American-Canadian Tour -- WJAB 150
Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford, Me.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Starting Lineup
(Pos.-Driver-Hometown)
1. Travis Stearns, Auburn, Me.
2. Brian Hoar, Williston
3. Scott Payea, Milton
4. Tim Brackett, Buckfield, Me.
5. Eddie MacDonald, Rowley, Mass.
6. # Austin Theriault, Fort Kent, Me.
7. T.J. Brackett, Buckfield, Me.
8. Jay Laquerre, East Montpelier
9. Quinny Welch, Lancaster, N.H.
10. Scott Luce, Strong, Me.
11. Mark Hayward, Newport, N.H.
12. Tommy Ricker, Poland, Me.
13. Mark Lamberton, Mooers Forks, N.Y.
14. Travis Adams, Canton, Me.
15. Ricky Rolfe, Albany Twp., Me.
16. # Chris Riendeau, Ascutney
17. Scott Dragon, Milton
18. Ben Ashline, Pittston, Me.
19. T.J. Watson, Cundy’s Harbor, Me.
20. Eric Williams, Hyde Park
21. Jeff White, Winthrop, Me.
22. Corey Morgan, Lewiston, Me.
23. Dennis Spencer, Jr., Oxford, Me.
24. Glen Luce, Turner, Me.
25. Donald Theetge, Quebec, Que.
26. # Bradley Babb, Windham, Me.
27. Brent Dragon, Milton
28. Randy Potter, Groveton, N.H.
29. Bryan Kruczek, Newmarket, N.H.
30. Gary Chaisson, Peru, Me.
31. John Donahue, Graniteville
32. # Dave Paya, Milton
33. Shawn Martin, Turner, Me.
Showing posts with label Scott Payea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Scott Payea. Show all posts
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
The Juice: ACT's Bicentennial By The Numbers
-by Justin St. Louis
VMM Editor
Hey, the rain can't stop us all year, right? The weekend forecast looks pretty good, and two of Vermont's three tracks will get up and running on Saturday.
We're headed down Routes 7 and 22A to West Haven to take in the first asphalt practice session at Devil's Bowl Speedway in nearly 40 years early Saturday afternoon, then over Route 4 and up I-91 to Bradford for the Bear Ridge Speedway season opener.
If that wasn't enough, we're getting up bright and early Sunday morning to head wicked east to Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine for the American-Canadian Tour show.
Ayuh. (Or "Yessah" for you Mainers.)
There's short track racing everywhere, now that spring is actually here. Where are you headed?
***
Sunday's WJAB 150 at Oxford Plains Speedway will be the 200th championship event for the present-day ACT Late Model Tour.
With its deepest roots planted at Barre's Thunder Road, the series has ushered in several changes revolutionary to the short track world including "spec" crate engines, tires and shocks, and the first-ever trip to New Hampshire Motor Speedway last fall. The series has gone through a few name changes, scheduling formats, rulebooks, and occasionally a cast or two of characters, but it is, for all intents and purposes, the same old Tour.
I'm a self-admitted stats junkie and have been looking for some sort of outlet lately, so without further ado, here's a look at the history of the ACT Late Model Tour by the numbers...
0 -- The number of wins for ACT Late Model Tour champions Phil Scott in 2002 and Jean-Paul Cyr in 2007.
0 -- Cautions in the Time Warner Cable 100 at Oxford Plains Speedway, the only caution-free race in ACT history. Eddie MacDonald scored his first ACT win in the race.
1 -- As in, the first race. Warren, Vt.'s Norm Andrews, a multi-time Thunder Road track champion in the 1970s and '80s, won the first-ever "ACT Late Model Sportsman International Series" event, a 25-lap race at the 9/10-mile Sanair Super Speedway tri-oval in St-Pie, Que., on April 26, 1992.
1 -- The number of Canadian drivers to win the ACT Late Model Tour championship -- Patrick Laperle, 2008.
1 -- In points, the margin of victory for Laperle over runner-up Scott Payea in 2008, the narrowest championship margin in history.
1 -- The number of ACT races Maine's Ryan Moore won in 2001... a year before he won the ACT Rookie of the Year title.
2 -- Norm Andrews' winning car number in the first event at Sanair.
2 hours, 42 minutes, 8 seconds -- The amount of time it took Ben Rowe to win the 2006 "Mega Classique" at Sanair Super Speedway, the longest race of record in series history.
3 -- Drivers to win in their first career ACT start: Norm Andrews (Sanair, 1992 -- ACT's first race), Ryan Moore (Oxford, 2001), D.J. Kennington (Lee USA, 2004).
3 -- Consecutive wins for Gary Caron in 1995 and Ben Rowe in 2006, the ACT Late Model Tour record for victory streaks. Interestingly, neither driver had ever won an ACT race prior to their threepeats.
3 -- The car number of the first last-place finisher, Jimmy Young, who was 26th with a transmission failure at Sanair. Young would make one more Late Model start in his first rookie attempt before going back to the Tiger Sportsman division and dominating for most of the decade. Young would return as an ACT rookie in 1999, finishing third -- where else? -- in his first start at Thunder Road.
4 -- The number of top-five finishes Scott Payea turned in during the first four races of his ACT career in 2005.
