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 | 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 21, 2009 | ACT, Canada, NASCAR, New England, New Hampshire, NHMS
Waterbury, VT – As American Canadian Tour (ACT) competitors prepare for the 47th Annual Chittenden Milk Bowl, the grand finale of the 50th Anniversary Season at Barre’s Thunder Road International Speedbowl, all of New England is buzzing about their performance this past weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) in Loudon, NH. With some of the best racing of the meet, negotiations are already underway for a return in 2010.
ACT President Tom Curly stated, “There are several details to be worked out but the reaction from the speedway and the crowd made it an unqualified success.”
The Inaugural ACT Invitational saw Eddie MacDonald of Rowley, MA come from the 19th starting position to take the win. Other big movers were Barre’s Nick Sweet from eighth to second, fourth place Canadian Patrick Laperle started 18th and Graniteville’s John Donahue from 21st to finish fifth.
NHMS President Gerry Gappens said “With only two cautions in the entire race, one for a cut tire that sent Ben Rowe into the fence and the level of competition of ACT drivers coming through the field, it was as exciting as we’d hoped. ACT drivers showed a lot of respect, but never gave an inch. It was great racing.” The other caution was for a minor spin and 32 of the 36 cars that started the 50 lap event took the checkers.
Sixteen year old Brandon Watson from Stayner, Ontario battled hard with former NHMS track champion MacDonald for a good portion of the race. Watson started racing go-carts at the age of eight and only has two years of experience in the Late Model division at Kawartha Speedway in Fraserville, Ontario. Watson won two features and finished second in the point standings at Kawartha.
This weekend the action on the famed Barre highbanks will begin on Saturday, September 26 with Booth Bros./H.P. Hood time trials and 50 lap qualifiers as well as NAPA Tiger Sportsmen, Allen Lumber Street Stocks and Power Shift Junkyard Warriors qualifying beginning at 1:00 pm. Race pageantry for the 47th Annual Chittenden Milk Bowl will begin Sunday, September 27 after the Last Chance “B” Feature at 1:00pm.
by Jay | Sep 21, 2009 | New England, Thompson
THOMPSON, CT Five of the six NASCAR Whelen All-American series division championships will be decided this Thursday at the Thompson International Speedway. The tightest points races are in the track’s Sunoco Modified and Super Late Model divisions where only four points separate the top two contenders in both divisions.
Keith Rocco leads Woody Pitkat by four in the Sunoco Modified ranks while Derek Ramstrom holds the same edge over Mike O’Sullivan. Ramstrom, the high school senior, is the only one of these contenders seeking his first Thompson championship.
Close points races also involve the Thompson Modifieds, Limited Sportsman and Mini Stocks. However, the Late Model title was decided on Thursday, September 17th, when John Materas claimed the crown by a 68 point margin over Mark Oliveira.
Three drivers are in the running for the top spot in the Thompson Modified division. Brian Sullivan, winner of five feature events this year, leads Keith McDermott by 14 points with Brian Tagg only twenty eight points behind. Anyone of the three could emerge with the title following their 20-lap main this week.
The Limited Sportsman division also has three drivers with a chance to claim the championship. Larry Barnett leads the points chase by a margin of thirty two over Jay Sundeen with Joe Arena, forty two off the pace, in third place.
Scott Michalski is in the best position of any of the title contenders. He holds a forty eight point advantage over Brad Caddick in the extremely competitive Mini Stock division. But, with fifty points awarded to the winner, it is still mathematically possible that Caddick could emerge with the crown.
Qualifying races begin at 5:15 PM and the TNTT season-ending feature races follow about one hour later. Tension runs high in these five divisions as championships come down to the last event of the regular season. Each race team is expected to bring their best effort in hopes of ending their season-long effort on a high note.
Once the regular weekly season concludes, Thompson Speedway management will turn their attention to the three-day XTRA MART World Series of Speedway Racing scheduled for the weekend of October 16th-18th. Track officials are expecting in excess of four hundred racers representing fourteen different and distinct divisions. Tickets for this racing extravaganza are now available by calling the track office at 860-923-2280. The entire World Series schedule along with race rules and driver registration forms for “outlaw” divisions are available on the Thompson web site. www.thompsonspeedway.com
by Jay | Sep 21, 2009 | NASCAR, NASCAR K&N Pro Series, New England, New Hampshire, NHMS
Loudon, NH (September 20, 2009): Despite a vibration in the No. 38 Bestway Disposal/Renton Coil Spring Chevrolet, Alan Tardiff was able to rally to a seventh place finish in Friday night’s Heluva Good Fall 125 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a NASCAR Camping World Series East event, and put together a lucky seven combination that tightened up his point race heading into the series’ finale at Dover next weekend.
Tardiff’s finish marked his seventh top-10 finish of the season and moved him up to seventh in the point standings, just seven points out of sixth place.
“It’s a mirror finish of June: we had a seventh place in both races. We’re pretty happy with it,” said Tardiff.
Tardiff started nineteenth after posting a qualifying speed of 122.762 mph Thursday afternoon, and moved up to 15th at the drop of the green where he remained until pitting at lap 15. He returned to the track to take the green at lap 18 in the top-20.
Tardiff picked up a vibration early in the race, but worked through it and continued to soldier on.
“The car had a lot of grip up on top and it was really comfortable. We picked off quite a few cars pretty quick. The car picked up a major vibration – again. We had one the last time we were here and the brake pads crystallized on us. This time, I don’t know what happened, but I breathed on the brake pedal and it was just shaking the whole car around going around the corners,” he said.
A caution flew at lap 30 with Tardiff in the 14th position for the restart. In less than 10 laps, Tardiff had wheeled the No. 38 Bestway Disposal/Renton Coil Spring Chevrolet up to ninth before the caution slowed the pace once again. Pit stops allowed Tardiff to gain two spots under the yellow and the team would restart the race from the seventh position.
The Lyman, Maine native maintained the seventh place position despite developing a throttle-loose condition in the latter stages of the race. He dropped back to tenth by lap 70. When the race went green at lap 92, Tardiff had dropped all the way back to 12th. He gained two more spots before caution came out yet again.
NASCAR shortened the race to 100 laps after rain delayed the start by 40 minutes, and decided to shorten it up to 99 laps because of darkness. The final restart came at lap 97 where Tardiff rallied in a two-lap dash to the checkers to cross the line in seventh place.
“I just held on to it. It got wild at the end, but I was able to gain a few spots,” said Tardiff. “It was hard to make a run going down the straightaway with the car getting throttle loose, but we just held on to it. It was a good points day for us and good effort by everybody on this team. We’ll take it and move on to Dover.”
The Bestway Disposal/Renton Coil Spring Chevrolet and driver Alan Tardiff will return to action on Friday, September 25th for the Sunoco 150 at Dover International Speedway. The event marks the season finale for the NASCAR Camping World Series East 2009 season.
