ACT Releases 2010 Castrol Series Schedule

WATERBURY -- The American-Canadian Tour announced a 12-race schedule for the Série ACT-Castrol, the Québec/Ontario-based sister series to the ACT Late Model Tour, on Tuesday. Included on the schedule is the "Can-Am Confrontation by the Seaway" at Riverside Speedway in Ste-Croix, Qué., a 200-lap combination championship event for the Série ACT-Castrol and ACT Late Model Tour on August 14. The last point-counting combination event for the two series was at Autodrome St-Eustache in 2007.

The 2010 Castrol schedule opens and closes at St-Eustache near Montréal, with a 100-lapper on May 22 and the annual St-Eustache 300 on September 26. The series will travel twice each to Autodrome Montmagny and Autodrome Chaudière, has a total of three each events at Riverside at St-Eustache, and will make single stops at Captial City Speedway in Ottawa, Ont. and the quirky Autodrome St-Félicien in the Lac St-Jean region of northern Québec. Dates have also been reserved for the TD Bank 250 at Maine's Oxford Plains Speedway on July 18 and the third-annual "Showdown at Chaudière" all-star race on August 28. A return to New Hampshire Motor Speedway is also expected for 2010, which would include several Série ACT-Castrol drivers.

Donald Theetge of Boischatel, Qué. beat Patrick Laperle by one point to win the Série ACT-Castrol championship in 2009. Trampas Demers of South Burlington competed in seven events in 2009 and finished 15th in points, while Milton's Brent Dragon became the first American-born driver to win a Castrol race when he took an event at Riverside in June. The 12-race slate for 2010 is the longest schedule for the series in three years, after a nine-event campaign this year and just eight races in 2008.

SÉRIE ACT-CASTROL 2010 SCHEDULE

#-Day-Date-Track-Location-Laps

1. Sat., May 22 -- Autodrome St. Eustache, St-Eustache (Montréal), Qué. -- 100
2. Sat., May 29 -- Autodrome Montmagny, Montmagny, Qué. -- 100
3. Sat., June 5 -- Autodrome Chaudière, Vallée-Jonction, Qué. -- 150
4. Sat., June 12 -- Capital City Speedway, Ottawa, Ont. -- 100
5. Sat., June 19 -- Riverside Speedway, Ste-Croix (Québec City), Que. -- 100
6. Sat., July 3 -- Autodrome Montmagny, Montmagny, Qué. -- 250
7. Sat., July 10 -- Autodrome St-Félicien, St-Félicien, Qué. -- 135
-- Sun., July 18 -- Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford, Me. -- 250 (non-points)
8. Mon., July 26 -- Riverside Speedway, Ste-Croix (Québec City), Que. -- 100
9. Sat., July 31 -- Autodrome St. Eustache, St-Eustache (Montréal), Qué. -- 100
10. Sat., Aug. 7 -- Autodrome Chaudière, Vallée-Jonction, Qué. -- 150
11. Sat., Aug. 14 -- Riverside Speedway, Ste-Croix (Québec City), Que. -- 200 (Castrol/Tour combo)
-- Sat., Aug. 28 -- Autodrome Chaudière, Vallée-Jonction, Qué. -- 200 (non-points)
12. Sun., Sept. 26 -- Autodrome St. Eustache, St-Eustache (Montréal), Qué. -- 300

ACT Saturday Recap: Laperle, Duquette Win

Patrick Laperle and Shawn Duquette each scored their second ACT victories of the season on Saturday night.

Laperle, of St-Denis-sur-Richelieu, Que., won the ACT Castrol Series' Montmagny 250 at Autodrome Montmagny (Que.), while Morrisonville, N.Y. driver Duquette won the ACT Tiger Sportsman Tri-State Series' Canaan Fair 100 at Canaan Fair (N.H.) Speedway.

Laperle was followed across the line by Karl Allard, Donald Theetge, Patrick Hamel, and Justin Holtom.

Duquette beat Joey Roberts, Joey Becker, Jason Bonnett, and Toby Ebersole for his victory. Vermont Motorsports Magazine was at Canaan and will have a full recap of the event soon.

Twin State Postponed to Sunday

CLAREMONT, N.H. -- The ACT Late Model Tour event at Twin State Speedway has been postponed by rain from tonight to Sunday, August 2. Post time is 5:oopm, gates will open at 11:00am.