4 -- Races that have won by a last-lap pass for the lead. Jim Cilley beat Kevin Lepage at Thunder Road on August 26, 1993; Dave Whitcomb won in a famous three-wide photo finish at Airborne Speedway over Ron Weston on Sept. 22, 1996; Tracie Bellerose beat Phil Scott in a controversial finish at Thunder Road on Sept. 1, 2001 that resulted in suspensions for driver Joey Laquerre and ACT president Tom Curley; and Brent Dragon assumed the lead at Airborne on May 8, 2004 when Laquerre pit out of the lead under caution, one lap before rains cancelled the final 34 laps of the race. For Cilley, Whitcomb, and Dragon, the final lap was the only lap each driver led en route to his respective win.
4 -- Consecutive championships for Brian Hoar, 1997 to 2000.
5 -- Consecutive championships for Jean-Paul Cyr, 2003 to 2007, an all-time ACT record.
5 -- The number of events run in two-part "segments" in the 1992 season, out of eight total races.
6 -- The number of events held in 1994, the shortest schedule to date.
6 -- Career championships for Brian Hoar (first was in 1993).
7 -- Career championships for Jean-Paul Cyr (others in 1994 and 1996).
8 -- The number of car numbers to win the ACT Late Model Tour championship. They are: 14 (Phil Scott, 2002), 25 (Dave Whitcomb, 1992), 31 (Lance Ferno, 1995), 32 (Jean-Paul Cyr, 1994, 1996 and 2003-07), 37 (Brian Hoar, 2009), 45 (Brian Hoar, 1993 and 1997-2000), 75 (Pete Fecteau, 2001), and 91 (Patrick Laperle, 2008).
10 -- Combined top-five finishes by rookies Jamie Fisher, Scott Dragon, and Jimmy Young in 1999.
12 -- The number of different drivers to win in 2004, an ACT record. Six were first-time winners.
14 -- Drivers whose first career top-five ACT finish was a victory. They are: Norm Andrews in 1992, Pat Corbett in 1993, Kip Stockwell, Pete Fecteau and Billy Holbrook in 1996, Chris Fisher in 1998, rookie Jamie Fisher in 1999, Ryan Moore in 2001, Jacob McGrath in 2002, Joey Becker, Shawn Martin, Dale Shaw and D.J. Kennington in 2004, and Eddie MacDonald in 2007.
16 -- The number of events held in both 2002 and 2003, the longest schedules to date.
16 -- The number of events run at a distance of less than 100 laps.
16 -- The record for the ACT Late Model Tour's smallest starting field. It has happened twice, at Riverside Speedway (Ste-Croix, Que.) in 1992 and Sanair Super Speedway in 1993.
17 -- The number of times a driver has led every lap of an ACT Late Model Tour race. Norm Andrews led all 25 laps of the first-ever ACT event in 1992 for his only victory, and Pat Corbett did so in two of his three career wins. Jean-Paul Cyr has done it a record three times. Joey Laquerre and Cyr did it in back-to-back races at Riverside Speedway in Groveton, N.H., and Thunder Road in August 2002.
18 -- The record number of cautions in the "Massacre at Ste-Croix" at Riverside Speedway in Ste-Croix, Que., on June 29, 2002. The mark was equalled at Autodrome St-Eustache on July 28, 2007.
18 -- The number of ACT Late Model Tour events held at White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H., since 1998.
19 -- The record for lead changes in a single event. It has happened twice -- the 2004 Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic at Thunder Road and the 2009 Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Fall Foliage 300 at Airborne Speedway.
19 -- Jean-Paul Cyr's career win total, second all-time.
20 -- The number of ACT Late Model Tour events held at Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Me., since 1995.
21 -- The age of champion Brian Hoar in 1993, the youngest of any ACT Late Model Tour champion.
23 -- The number of drivers with just a single ACT Late Model Tour win.
25 -- Brian Hoar's career win total, tops all-time.
25th race -- The Coca-Cola 100 on July 3, 1995 at Thunder Road in Barre, Vt., won by Gary Caron.
26 minutes, 30 seconds -- The amount of time it took Jean-Paul Cyr to win the 2002 Labor Day Classic 100 at Thunder Road, the quickest race of record in series history.
35 -- The number of drivers with multiple ACT Late Model Tour wins.
35 -- Brian Hoar's winning percentage through the first three seasons of the ACT Late Model Tour, 1992-94 (7 wins in 20 races).
36 -- The number of ACT Late Model Tour events held at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y., second-most of any track on the circuit.
43 -- The largest starting field in ACT Late Model Tour history, at Sanair Super Speedway in 2006.
50th race -- The Fleur-de-Lys Classic on August 16, 1998 at Sanair Super Speedway in St-Pie, Que., won by Joey Laquerre.
51 -- The age of champion Pete Fecteau in 2001, the oldest of any ACT Late Model Tour champion.
57 -- The number of ACT Late Model Tour events held at Thunder Road in Barre, the most of any track on the circuit.
58 -- Different drivers to have won at least one ACT Late Model Tour event.
66 -- The number of laps run in the Spring Green at Airborne on May 8, 2004. It is the only ACT Late Model Tour race to date that has been cut short of its advertised distance (the race was scheduled to go 100 laps). Joey Laquerre pitted out of the lead under caution with a vibration on lap 65, only to have the rains come one lap later. Brent Dragon inhertied the lead and took the win. Laquerre finished 15th.
