by Jay | Jun 6, 2016 | ACT, Devils Bowl, New, Touring Series News, Vermont
West Haven, VT – Nick Sweet came out on top of a race-long duel with defending American-Canadian Tour (ACT) Champion Wayne Helliwell, Jr. to take the People’s United Bank 100 at West Haven, VT’s Devil’s Bowl Speedway on Saturday, June 4, becoming the first repeat winner of the 2016 season.
The Barre, VT driver had surrendered the lead to Helliwell on the race’s final restart on lap 92 following Ryan Olsen’s spin. But Sweet dove back inside Helliwell two laps later to regain the top spot for the final time. Helliwell then came under attack from Dillon Moltz, allowing Sweet to pull away in the closing laps for his sixth career ACT Late Model Tour win.
Sweet grabbed the lead on the start from polesitter Bobby Therrien and led the 29 laps. Helliwell, a three-time ACT winner at Devil’s Bowl, then swung to his outside to assume command. Although Sweet continued to dog Helliwell through lapped traffic, he was unable to regain command as the race threatened to go caution-free.
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by Jay | Jun 6, 2016 | ACT, Devils Bowl, New, Touring Series News, Vermont
photo by RPM 360
By: Dick Casey
The 17th place finish for Eddie Mac in the American Canadian Tour’s Merchant’s Bank 100 at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in West Haven, Vermont on Saturday was not the typical run one might expect from the team. After a devastating crash on the last turn of the last lap at the Waterford Speedbowl on May 21, Eddie Mac was forced to activate the old tried but true back-up “flame car” while necessary repairs were made to the EXIT Realty/Hancock Electric Chevy owned by Freddie Peterson.
With time constraints plaguing the team, the usual meticulous preparation in the shop could not happen with crew chief Rollie LaChance saying, “We literally took the car out of moth balls and tried to get it ready for today’s race. We also had to strip the Chevy of the damage, get it to Dale (Shaw) for a new front clip, and take the engine out to be checked out. We lost a lot of time there so we really didn’t have a week to get the car ready. We could only put in a basic set-up and hope we could adjust. We only had three twenty minute practices and that wasn’t nearly enough time to make the adjustments needed. This is a winning car and if we ran it for a number of races, I am sure we could get it performing as it once did. I was hoping for a top half of the field finish but we fell a few spots short.” (more…)
by Jay | Jun 6, 2016 | Devils Bowl, New, Vermont
EAST MONTPELIER, Vt. – Emily Packard and her Northstar Fireworks/Packard Fuels team had high hopes as they unloaded her car Saturday afternoon at Devil’s Bowl Speedway, unfortunately, things wouldn’t go as hoped and she would end the night with a 15th place finish. “It was a long day,” said Packard, “I was hoping for a better finish. The car was ok, but it wasn’t really handling that great towards the end of the race; I was just trying to make the best of it that I could.”
Readying for practice, Emily and the team rolled the car out, while Scott Coburn, interim crew chief for the weekend, and Joe Polewarczyk Sr., talked over the car set up. After first practice, Packard found herself 20th fastest on the speed charts, but the team went to work making changes and when final practice was over she had moved to third fastest time on the chart. “Practice was pretty interesting,” Emily said, “everyone seemed to be all over the place out there, so it kind of set the tone for the rest of the day. That last practice the car was really good, and I was confident as we headed into the heat race.”
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by Jay | Jun 5, 2016 | Bear Ridge, New, Vermont
Bear Ridge Speedway
Five weeks five different winners in the Wells River Chevrolet DIRTcar Sportsman Coupes.
BRADFORD, VT – Overflowing pits provided plenty of great racing excitement for the fans from twenty eight fast paced green flag laps to flips and spills on Woodsville Guaranty Saving Bank night at the races.
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by Jay | May 30, 2016 | New, PASS, Thunder Road, Touring Series News, Vermont
PASS Super Late Models Top Three – L to R: Travis Benjamin #7, 3rd; Winner Glen Luce #7L: and Wayne Helliwell #27, 2nd; with event sponsor Mikkelsen RV representative.
Barre, Vermont – Glen Luce of Turner, Maine claimed an emotional victory Sunday afternoon in the Mekkelsen RV 150 for Pro All Stars Series Super Late Models at Thunder Road international Speedbowl in Barre, Vermont.
Luce, coming off his best-ever season racing stock cars – a season that included a $31,000-plus win in the 42nd Annual Oxford 250 last August – took the lead from and then held off a longtime ACT Tour rival, Wayne Helliwell, Jr., of Dover, New Hampshire.
Helliwell, a multi-time ACT Late Model Tour champion, chased Luce under the checkered flag, earning his runner-up finish the hard way after starting dead last in the quick Super Late Model field. Travis Benjamin of Morrill, Maine nailed down a third-place finish.
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by Jay | May 30, 2016 | New, PASS, Thunder Road, Touring Series News, Vermont
Danville, VT’s Tyler Cahoon celebrates his first Thunder Road Late Model win in the 54th Mekkelsen Memorial Day Classic on Sunday, May 29. (Alan Ward photo)
Barre, VT – Tyler Cahoon made his first career Thunder Road Late Model win count on Sunday, May 29, holding off a late charge from Scott Dragon for the victory in the 54th Annual Mekkelsen Memorial Day Classic.
The Danville veteran took the lead from Matt White on lap 6 of the 100-lap event, just prior to the second and final caution for Brian Tarbell’s hard encounter with the turn one wall. Cahoon pulled out to a big lead in the middle stages, but had to fend off Dragon in the closing laps to secure the win. The former Street Stock Champion became the third driver in the last four years to score his first Thunder Road Late Model victory in the event.
Dragon settled for second, followed by former Memorial Day Classic winner Jason Corliss in third. Trampas Demers took fourth, while Nick Sweet made a late charge to finish fifth. Brooks Clark, John Donahue, Kyle Pembroke, White, and Cody Blake rounded out the top-10.
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