The Série ACT-Castrol Montmagny 250 at Québec's Autodrome Montmagny is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 1, while the 25th M&M Beverage Enduro 250 at Barre's Thunder Road will also run on Sunday.

Montmagny 250 Postponed

MONTMAGNY, Qué. -- The Montmagny 250 for the Série ACT-Castrol at Autodrome Montmagny near Québec City has been postponed from Saturday, July 4 to Saturday, August 1 due to expected rains.

Trampas Demers of South Burlington currently sits fifth in Castrol points after five of nine events, just 79 points behind leader Donald Theetge of Boischatel, Qué.

The rescheduling of the Montmagny 250 creates a jam-packed weekend for the Waterbury-based American-Canadian Tour sanctioning body, which oversees the Série ACT-Castrol in Canada, the ACT Late Model Tour on both sides of the U.S./Canada border, and Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl in Barre -- the schedule for the weekend includes an appearance by NASCAR legend Richard Petty at Thunder Road on Thu., July 30; an ACT Late Model Tour race at Twin State Speedway in Claremont, N.H. on Friday, July 31; the Montmagny 250 on Saturday, Aug. 1; and the $5,000-to-win M&M Beverage Enduro 250 at Thunder Road on Sun., Aug. 2.

Déry Wins at Montmagny, Demers Second

Vermonter likely to compete for Castrol title; Donahue finishes 15th

MONTMAGNY, Qué. -- Jean-François Déry earned his first Série ACT-Castrol victory of the season at Autodrome Montmagny near Québec City on Saturday night, taking the Red Bear 100 after a late-race battle with Donald Theetge and Trampas Demers. Déry and Theetge were engaged in a side-by-side battle with about ten laps remaining when they made contact, shearing Déry's front bumper cover off his car. The caution flag flew quickly after, setting up a final sprint to the finish.

Demers, of South Burlington, made a charge from outside the top-ten at the halfway point to run in contention for the victory. "I was running in 11th on lap 50, but everyone started fading to the back, and my car wasn't fading," Demers said. "I had a bit of a rough race with Patrick Laperle, but I ran great with Karl Allard, and Donald Theetge and the 21 car (Déry) were great to race with. We're real happy. We came up one short, but it was real good."

Déry, of Val-Bélair, Qué., followed Theetge at the front for much of the first half of the race before taking the lead. Despite the damage suffered in the late incident with Theetge, Déry held on to take the victory, the fourth of his Série ACT-Castrol career and second at Montmagny. "The 10 last laps were long, and I was surrounded by veterans," Déry told Québec newspaper Le Soleil. "But today, it is me that is the veteran. I am really happy. My team did exceptional work, and through the whole race I was able to count on an impeccable car."

With the victory, Déry becomes the seventh driver to earn a qualifying berth for the ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Septmeber. Demers was able to get his Jiffy Mart #85 Chevrolet by Theetge for second place as the laps wound down. Theetge finished third with Allard fourth and Mike Lavoie fifth. Defending series champion Alexandre Gingras finished sixth, one better than Laperle, who won the opening round for the series at Autodrome St-Eustache two weeks ago. Jacques Poulin, Éric St-Gelais, and Patrick Hamel completed the top ten finishers. John Donahue of Graniteville finished 15th in in the National Guard #26 Ford in his first start Castrol of the season.

After a strong start, Demers said that his team will likely expand their Série ACT-Castrol schedule to include the entire season. "We're having a lot of fun, and we're looking forward to everything we've heard about racing at Chaudière next week," he said. "We're working at it and it's been fun, and so far we've hung in there with those guys." Demers' original plan was to race the first four Castrol events before making a decision. He finished sixth in the season opener at St-Eustache.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS -- Red Bear 100
Série ACT-Castrol -- Autodrome Montmagny, Montmagny, Qué.
Saturday, May 30, 2009