75th race -- The Currier Auto Group 100 on August 24, 2000 at White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H., won by Phil Scott.
100th race -- The Subway 100 on June 23, 2002 at Canaan Fair Speedway in Canaan, N.H., won by Kenny Dufour.
125th race -- The New England Dodge Dealers Milk Bowl on October 5, 2003 at Thunder Road in Barre, Vt., won by Eric Williams.
150th race -- The Merchants Bank 150 on April 30, 2006 at Thunder Road in Barre, Vt., won by Jean-Paul Cyr.
175 -- Career starts for Brent Dragon, most all-time.
175th race -- The New England Dodge Dealers 150 on April 26, 2008 at Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Me., won by Ricky Rolfe.
184 -- In points, the margin of victory for Brian Hoar over runner-up Chuck Beede in 1999, the widest championship margin in history.
199th race -- The Merchants Bank 150 on May 2, 2010 at Thunder Road in Barre, Vt., won by Nick Sweet.
200th race -- The WJAB 150 at Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Me., to be run on Sunday at 2:00pm.
300 -- Laps run in the Fall Foliage 300 at Airborne Speedway last September, the longest-distance ACT race in history.
24,182 -- Laps completed by the ACT Late Model Tour since 1992.
***
AROUND THE REGION:
Time to take a look at the top Vermonters from the past weekend...
Big Daddy's Speedway (Rumney, N.H.): Louie Cadwell of Vershire was the runner-up in the inaugural Sportsman Modified feature at Big Daddy's Speedbowl on Sunday, with Hartland's Ed Tobin fifth. Josh Sunn of White River Junction won the Mini Stock feature.
Canaan Dirt Speedway (Canaan, N.H.): Rookie Dan Eastman of Thetford Center was sixth in the Sportsman Modifed opener on Friday, with Hartland's Ed Tobin ninth. Josh Sunn of White River Junction was fifth in the Mini Stocks. Dakota Stender of Tunbridge won the Bandit feature with Mike Stender of South Strafford fifth.
NASCAR Nationwide Series: Shelburne's Kevin Lepage was 38th at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway on Friday night.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: David Stremme finished 24th at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway on Saturday night for Vermont-based Latitude 43 Motorsports.
PASS South Super Late Models: Steven Legendre of Danville finished 19th in Friday's event at Wake County Speedway in Raleigh, N.C.
Twin State Speedway (Claremont, N.H.): Dallas Trombley of Rutland finished 13th in the Late Model feature on Friday night, while Robert Hagar of Windsor was tenth in the Modified event. Russ Davis of Cavendish won the Super Street feature over Chris Wilk of Mendon, with Mt. Holly's Kayla Bryant fifth. Pittsford's Kyle Davis won the Strictly Stock feature over Jacksonville's Kaitlin Stone and David Greenslit of Waitsfield.
***
THIS WEEK:
Friday, May 14
Albany-Saratoga Speedway, Malta, N.Y. -- 6:45pm (Regular Event)
Canaan Dirt Speedway, Canaan, N.H. -- 7:00pm (SCoNE 360 Sprint Cars)
Twin State Speedway, Claremont, N.H. -- 7:30pm (Regular Event)
Saturday, May 15
Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y. -- 5:00pm (Regular Event)
Bear Ridge Speedway, Bradford -- 10:00am (Car Show @ Jiffy Mart), 6:00pm (Season Opener - Double Features)
Canaan Fair Speedway, Canaan, N.H. -- 6:00pm (Season Opener)
Devil's Bowl Speedway, West Haven -- 1:00pm (Open Practice)
Monadnock Speedway, Winchester, N.H. -- 6:00pm (Regular Event)
Sunday, May 16
Big Daddy's Speedbowl, Rumney, N.H. -- 4:00pm (Regular Event)
Riverside Speedway, Groveton, N.H. -- 1:00pm (Season Opener)
TOURING SERIES:
ACT Late Model Tour: Sun., May 16 -- Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford, Me. (2:00pm)
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: Fri., May 14 -- Dover Int'l Speedway, Dover, Del. (SPEED/8:00pm - Tape Delay)
NASCAR Nationwide Series: Sat., May 15 -- Dover Int'l Speedway, Dover, Del. (ABC/1:00pm)
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Sun., May 16 -- Dover Int'l Speedway, Dover, Del. (FOX/7:30pm)
Sprint Cars of New England: Fri., May 14 -- Canaan Dirt Speedway, Canaan, N.H. (7:00pm)
VMM Editor
Hey, the rain can't stop us all year, right? The weekend forecast looks pretty good, and two of Vermont's three tracks will get up and running on Saturday.
We're headed down Routes 7 and 22A to West Haven to take in the first asphalt practice session at Devil's Bowl Speedway in nearly 40 years early Saturday afternoon, then over Route 4 and up I-91 to Bradford for the Bear Ridge Speedway season opener.
If that wasn't enough, we're getting up bright and early Sunday morning to head wicked east to Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine for the American-Canadian Tour show.
Ayuh. (Or "Yessah" for you Mainers.)
There's short track racing everywhere, now that spring is actually here. Where are you headed?
***
Sunday's WJAB 150 at Oxford Plains Speedway will be the 200th championship event for the present-day ACT Late Model Tour.
