by Jay | Aug 25, 2009 | ACT, NASCAR, New England, Thunder Road
Unadilla, Georgia’s David Ragan will pull into Thunder Road for Thursday night’s final race of the 50th season on a high after a morale boosting victory in Bristol, Tennessee this past weekend over Carl Edwards. The 23 year old prospect for NASCAR stardom won his second Nationwide series of the season after his victory at Talladega, Alabama earlier this summer. The 100 lap main event will put the “scourge” of Georgia short tracking up against Thunder Road’s top talent. Along with his Nationwide series success, he’s been a top ten finisher in the past NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 11 times, driving for John Henry (Red Sox Owner) and Jack Roush. He has already been signed for another year in their UPS car for Sprint Cup Racing.
“I am truly excited about the prospect of running at Thunder Road. Tony Stewart told me that seldom in his experience has he raced against guys that drive harder and are more respectful of each other than the guys at Thunder Road”, he said. But he cautioned that you need track time to get in the rhythm of the famed Barre high banks. “I intend to be there early and really work on what everyone tells me is as challenging a short track as one can find in the US”, he said.
Ragan will be carrying his familiar number 6 but the car bears the livery of the Shriner’s Hospitals for Children. “It’s a personal thing with me but I know a bit about their burn center and have made Shriner’s my choice of cause in which I want to be involved.”
Ragan hopes with some precautions to challenge Thunder Road’s best including Cris Michaud, Jean-Paul Cyr, Hurricane Fisher, David Pembroke and Phil Scott. This week’s finale is 100 laps for 26 late model cars.
The largest fireworks show ever presented at Thunder Road will conclude the 50th annual Thursday night season leaving only the Bond Auto 250 for the Labor Day Weekend and the famed 47th Chittenden Milk Bowl Saturday, September 26th and Sunday, September 27th.
Post time for this Thursday night’s race is 6:00 p.m.
by Jay | Aug 23, 2009 | ACT, New England, New Hampshire, Riverside Speedway
St-Croix, QC – Donald Theetge of Boischatel, QC scored his second win of the season at the Riverside 150 at Riverside Speedway in St-Croix, Quebec. Theetge is now the all-time win leader for the Serie ACT Castrol with 14 career wins. Theetge was chased to the line by Sylvain Lacombe and Patrick Hamel, the only other two on the lead lap.
Jacques Poulin came home fourth followed by Karl Allard, Dany Ouellet, Patrick Cliche, Eric St-Gelais, Stephane Descoste, and David Michaud to complete the top ten respectively.
Unofficially Theetge now moves back into the point lead after Patrick Laperle had rearend issues. Laperle had to replace his rearend after it broke in his heat race. His crew got it repaired in time for the feature, but Laperle had to start in 25th. Laperle moved from his 25th starting position through the field and into the lead by lap 22. He then led until lap 98 and lapped the majority of the field in the process. On the 99th circuit his rearend let go again and he was done for the day.
Sylvain Lacombe then inherited the lead. After battling Stephane Descoste for about 17 laps, Theetge moved into the lead and held on until the checkers. Theetge has already qualified for the ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 19th. Therefore the number of qualifiers remains at 14 including a representative from 8 different states/provinces. Over 50 teams will be at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this Tuesday, August 25 and Wednesday, August 26 for a “Test and Tune” session to prepare for the historical event.
Next weekend, Saturday, August 29, is the Coors Light Showdown 200 at Autodrome Chaudiere. The all-star race includes 11 of the best ACT Tour competitors against 11 of the best Serie ACT Castrol drivers. The Showdown kicks off the American Canadian Tour’s Money Month, where $250,000 in purse money will be rewarded to late model teams from August 29 to September 27 in the biggest five races of the year.
