{"id":18235,"date":"2015-03-18T06:14:20","date_gmt":"2015-03-18T10:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=18235"},"modified":"2015-03-18T06:14:20","modified_gmt":"2015-03-18T10:14:20","slug":"special-events-highlight-2015-act-schedule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2015\/03\/special-events-highlight-2015-act-schedule\/","title":{"rendered":"Special Events Highlight 2015 ACT Schedule"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"vlf_6959\"<\/a>Waterbury, VT \u2013 The 2015 American-Canadian Tour (ACT) schedule is shaping up to be one of the biggest in recent memory. The U.S. Tour will hold 13 point-counting events and three special events at 12 different tracks throughout the northeastern United States and Canada, featuring a variety of long-standing events, new tracks, and new alliances.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Four new races will grace the 2015 season, beginning with a 150-lap event at Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, ME on Saturday, April 18 as part of a doubleheader with the Pro All Star Series (PASS). The race will be the first for ACT at Oxford since 2012, followed by a second 150-lap ACT event at the track on Saturday, June 27. ACT will also make its inaugural visit to the Thompson Speedway in Thompson, CT on Saturday, October 16, and Sunday, October 17 for a 100-lap race as part of the annual World Series of Speedway Racing. The Tour will return to Autodrome Chaudiere in Valle\u00e9-Jct., QC on Saturday, September 12 for a 200-lap event, which will be both a PASS doubleheader and a combination race with S\u00e9rie ACT. The Chaudiere event is one of three U.S.\/Canada combos on the calendar, joining the Spring Green 115 on Saturday, May 16 and the Fall Foliage 200 on Saturday, October 3, both at Airborne Park Speedway in Plattsburgh, NY. This also marks the return of the Spring Green to Airborne after being held at Devil\u2019s Bowl Speedway in West Haven, VT in recent years.<\/p>\n

The non-point special events will be ones to watch as well. The ACT International at Airborne on Saturday, July 18 and Sunday, July 19 will now see both the ACT Late Models and the PASS Super Late Models run 200 laps each. PASS will also visit Thunder Road Speedbowl in Barre, VT on Sunday, May 24 as part of the Memorial Day Classic. ACT will return to New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, NH on Saturday, September 26th for the 7th annual NHMS Bond Auto Invitational, and to Thunder Road on Saturday, October 10 and Sunday, October 11 for the 53rd Milk Bowl.<\/p>\n

In addition, the events and tracks returning from the 2014 schedule include the season-opening New Hampshire Governor\u2019s Cup at Lee USA Speedway in Lee, N.H. on Sunday, April 12, the Merchant\u2019s Bank 150 at Thunder Road on Sunday, May 3, and the annual visit to White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H. on Saturday, June 27. We recently talked to drivers, owners, and crew chiefs about what events they\u2019re most looking forward to in 2015, along with what their goals are for the upcoming season.<\/p>\n

Richard Green, owner of the #16ME Richard Green Trucking\/LaQuinta Inn & Suites Chevrolet Impala, driven by Travis Stearns
\n\u201cI\u2019m looking to the first combination race at Thunder Road with PASS and ACT cars, because I have one of each car. Travis will be in the PASS car, and Scott (Dragon) in the Thunder Road portion \u2013 which is kind of cool. We\u2019ll be at (Airborne) for the international, they\u2019ll both be over there, too. Right now we\u2019re not sure about Oxford \u2013 Travis is concentrating on the ACT points battle, and hopefully we\u2019ll have some good finishes by then. We don\u2019t want to run too many combos to take away from the ACT effort\u2026I\u2019m tickled to death we\u2019re going to Thompson. I\u2019ve never been there with a late model, and I\u2019m looking forward to it. Hopefully we\u2019re in the middle of the points battle when that comes around. We\u2019re looking forward to going up to Chaudiere as well, that\u2019s a track I like\u2026we had a good car in Florida (at New Smyrna). We didn\u2019t have very good luck in Florida, but we had had a good car. The ACT title is one of our main goals this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mike Ziter, driver of the #54VT Ziter Masonry Inc.\/Randall Contracting Chevrolet SS Impala
\n\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to, of course, the openers at Lee and Thunder Road; the opening day for both tracks will be a good kickoff\u2026I\u2019m from Connecticut (Enfield), so I have a lot of family down there, so I think that (Thompson) will be the first time most of them will be at a race. Oxford\u2019s going to be fun. There\u2019s going to be a lot of people there with the PASS event, and it\u2019s going to be a big weekend\u2026we\u2019re searching for our first win, that would be a huge accomplishment. We got our feet wet last year, and built a new (Distance) car this year, so we\u2019re trying to get up there and run with the big dogs. We built a new team over the winter\u2026we took on a few new members, which will help us be more consistent. We\u2019ve always been short-handed at the track, and it\u2019s hard to be successful when you\u2019re short-handed. We\u2019ve also picked up Jeffords Steel as a sponsor this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff White, driver of the #50ME Len\u2019s Auto Sales & Service\/Phoenix Welding Chevrolet Monte Carlo
\n\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to all of them! I think it\u2019s great. I like going to all the different tracks; it\u2019s a blast, and I think my crew and everyone agrees\u2026I don\u2019t get all emotional going back (to Oxford), but it\u2019s fun to race, I consider it my own home track. Being up in Maine there\u2019ll be a lot of people there who can\u2019t go to my other events, including my mother. She\u2019s like 80, so it\u2019s hard for her to get to other races\u2026we\u2019re going to try not to have any DNF\u2019s and hopefully finish better than 10th (in the point standings). We haven\u2019t made any changes to the team this year. We had the \u2018new car blues\u2019 last year, things that had never gone wrong for us happened\u2026 our new car owner is Lenny Thompson. Last year it was Steve\u2019s Auto on the car, but it (changed hands), and now it\u2019s Len\u2019s Auto.
\n\u201cHopefully you guys can get a jet dryer down to Lee and thaw the track\u2014just don\u2019t invite Juan Pablo (Montoya).\u201d<\/p>\n