With its deepest roots planted at Barre's Thunder Road, the series has ushered in several changes revolutionary to the short track world including "spec" crate engines, tires and shocks, and the first-ever trip to New Hampshire Motor Speedway last fall. The series has gone through a few name changes, scheduling formats, rulebooks, and occasionally a cast or two of characters, but it is, for all intents and purposes, the same old Tour.
I'm a self-admitted stats junkie and have been looking for some sort of outlet lately, so without further ado, here's a look at the history of the ACT Late Model Tour by the numbers...
0 -- The number of wins for ACT Late Model Tour champions Phil Scott in 2002 and Jean-Paul Cyr in 2007.
0 -- Cautions in the Time Warner Cable 100 at Oxford Plains Speedway, the only caution-free race in ACT history. Eddie MacDonald scored his first ACT win in the race.
1 -- As in, the first race. Warren, Vt.'s Norm Andrews, a multi-time Thunder Road track champion in the 1970s and '80s, won the first-ever "ACT Late Model Sportsman International Series" event, a 25-lap race at the 9/10-mile Sanair Super Speedway tri-oval in St-Pie, Que., on April 26, 1992.
1 -- The number of Canadian drivers to win the ACT Late Model Tour championship -- Patrick Laperle, 2008.
1 -- In points, the margin of victory for Laperle over runner-up Scott Payea in 2008, the narrowest championship margin in history.
1 -- The number of ACT races Maine's Ryan Moore won in 2001... a year before he won the ACT Rookie of the Year title.
2 -- Norm Andrews' winning car number in the first event at Sanair.
2 hours, 42 minutes, 8 seconds -- The amount of time it took Ben Rowe to win the 2006 "Mega Classique" at Sanair Super Speedway, the longest race of record in series history.
3 -- Drivers to win in their first career ACT start: Norm Andrews (Sanair, 1992 -- ACT's first race), Ryan Moore (Oxford, 2001), D.J. Kennington (Lee USA, 2004).
3 -- Consecutive wins for Gary Caron in 1995 and Ben Rowe in 2006, the ACT Late Model Tour record for victory streaks. Interestingly, neither driver had ever won an ACT race prior to their threepeats.
3 -- The car number of the first last-place finisher, Jimmy Young, who was 26th with a transmission failure at Sanair. Young would make one more Late Model start in his first rookie attempt before going back to the Tiger Sportsman division and dominating for most of the decade. Young would return as an ACT rookie in 1999, finishing third -- where else? -- in his first start at Thunder Road.
4 -- The number of top-five finishes Scott Payea turned in during the first four races of his ACT career in 2005.
4 -- Races that have won by a last-lap pass for the lead. Jim Cilley beat Kevin Lepage at Thunder Road on August 26, 1993; Dave Whitcomb won in a famous three-wide photo finish at Airborne Speedway over Ron Weston on Sept. 22, 1996; Tracie Bellerose beat Phil Scott in a controversial finish at Thunder Road on Sept. 1, 2001 that resulted in suspensions for driver Joey Laquerre and ACT president Tom Curley; and Brent Dragon assumed the lead at Airborne on May 8, 2004 when Laquerre pit out of the lead under caution, one lap before rains cancelled the final 34 laps of the race. For Cilley, Whitcomb, and Dragon, the final lap was the only lap each driver led en route to his respective win.
4 -- Consecutive championships for Brian Hoar, 1997 to 2000.
5 -- Consecutive championships for Jean-Paul Cyr, 2003 to 2007, an all-time ACT record.
5 -- The number of events run in two-part "segments" in the 1992 season, out of eight total races.
6 -- The number of events held in 1994, the shortest schedule to date.
6 -- Career championships for Brian Hoar (first was in 1993).
7 -- Career championships for Jean-Paul Cyr (others in 1994 and 1996).
8 -- The number of car numbers to win the ACT Late Model Tour championship. They are: 14 (Phil Scott, 2002), 25 (Dave Whitcomb, 1992), 31 (Lance Ferno, 1995), 32 (Jean-Paul Cyr, 1994, 1996 and 2003-07), 37 (Brian Hoar, 2009), 45 (Brian Hoar, 1993 and 1997-2000), 75 (Pete Fecteau, 2001), and 91 (Patrick Laperle, 2008).
10 -- Combined top-five finishes by rookies Jamie Fisher, Scott Dragon, and Jimmy Young in 1999.
12 -- The number of different drivers to win in 2004, an ACT record. Six were first-time winners.
14 -- Drivers whose first career top-five ACT finish was a victory. They are: Norm Andrews in 1992, Pat Corbett in 1993, Kip Stockwell, Pete Fecteau and Billy Holbrook in 1996, Chris Fisher in 1998, rookie Jamie Fisher in 1999, Ryan Moore in 2001, Jacob McGrath in 2002, Joey Becker, Shawn Martin, Dale Shaw and D.J. Kennington in 2004, and Eddie MacDonald in 2007.
16 -- The number of events held in both 2002 and 2003, the longest schedules to date.
16 -- The number of events run at a distance of less than 100 laps.
16 -- The record for the ACT Late Model Tour's smallest starting field. It has happened twice, at Riverside Speedway (Ste-Croix, Que.) in 1992 and Sanair Super Speedway in 1993.
17 -- The number of times a driver has led every lap of an ACT Late Model Tour race. Norm Andrews led all 25 laps of the first-ever ACT event in 1992 for his only victory, and Pat Corbett did so in two of his three career wins. Jean-Paul Cyr has done it a record three times. Joey Laquerre and Cyr did it in back-to-back races at Riverside Speedway in Groveton, N.H., and Thunder Road in August 2002.