Unofficial Serie ACT Castrol Riverside 150
Riverside Speedway, St-Croix, QC
Pos Car # Driver Laps
1 80 Donald Theetge 150
2 3 Sylvain Lacombe 150
3 51PQ Patrick Hamel 150
4 97PQ Jacques Poulin 149
5 48QC Karl Allard 149
6 28QC Dany Ouellet 149
7 5QC Patrick Cliche 149
8 42 Eric St-Gelais 149
9 10QC Stéphane Descoste 148
10 40QC David Michaud 148
11 92 Jonathan Desbiens 148
12 25 Marco Savoie 147
13 99 Derek White 146
14 27 Alexandre Gingras 145
15 30 Stéphane Durand 131
16 21QC Jean-François Déry 123
17 15QC Kevin Roberge 115
18 9PQ Yvon Bédard 111
19 03 Martin Lacombe 105
20 91 Patrick Laperle 99
21 2 Daniel Descoste 95
22 12QC Etienne Lemay 89
23 17ON Justin Holtom 88
24 26QC Valerie Chiasson 63
25 98 Brandon White 16
26 11PQ Claude Leclerc 4
by Jay | Aug 18, 2009 | ACT, Maine, Wiscasset Raceway
Wiscasset, ME- The Center of Speed 300 this Sunday is a day that is going down in the record books at Wiscasset Raceway. The weather was perfect, the fans where in the stands and the drivers and crews brought their cars. After 140 laps of action packed racing in the Steel’s Real Rod’s and Custom’s Late Model division the last ten laps made the crowd rise to their feet. Harpswell’s T.J. Watson was able to hold of Adam Chadbourne for the $5,000 dollar payday. Not only did the win put money in Watson’s pocket but it also earned him an invitation to the A.CT. race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway next month. Watson already had a deal going with Sally Graves, a late model car owner from New Hampshire that if he did indeed qualified for the race that their team would supply T.J. with a car and that looks like that will be the case. Chadbourne did finish second with Johnny Clark who was pulling double duty coming home third. Fourth went to Steve Reno out of West Bath and fifth went three time LMS champion Chris Thorne from Sidney
The 150 lap Clark’s Car Crushing Pro Stock race was a thriller as well. Johnny Clark showed his dominance through the entire race but in the Scott Chubbuck would get by the three time P.A.S.S. champion on the outside. Chubbuck would take the checkered flag and the $5,000 check. Clark had his hands full but did finish second right in front of defending champion Randy Turner. Scott Moore of North Anson, ME finished fourth and Newcastle’s Charlie Colby finished fifth.
by Jay | Aug 14, 2009 | ACT, Canada, NASCAR, New England
Waterbury, VT – The American Canadian Tour (ACT) announced today that over a 30-day period from August 29th through September 27th there would be purses posted of over a quarter million dollars for Late Model race teams in the Northeast and Canada.
Starting with the Coors Light Showdown of Champions event at the 1/3-mile banked Autodrome Chaudiere in the Beauce region outside Quebec City, the top eleven (11) US ACT Tour teams will go head to head with the top (11) ACT Castrol Serie teams. The winner of the event gets the grand prize of $5,000 from the $35,000 in posted purse. Everyone is guaranteed $1,000 minimum, but this year, promoter Michel Lessard has posted a ‘kicker’. The winning ‘team’, be it the US or Castrol team, will share equal portions of an added $5,500.00. The $500 bonus per member will go to the team whose 11 total finishes outpoint the other team. The biggest names in ACT racing from both sides of the border will be attending the second edition of the Showdown. Patrick Laperle barely beat defending ACT Castrol Champion, Alexandre Gingras, in the inaugural 200-lap event in 2008.
The Americans won the overall title as a team last year. Ironically, former Castrol Champions Patrick Laperle of Montreal and Donald Theetge from Quebec City both helped the US team win as they raced on the ACT US Tour in 2008. This year they are locked in a tight battle for the ACT Castrol Serie championship in Quebec and Ontario and will be representing the Canadian team during the classic.
Next up in the marathon ‘ACT Money Month’ will be a return to Thunder Road Speedbowl in Barre, Vermont for the 47th annual running of the Bond Auto Labor Day Classic. A record purse and prize posting of $45,000 has been offered. Renowned car builder and car owner Pete Duto entered Brad Leighton from Center Harbor, NH in last year’s Classic. In one of the most memorable come-back races in the long history of Thunder Road, Leighton crashed twice in the event but came back to win $10,000 and the first place trophy. He will be back to defend the Bond Auto Labor Day Classic in 2009.