Keith Clark, crew chief for the #58VT Hebert Excavations\/Lowery\u2019s Auto Sales Chevrolet Impala SS, driven by Jimmy Hebert
\n\u201cWe\u2019d definitely like to go back down to Lee (USA Speedway) and have a good showing there. We always look forward to the Loudon race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Being that Thunder Road\u2019s our home track, I\u2019d like to put on a good show there\u2026the Oxford race(s) I\u2019m definitely looking forward to. I think we can do good there. We\u2018ve done good there before, and we got in the (Oxford) 250 the one year that we tried it. It\u2019s a good track, and it fits Jimmy\u2019s driving style. Thompson I\u2019m a little worried about just because it\u2019s new, and we haven\u2019t been there yet, but I\u2019m a nervous guy\u2026Last year I know we finished 2nd in points, but for us as a team last year was a disappointment. We didn\u2019t run as well as we thought we could, had fluke stuff happen, and some of the tracks we just didn\u2019t run well at. We want to get back to victory lane and get back to winning like we know we can\u2026we made some minor changes and updates for the new car, and we\u2019re excited to see how that works,. Staff-wise it\u2019s all the same guys we\u2019ve had for the last four years.<\/p>\n

Brad Babb, driver of the #15VT Speedway 51 Ford Fusion for Laquerre Motorsports
\n\u201cI love going to Beech Ridge because it\u2019s my home track. I\u2019m looking forward getting back to Airborne and Chaudiere. I liked those tracks when I ran the Tour before, and I haven\u2019t been back since. I\u2019m looking forward to going to Thompson because it\u2019s neutral ground for everyone \u2013 though I brought a pro stock there a few times\u2026 for a few years Joey Laquerre had been telling me that he was going to let me drive his ACT car sometime and it never worked out right. Then last year the night before the Oxford 250 there was a Late Model race. I was up there practicing my super late model and he asked me to drive his car that night and we finished 2nd. I ran a few more races for him and he was happy, and then he bought Glen Luce\u2019s old car for me to drive this year\u2026I really just want to have fun with it, that\u2019s the main goal. If we\u2019re having fun, we\u2019re probably doing well with it. I think it\u2019ll go pretty smooth. Joey, for the most part, has let us do our own thing the way we always do; my dad has been crew chief as long as I can remember\u2026it would be really special if we could win the race (at Speedway 51) for Lil Joey, but I\u2019m going to go into that the same way I go into every other race. I\u2019ll try to go for the win, and if it doesn\u2019t work out, then I\u2019ll take what I can get.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joey Polewarczyk Jr., driver of the #97NH Pole\u2019s Automotive\/NH Precision Ford Fusion
\n\u201cWe\u2019re definitely looking forward to Lee, number one because it\u2019s the first race of the year. I shouldn\u2019t say we\u2019ve had a ton of time off because we just got back from (New Smyrna Speedway), but Lee is our home track so we always like trying to go back and compete there. It\u2019s hard to pick just one event \u2013 there\u2019s so much happening. I\u2019ve really only been (to Thompson once), but it\u2019s a big fast track that\u2019s new to everybody. It\u2019ll be a deal where everyone\u2019s in the same boat. It\u2019s great to have mixed races (with S\u00e9rie ACT) as well; it\u2019s great to go back to Chaudiere and race…there\u2019s just so many things going on. We\u2019ve always felt like ACT has had one of the better schedules. We always go to lot of different tracks. Mixing these events in wi th the ACT event at (New Hampshire Motor Speedway) and the Milk Bowl \u2013 I think it\u2019s one of the better (schedules) this year. The PASS combination events are great because we have both cars. It will be busy, but fun\u2026we\u2019re going to come back with the same team we had last year. We had so much fun going to the races with them, and I think that\u2019s part of why we were so successful. We had a great time and everyone got along so well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Waterbury, VT \u2013 The 2015 American-Canadian Tour (ACT) schedule is shaping up to be one of the biggest in recent memory. The U.S. Tour will hold 13 point-counting events and three special events at 12 different tracks throughout the northeastern United States and Canada, featuring a variety of long-standing events, new tracks, and new alliances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[55,14972],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-act","category-touring-series-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18235"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18237,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18235\/revisions\/18237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}