18 -- The record number of cautions in the "Massacre at Ste-Croix" at Riverside Speedway in Ste-Croix, Que., on June 29, 2002. The mark was equalled at Autodrome St-Eustache on July 28, 2007.
18 -- The number of ACT Late Model Tour events held at White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H., since 1998.
19 -- The record for lead changes in a single event. It has happened twice -- the 2004 Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic at Thunder Road and the 2009 Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Fall Foliage 300 at Airborne Speedway.
19 -- Jean-Paul Cyr's career win total, second all-time.
20 -- The number of ACT Late Model Tour events held at Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Me., since 1995.
21 -- The age of champion Brian Hoar in 1993, the youngest of any ACT Late Model Tour champion.
23 -- The number of drivers with just a single ACT Late Model Tour win.
25 -- Brian Hoar's career win total, tops all-time.
25th race -- The Coca-Cola 100 on July 3, 1995 at Thunder Road in Barre, Vt., won by Gary Caron.
26 minutes, 30 seconds -- The amount of time it took Jean-Paul Cyr to win the 2002 Labor Day Classic 100 at Thunder Road, the quickest race of record in series history.
35 -- The number of drivers with multiple ACT Late Model Tour wins.
35 -- Brian Hoar's winning percentage through the first three seasons of the ACT Late Model Tour, 1992-94 (7 wins in 20 races).
36 -- The number of ACT Late Model Tour events held at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y., second-most of any track on the circuit.
43 -- The largest starting field in ACT Late Model Tour history, at Sanair Super Speedway in 2006.
50th race -- The Fleur-de-Lys Classic on August 16, 1998 at Sanair Super Speedway in St-Pie, Que., won by Joey Laquerre.
51 -- The age of champion Pete Fecteau in 2001, the oldest of any ACT Late Model Tour champion.
57 -- The number of ACT Late Model Tour events held at Thunder Road in Barre, the most of any track on the circuit.
58 -- Different drivers to have won at least one ACT Late Model Tour event.
66 -- The number of laps run in the Spring Green at Airborne on May 8, 2004. It is the only ACT Late Model Tour race to date that has been cut short of its advertised distance (the race was scheduled to go 100 laps). Joey Laquerre pitted out of the lead under caution with a vibration on lap 65, only to have the rains come one lap later. Brent Dragon inhertied the lead and took the win. Laquerre finished 15th.
75th race -- The Currier Auto Group 100 on August 24, 2000 at White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H., won by Phil Scott.
100th race -- The Subway 100 on June 23, 2002 at Canaan Fair Speedway in Canaan, N.H., won by Kenny Dufour.
125th race -- The New England Dodge Dealers Milk Bowl on October 5, 2003 at Thunder Road in Barre, Vt., won by Eric Williams.
150th race -- The Merchants Bank 150 on April 30, 2006 at Thunder Road in Barre, Vt., won by Jean-Paul Cyr.
175 -- Career starts for Brent Dragon, most all-time.
175th race -- The New England Dodge Dealers 150 on April 26, 2008 at Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Me., won by Ricky Rolfe.
184 -- In points, the margin of victory for Brian Hoar over runner-up Chuck Beede in 1999, the widest championship margin in history.
199th race -- The Merchants Bank 150 on May 2, 2010 at Thunder Road in Barre, Vt., won by Nick Sweet.
200th race -- The WJAB 150 at Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Me., to be run on Sunday at 2:00pm.
300 -- Laps run in the Fall Foliage 300 at Airborne Speedway last September, the longest-distance ACT race in history.
24,182 -- Laps completed by the ACT Late Model Tour since 1992.
***
AROUND THE REGION:
Time to take a look at the top Vermonters from the past weekend...
Big Daddy's Speedway (Rumney, N.H.): Louie Cadwell of Vershire was the runner-up in the inaugural Sportsman Modified feature at Big Daddy's Speedbowl on Sunday, with Hartland's Ed Tobin fifth. Josh Sunn of White River Junction won the Mini Stock feature.
Canaan Dirt Speedway (Canaan, N.H.): Rookie Dan Eastman of Thetford Center was sixth in the Sportsman Modifed opener on Friday, with Hartland's Ed Tobin ninth. Josh Sunn of White River Junction was fifth in the Mini Stocks. Dakota Stender of Tunbridge won the Bandit feature with Mike Stender of South Strafford fifth.
NASCAR Nationwide Series: Shelburne's Kevin Lepage was 38th at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway on Friday night.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: David Stremme finished 24th at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway on Saturday night for Vermont-based Latitude 43 Motorsports.
PASS South Super Late Models: Steven Legendre of Danville finished 19th in Friday's event at Wake County Speedway in Raleigh, N.C.
Twin State Speedway (Claremont, N.H.): Dallas Trombley of Rutland finished 13th in the Late Model feature on Friday night, while Robert Hagar of Windsor was tenth in the Modified event. Russ Davis of Cavendish won the Super Street feature over Chris Wilk of Mendon, with Mt. Holly's Kayla Bryant fifth. Pittsford's Kyle Davis won the Strictly Stock feature over Jacksonville's Kaitlin Stone and David Greenslit of Waitsfield.
