Jones is coming off a pair of top ten runs at the Hickory Motor Speedway, while McCaskill has shown fans of PASS super late model racing that the small time guy with the family operation can still get it done as he posted a season best finish of fourth last race out at Hickory. Southern National track champion and current PASS South competitor John Batten will be fielding two cars, one for himself and one for Brandon Head who will be making his return to racing.
When it comes to the PASS National series championship picture, it’s Maine versus North Carolina. Ben Rowe, the PASS South points leader, holds the top spot over 2009 PASS North champion Johnny Clark. Defending national champion Cassius Clark from Farmington, Maine still has an outside chance of defending his title as he currently sits sixth in national points. Mark Gibson is right behind the top two in third, with Jay Fogleman and Ryan Blaney fourth and fifth. All three made the long haul north to Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Maine for the PASS 300 two weeks ago, giving themselves a shot to make their bid for the title. They are all vying for a Leavitt Super Late Model chassis and a complete Quartermaster clutch package that will be awarded to the 2009 National champion series titlist.
Not only will the PASS South super late models be in action but the PASS truck series will also make a return to the Kenly North Carolina facility. Jody Measamer is coming off of a win at Hickory Motor Speedway in the series’ last outing but it has been all Grant Davidson this season when you look at the championship standings. With just two races remaining before the first ever PASS truck series champion is crowned, Davidson holds a thirty six point lead over second place man Measamer. Plus, one of the strongest fields of 4 cylinders racers of the season will add local flavor to Saturday’s big event.
There’s an optional practice session scheduled for Friday afternoon September 25; the pit area opens at 2:00 PM and rotating practice runs from 4:00 PM until 7:00 PM. Saturday September 26 is race day at Southern National. The pit area opens at 1:00 PM and rotating practice is on track from 3:00 until 4:30 PM. Time trials hit the speedway at 5:15 and racing gets the green at 6:15 PM. The speedways’ address is 8071 Newsome Mill Road in Lucama North Carolina.
For more information including schedules, standings, and results for all PASS sanctioned touring series visit their home on the web at www.racewithpass.com or www.proallstarsseries.com . For marketing or media information contact Norm Desjardins at 603-539-3368 or for technical information contact Scott Reed at 207-625-3230.