Pos.-Driver-Hometown

1. Jean-François Déry, Val-Bélair, Qué.
2. Trampas Demers, South Burlington
3. Donald Theetge Boishcatel, Qué.
4. Karl Allard, St-Félicien, Qué.
5. Mike Lavoie, Chicoutimi, Qué.
6. Alexandre Gingras, Québec, Qué.
7. Patrick Laperle, St-Denis-sur-Richelieu, Qué.
8. Jacques Poulin, East-Broughton, Qué.
9. Éric St-Gelais, St-Nicolas, Qué.
10. Patrick Hamel, St-Édouard-de-Lotbinière, Qué.
11. Claude Leclerc, Lanoraie, Qué.
12. Valérie Chiasson, Le Gardeur, Qué.
13. Sylvain Métivier, Montréal, Qué.
14. Stéphane Durand, Québec, Qué.
15. John Donahue, Graniteville
16. Yvon Bédard, St-Nicolas, Qué.
17. Dany Ouellet, La Pocatière, Qué.
18. Derek White
19. Sylvain Lacombe, Terrebonne, Qué.
20. Stéphane Descoste, Oka, Qué.
21. Jonathan Desbiens, Lévis, Qué.
22. Étienne Lemay, Leclercville, Qué.
23. David Michaud, Blainvile, Qué.
24. Kevin Roberge, Lévis, Qué.
25. Daniel Descoste, St-Joseph-du-Lac, Qué.
26. Spencer MacPherson, Carleton Place, Ont.
27. Justin Holtom, Ottawa, Ont.
28. Patrick Cliche, Vallée-Jonction, Qué.
29. Pierre-Luc Ouellette

(Photo: Third-place driver Donald Theetge (left), winner Jean-François Déry (center), and runner-up Trampas Demers on the Red Bear 100 podium at Autodrome Montmagny. Stephane Lazare photo)

Demers Headed to Castrol Series

SOUTH BURLINGTON -- Trampas Demers is thinking outside the box this year. "I need more seat time out front, so I'll be more comfortable in situations like this," Demers said on Sunday, referencing his pole position for the Merchants Bank 150 at Thunder Road in Barre.

Demers has been a solid competitior in Thunder Road's weekly Late Model division for nearly a decade, but has loftier goals. Among them, of course, is earning a trip to Loudon, N.H. for the inaugural ACT Invitational at the 1-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September. Race winners from the primarily U.S.-based ACT Late Model Tour and its sister series, the Série ACT-Castrol in Québec and Ontario, will be guaranteed a starting spot in the Invitational.

The South Burlington racer has done the touring thing before, including a frustrating 18th-place season last year on the U.S. tour, but wants to improve his program and become a top contender wherever he goes. So he's headed north of the border, to race with the Castrol regulars and take a different approach to his racing operation.

The Série ACT-Castrol has some tough competition -- outgoing ACT Late Model Tour champion Patrick Laperle, defending Castrol champion Alexandre Gingras, and top drivers like Karl Allard, Donald Theetge, and Lacombe brothers Sylvain and Martin among the marquee names -- but the car counts are significantly lower than the U.S. series; last year's Tour averaged over 40 cars per event, while the Castrol series averaged about 24 cars, which, in turn, took some pressure off of teams at Castrol events.

"With the Tour last year, at best we were usually the first car to finish one lap down," Demers said. "I don't like struggling to qualify, and I don't like struggling to keep up. You look at guys like Scott Payea and Jean-Paul Cyr that can easily get into races, and they have a big advantage over everyone else. They let the 15 teams that are struggling beat themselves. If you're not playing defense you can play offense and try stuff more often. I want to be there, and I think we can get there running the Castrol races."

Demers said he is scheduled to race the first four Castrol events at St-Eustache near Montréal, Montmagny and Chaudière near Québec City, and Capital City in Ottawa. "After the first four, we'll decide what we do from there. If things are going good, we'll probably keep going. The Thunder Road weekly schedule begins right around that time, and we'll figure out whether or not the Castrol series is still an option for us then. It's less of a risk [than running the Tour], and we're hoping to steal a win and get into Loudon."

Demers will be at the ACT Late Model Tour's Furniture World of Vermont Spring Green 100 at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y. this weekend, then makes his Série ACT-Castrol debut at Autodrome St-Eustache on Saturday, May 16.

(Photo: Trampas Demers (85) paces the field at Thunder Road prior to the start of Merchants Bank 150 last Sunday. He will head to Canada's Série ACT-Castrol in 2009. Justin St. Louis/VMM photo)