***
THIS WEEK:
Friday, May 14
Albany-Saratoga Speedway, Malta, N.Y. -- 6:45pm (Regular Event)
Canaan Dirt Speedway, Canaan, N.H. -- 7:00pm (SCoNE 360 Sprint Cars)
Twin State Speedway, Claremont, N.H. -- 7:30pm (Regular Event)
Saturday, May 15
Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y. -- 5:00pm (Regular Event)
Bear Ridge Speedway, Bradford -- 10:00am (Car Show @ Jiffy Mart), 6:00pm (Season Opener - Double Features)
Canaan Fair Speedway, Canaan, N.H. -- 6:00pm (Season Opener)
Devil's Bowl Speedway, West Haven -- 1:00pm (Open Practice)
Monadnock Speedway, Winchester, N.H. -- 6:00pm (Regular Event)
Sunday, May 16
Big Daddy's Speedbowl, Rumney, N.H. -- 4:00pm (Regular Event)
Riverside Speedway, Groveton, N.H. -- 1:00pm (Season Opener)
TOURING SERIES:
ACT Late Model Tour: Sun., May 16 -- Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford, Me. (2:00pm)
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: Fri., May 14 -- Dover Int'l Speedway, Dover, Del. (SPEED/8:00pm - Tape Delay)
NASCAR Nationwide Series: Sat., May 15 -- Dover Int'l Speedway, Dover, Del. (ABC/1:00pm)
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Sun., May 16 -- Dover Int'l Speedway, Dover, Del. (FOX/7:30pm)
Sprint Cars of New England: Fri., May 14 -- Canaan Dirt Speedway, Canaan, N.H. (7:00pm)
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Hoar, Cyr Ready to Finally Battle for ACT Title
BARRE -- Goliath meets Goliath at Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl on Sunday. Williston's Brian Hoar and Milton's Jean-Paul Cyr -- the two all-time winningest drivers in American-Canadian Tour Late Model history -- will face each other head-to-head for the 2010 championship in the most anticipated matchup in recent memory.
***
TALE OF THE TAPE
Defending champion Hoar's 25 career wins top the all-time ACT Late Model Tour victory chart, while Cyr's 19 wins rank second. In 106 career starts, Hoar has 60 top-fives, 78 top-tens, and an average finish of 7.7. In 137 starts, Cyr has 60 top-fives, 86 top-tens, and a 9.3 average finish.
Hoar owns six ACT championships -- 1993, each year from 1997 to 2000, and 2009. Cyr's seven titles are an ACT record, having won in 1994, 1996, and each season from 2003 to 2007.
In addition to his ACT titles, Hoar was the track champion at both Airborne Speedway and Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl in 1999, was that year's ACT Overall champion, was the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Rookie of the Year in 2001, and won the 2006 New Hampshire Motor Speedway track championship.
Cyr won the Devil's Bowl Speedway championship in 1990 as a dirt track racer, won ACT's Am/Can Challenge title in 1996, is the reigning Thunder Road track champion, and is a successful off-road motorcycle racer, competing in the legendary Baja 1000 and Baja 500 events.
Hoar drove for his family-owned Goss Dodge team before joining Rick Paya's RPM Motorsports for the ACT championship last year. Paya was Cyr's crew chief from 2003-08, also serving as car owner the final two years. After a successful year driving for Joey and Jeff Laquerre, Cyr will race for veteran Gary Caron this season.
***
NEVER WORKED OUT
For one reason or another, Hoar and Cyr have raced the entire ACT schedule together just three times. As Cyr won championships in 1994 and 2007, Hoar endured tough seasons to finish a distant sixth each time. In 1996, the two entered the final event at Airborne Speedway in a tight battle with Dave Whitcomb. Hoar's car failed to come to life on the starting grid, though, and he was forced to watch from the sidelines.
"It's never really worked out," said Cyr. "The times he won it, I wasn't around. The times I've won it, Brian has either not been there or not been able to be up there with me."
Each driver won four consecutive ACT titles at different points, but each streak took place while the other was racing NASCAR. Hoar's 1993 and 2009 titles came when Cyr ran only weekly events at Airborne or Thunder Road.
"I think not being there at the same time as the other was good for our careers," said Hoar. "He made it look easy [in 2003-06], and I did in the '90s, but now there are a lot of new faces and it's going to be tougher. It's probably not realistic to think that we're going to be the only ones racing for the title, but it would be pretty cool."
And that championship in 1996? Cyr won by two points over Whitcomb. Hoar finished third on the trailer, 62 points back.
***
FAST FOES, FAST FRIENDS
"There are a lot of things that have to go just right for it to happen, and I'm hoping it happens," Hoar says of a potential championship showdown between he and Cyr. "We're at points in both of our careers where we've each won lots of races and championships. The only thing we really have left to do is to beat each other."
"If Brian wins the title this year, he'll tie my record [of seven ACT championships]," says Cyr. "I don't really want him to do that. If I'm able to pull it off and beat him, it will personally be one of the more rewarding championships I'll have had."
That intense focus should not draw bitter conclusions, though. While fierce competitors on the track, the two are close off the track; Cyr and Hoar go motorcycle riding, go-kart racing, and snowboarding together in the off-season. Cyr also remains close with Paya, speaking with him "at least once or twice a week."