One of the most anticipated events of the year is up next for the Late Model teams. The long awaited return of the Fall Foliage 300 is back on the ACT schedule in 2009. The newly renovated and redesigned Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, NY will again host the historic ‘300’ weekend with a posted purse of $40,000. This fall classic event was held in many forms and different numbers of laps. The inaugural event was held in 1972 and was won by Bobby Dragon of Milton, VT. Catamount continued the tradition of a big fall event until it closed in 1987. After the closing of Catamount, the race moved to Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, ME for a three-year stop. Buzzie Bezanson of Plaistow, NH surprised all present with a no pit stop ‘300’ win in 1989. Two of the greatest Late Model drivers in New England racing history won the other two Beech Ridge events, Robbie Crouch from Tampa, FL in 1988, and “Dynamite” Dave Dion from Hudson, NH won in 1990. The race moved to Airborne Raceway for the next ten years. A one and only stop for the ‘300’ took place at Thunder Road in 2003, where Ryan Moore, in his only year racing the ACT Tour, was the surprise winner. The Fall Foliage 300 returned to Airborne the following year and has found its home there since 2004. The most recent ACT winners included Airborne and ACT Champions Brent Dragon and Jean-Paul Cyr of Milton, VT, and Quebec’s great Patrick Laperle. Under the leadership of present owner Steve Fuller and promoter Mike Perotte, the outstanding DIRT driver Kenny Tremont, Jr.has won all three Fall Foliage extra distance events in a Modified on the ½-mile asphalt speedway. The ACT Tour returns in 2009 after a three-year absence.
The championship month will continue with what has become the most talked-about event in Northeastern Late Model racing of any kind this season. The inaugural ACT INVITATIONAL at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway will take place on Saturday, September 19. No championship title points, no pressure, just an historic day for Late Model racers throughout the region, as they race for $65,000 and a name in the NHMS record books. This year-long promotion will be the racing career highlight for many of the lucky 36 invitees. It is sure to be a highlight for the many short track fans that take in the atmosphere of the first NASCAR Chase event weekend held each September at NHMS.
Finally, the $250,000 month will fittingly come to a close with the ‘grand-daddy’ event of them all, the 47th Annual Chittenden Milk Bowl. Thunder Road will bring the curtain down on its 50th season with a $10,000-to-win, $70,000 Milk Bowl. The gloves are sure to come off at this year’s Milk Bowl. For the first time in recent memory this event will be strictly for the money, the glory, the right to kiss the cow — with no points for either Thunder Road teams or ACT Tour teams. The three-segment format of the Milk Bowl provides the ultimate equal playing field for the ACT competitors. You don’t have to win all three segments, you just need to race every lap like it is the white flag lap, and have a whole bunch of luck.
The ACT Late Models have reached the top of the Northeastern-racing scene. Promoters have recognized them as the best in the business, and tracks from throughout the Northeast and Quebec are rewarding them with the ACT $250,000 Money Month of racing. The real winners will be the fans.
by Jay | Aug 13, 2009 | ACT, New England, Thunder Road
Barre, VT – Thursday Night racing during 50th Anniversary Season celebration at Thunder Road International Speedbowl will finish with a bang, literally, on Thursday, August 27. The event, which is sponsored by the Vermont State Employees Credit Union (VSECU), will feature NASCAR star David Ragan, who will compete in the final Late Model point counting race. As part of the celebration and in honor of Ragan’s appearance the Late Models will run 100 laps to decide the 50th Anniversary “King of the Road.”
The point battle is shaping up to be one of the closest in Thunder Road history. Currently the top three drivers, Jean-Paul Cyr, Dave Pembroke, and Phil Scott are separated by only 14 points. The competition will only become more intense as we continue the countdown to the finale.
As part of the finale celebration, drivers from the original flat head days to the stars of today have been invited to a private luncheon. These Thunder Road heroes will then be available in the concession area to tell their stories and sign autographs for the fans throughout the night.
The action won’t stop there when following the event the biggest display of fireworks in the history of the “Nation’s Site of Excitement” will be set off in celebration of the conclusion of 50 years of the traditional Thursday night racing at the Barre highbanks. All of this plus the NAPA Tiger Sportsmen, Allen Lumber Street Stock, and Power Shift Junkyard Warriors action is available for only $12 for adults, $3 for kids 6 to 12 and only $25 for a family of four (two adults and two kids).
The NAPA Tiger Sportsmen, Allen Lumber Street Stocks and Power Shift Junkyard Warriors will wrap up their seasons with the Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200 featuring the American Canadian Tour followed by the 47th Annual Chittenden Milk Bowl. The Labor Day Classic is scheduled for 1:30 pm on Sunday, September 6 and the Milk Bowl will be on Sunday, September 27 at 1:00 pm with Booth Bros./H.P. Hood qualifying on Saturday, September 26 at 1:30 pm.
Next up is this week’s doubleheader with only four nightly events remaining in the 2009 50th Anniversary Season. Thursday, August 13 will be ACE Hardware Night featuring the third and final Tiger Sportsmen Tri-State Series 100 plus Late Model, Allen Lumber Street Stocks and Power Shift Junkyard Warriors. Then Friday, August 14 is Pepsi Night featuring all four weekly divisions plus the Pepsi Sock Hop after the races with a live DJ and prizes. Post time Thursday is 6:30 pm, and Friday is 6:00 pm. Bring your ticket stub from Thursday Nights event and adults are only $5 while kids under 12 are free.
by Jay | Aug 11, 2009 | ACT, New Hampshire
Waterford, CT – Five-time American Canadian Tour Champion Brian Hoar captured his second victory in a row in the Nutmeg State 100 at Waterford Speedbowl on Saturday, August 8. The first 28 laps of the event were run on Saturday, June 13, but the remaining 72 laps were postponed due to rain. Brad Leighton led the way through the first half of the race after taking the lead from his outside pole starting position.
Hoar worked his way through the field from his eleventh starting position to take the lead on lap 55. Hoar and Leighton then swapped the lead, and lots of paint, several times throughout the remainder of the race. The battle between the two continued through the final laps until Leighton tangled with a lap car coming to the white flag. Hoar, who was running on the outside of Leighton, narrowly missed the incident and continued on to complete the race. Leighton ended up in the infield and did not complete the 100th lap.
Randy Potter, who was running fourth when the accident happened, took advantage of the incident and finished second. Potter was followed closely by point leader Scott Payea, John Donahue, and Waterford Speedbowl regular Tim Jordan. Brent Dragon, Joey Doiron, Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., Ron Yumas, Jr., and Tyler Cahoon all avoided the mayhem and came home in the top ten.
Hoar now has 25 career ACT Tour wins and two in the 2009 season. He has already qualified for the ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 19, with his win at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway.
The ACT Tour now has a few weeks off before returning to Twin State Speedway in Claremont, NH on Friday, September 4 for the rescheduled Twin State 100. Also coming up is the Chaudiere Showdown 200 at Autodrome Chaudiere in Vallee-Junction, QC on Saturday, August 29. The Showdown is an all-star race between the top eleven drivers in the ACT Tour point standings and the top eleven drivers in the Série ACT Castrol point standings.
OFFICIAL ACT TOUR NUTMEG STATE 100 RESULTS
Waterford Speedbowl, Waterford, CT
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Pos Car # Driver Laps
1 37 Brian Hoar 100
2 02NH Randy Potter 100
3 89 Scott Payea 100
4 26VT John Donahue 100
5 47 Tim Jordan 100
6 55VT Brent Dragon 100
7 73ME Joey Doiron 100
8 97NH Joey Polewarczyk, Jr. 100
9 88 Ron Yumas Jr. 100
10 38VT Tyler Cahoon 100
11 9VT Chip Grenier 100
12 51ME Ricky Rolfe 100
13 41 Pete Potvin, III 100
14 02MA Dennis Stampfl 100
15 40VT Eric Chase 100
16 18 Jamie Fisher 100
17 7ME Glen Luce 99
18 38CT Joe Curioso 99
19 77NH Mark Hayward 99
20 28ME Rowland Robinson Jr. 99
21 77MA James Linardy 99
22 55NH Brad Leighton 99
23 16 Howard Payne 98
24 82 Mark Hudson 76
25 73NH Joe Tetreault 58
26 35 Bruce Thomas Jr. 42
27 71 Bobby Dragon 28
28 2 Allan Coates 28
29 42MA Jeff Zuidema 28