Still, the drive to be the best racer is too great to ignore: "Jean is a great competitor and a great friend, but it would really suck to lose to him," Hoar says. "It would suck worse to lose to him than anyone else."
***
SOMEONE ELSE
Losing to someone else is a very real possibility for both drivers. Names dropped by Cyr and Hoar as potential race winners and title contenders included Scott Payea, Joey Polewarczyk, and part-timer Eric Williams, and both are concerned about Brent Dragon and John Donahue as championship spoilers.
Payea won the Spring Green 100 at Airborne and has finished second in each of the last three seasons, including to Cyr in 2007 and Hoar last year. He hopes that the potential battle between the two will work to his advantage.
"I'm sure it's going to weigh on Brian's mind and Jean's as well," Payea said. "That's fine with me. Let them have their own battle, and I'll go and try to steal the championship from both of them."
Dragon is also a three-time championship runner-up with nine career wins, including a score at Twin State Speedway last September and a pair of wins in Canada. Donahue won at White Mountain Motorsports Park in June and finished no worse than fourth in the final five championshp events of 2009, adding a win in the Milk Bowl and a fifth-place effort at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the process. Polewarczyk and Williams each had a win at Oxford Plains Speedway, and Williams also won at Thunder Road.
The list of top conteders -- full-time or otherwise -- also includes Brad Leighton, Patrick Laperle, Randy Potter, Dave Pembroke, Cris Michaud, Glen Luce, Jamie Fisher, Nick Sweet, and ACT newcomers Aaron Fellows, Travis Adams, Bradley Babb, and Chris Riendeau.
***
ADVANTAGE?
Cyr and Paya's long association creates advantages for both teams. Having won five of his seven ACT titles with Paya as either crew chief, car owner, or both, Cyr feels he knows Paya well enough to have educated guesses for each strategic decision Paya may make, but understands that Paya knows most Cyr's tricks behind the wheel, too.
"Rick is very clever, very methodical. He brings a whole different dimension to the Tour because he eats, breathes, and sleeps racing," says Cyr. "I've never actually competed against him because I've always been with him. It's going to be fun if there are any races where [Hoar and I] really running at par with each other. Rick has an advantage knowing how I drive, but I know his strategies. If he one-ups me I'll be able to look back at it and I'll know why and how he did it, but I think I can call his bluff, too."
Hoar doesn't see the Cyr-Paya familiarity as a problem. "I know I'm with a great team," he said. "Rick has had two very different styles of driver in me and Jean, and he's had similar results with both of us. The team does a great job, so it's up to me to work my [butt] off behind the wheel."
Cyr thinks this will be his best shot at challenging Hoar head-on. "I know the equipment he's in is great, because I used to drive it," he said. "The equipment I'm in this year is pretty aged and it's been around the block a few times, but I'm really optimistic. We tested at Canaan and I'm really pleased with how it went. Keith [Williams] and Kyle [Caron] did an unbelievable job putting the car together. It's up to the standards I'm used to. I wouldn't be racing this car if I didn't believe it could win."
(PHOTOS: 1. Brian Hoar; 2. Jean-Paul Cyr; 3. Scott Payea. Photos by Justin St. Louis/VMM)
***
TALE OF THE TAPE
Defending champion Hoar's 25 career wins top the all-time ACT Late Model Tour victory chart, while Cyr's 19 wins rank second. In 106 career starts, Hoar has 60 top-fives, 78 top-tens, and an average finish of 7.7. In 137 starts, Cyr has 60 top-fives, 86 top-tens, and a 9.3 average finish.Hoar owns six ACT championships -- 1993, each year from 1997 to 2000, and 2009. Cyr's seven titles are an ACT record, having won in 1994, 1996, and each season from 2003 to 2007.
In addition to his ACT titles, Hoar was the track champion at both Airborne Speedway and Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl in 1999, was that year's ACT Overall champion, was the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Rookie of the Year in 2001, and won the 2006 New Hampshire Motor Speedway track championship.
Cyr won the Devil's Bowl Speedway championship in 1990 as a dirt track racer, won ACT's Am/Can Challenge title in 1996, is the reigning Thunder Road track champion, and is a successful off-road motorcycle racer, competing in the legendary Baja 1000 and Baja 500 events.
Hoar drove for his family-owned Goss Dodge team before joining Rick Paya's RPM Motorsports for the ACT championship last year. Paya was Cyr's crew chief from 2003-08, also serving as car owner the final two years. After a successful year driving for Joey and Jeff Laquerre, Cyr will race for veteran Gary Caron this season.
***
NEVER WORKED OUT
For one reason or another, Hoar and Cyr have raced the entire ACT schedule together just three times. As Cyr won championships in 1994 and 2007, Hoar endured tough seasons to finish a distant sixth each time. In 1996, the two entered the final event at Airborne Speedway in a tight battle with Dave Whitcomb. Hoar's car failed to come to life on the starting grid, though, and he was forced to watch from the sidelines.
"It's never really worked out," said Cyr. "The times he won it, I wasn't around. The times I've won it, Brian has either not been there or not been able to be up there with me."Each driver won four consecutive ACT titles at different points, but each streak took place while the other was racing NASCAR. Hoar's 1993 and 2009 titles came when Cyr ran only weekly events at Airborne or Thunder Road.
"I think not being there at the same time as the other was good for our careers," said Hoar. "He made it look easy [in 2003-06], and I did in the '90s, but now there are a lot of new faces and it's going to be tougher. It's probably not realistic to think that we're going to be the only ones racing for the title, but it would be pretty cool."
And that championship in 1996? Cyr won by two points over Whitcomb. Hoar finished third on the trailer, 62 points back.
***
FAST FOES, FAST FRIENDS
"There are a lot of things that have to go just right for it to happen, and I'm hoping it happens," Hoar says of a potential championship showdown between he and Cyr. "We're at points in both of our careers where we've each won lots of races and championships. The only thing we really have left to do is to beat each other."
"If Brian wins the title this year, he'll tie my record [of seven ACT championships]," says Cyr. "I don't really want him to do that. If I'm able to pull it off and beat him, it will personally be one of the more rewarding championships I'll have had."
That intense focus should not draw bitter conclusions, though. While fierce competitors on the track, the two are close off the track; Cyr and Hoar go motorcycle riding, go-kart racing, and snowboarding together in the off-season. Cyr also remains close with Paya, speaking with him "at least once or twice a week."
Still, the drive to be the best racer is too great to ignore: "Jean is a great competitor and a great friend, but it would really suck to lose to him," Hoar says. "It would suck worse to lose to him than anyone else."
***
SOMEONE ELSE
Losing to someone else is a very real possibility for both drivers. Names dropped by Cyr and Hoar as potential race winners and title contenders included Scott Payea, Joey Polewarczyk, and part-timer Eric Williams, and both are concerned about Brent Dragon and John Donahue as championship spoilers.
Payea won the Spring Green 100 at Airborne and has finished second in each of the last three seasons, including to Cyr in 2007 and Hoar last year. He hopes that the potential battle between the two will work to his advantage."I'm sure it's going to weigh on Brian's mind and Jean's as well," Payea said. "That's fine with me. Let them have their own battle, and I'll go and try to steal the championship from both of them."
Dragon is also a three-time championship runner-up with nine career wins, including a score at Twin State Speedway last September and a pair of wins in Canada. Donahue won at White Mountain Motorsports Park in June and finished no worse than fourth in the final five championshp events of 2009, adding a win in the Milk Bowl and a fifth-place effort at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the process. Polewarczyk and Williams each had a win at Oxford Plains Speedway, and Williams also won at Thunder Road.
The list of top conteders -- full-time or otherwise -- also includes Brad Leighton, Patrick Laperle, Randy Potter, Dave Pembroke, Cris Michaud, Glen Luce, Jamie Fisher, Nick Sweet, and ACT newcomers Aaron Fellows, Travis Adams, Bradley Babb, and Chris Riendeau.
***
ADVANTAGE?
Cyr and Paya's long association creates advantages for both teams. Having won five of his seven ACT titles with Paya as either crew chief, car owner, or both, Cyr feels he knows Paya well enough to have educated guesses for each strategic decision Paya may make, but understands that Paya knows most Cyr's tricks behind the wheel, too.
"Rick is very clever, very methodical. He brings a whole different dimension to the Tour because he eats, breathes, and sleeps racing," says Cyr. "I've never actually competed against him because I've always been with him. It's going to be fun if there are any races where [Hoar and I] really running at par with each other. Rick has an advantage knowing how I drive, but I know his strategies. If he one-ups me I'll be able to look back at it and I'll know why and how he did it, but I think I can call his bluff, too."
Hoar doesn't see the Cyr-Paya familiarity as a problem. "I know I'm with a great team," he said. "Rick has had two very different styles of driver in me and Jean, and he's had similar results with both of us. The team does a great job, so it's up to me to work my [butt] off behind the wheel."
Cyr thinks this will be his best shot at challenging Hoar head-on. "I know the equipment he's in is great, because I used to drive it," he said. "The equipment I'm in this year is pretty aged and it's been around the block a few times, but I'm really optimistic. We tested at Canaan and I'm really pleased with how it went. Keith [Williams] and Kyle [Caron] did an unbelievable job putting the car together. It's up to the standards I'm used to. I wouldn't be racing this car if I didn't believe it could win."
(PHOTOS: 1. Brian Hoar; 2. Jean-Paul Cyr; 3. Scott Payea. Photos by Justin St. Louis/VMM)
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
VIDEO: Scott Payea 2010 Season Preview
A look inside the garage with American-Canadian Tour driver Scott Payea and crew chief Chris Companion, as Payea talks about his team's goals for the 2010 season. Video produced by Justin St. Louis/Vermont Motorsports Magazine, © 2010.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
THE LOVE OF THE GAME
Junior Johnson was famous for saying, "If you want to make a small fortune in racing, start with a big one." There's only one reason we sacrifice our time, energy, money, and at times even our family lives, to stay in racing.
The love of the game.
***
"The choice was to stay at home in the cold and snow in Vermont, or come to Florida and race, so what the hell?" --Peter Jarvis at New Smyrna Speedway "For me it's a learning-charge-your-battery-focus-on-Thunder-Road-race-the-Baja-and-not-get-killed-type of year." --Jean-Paul Cyr, looking forward to his 2009 season
"I don't race to prove things, I race because I like to race." --Eric Williams
"It was a long haul, but I got to skip school so it was worth it." --17 year-old Joey Doiron on testing on a Wednesday afternoon at Thunder Road
"It's all about wins, because it won't be long that I won't be doing this anymore." --Brad Leighton"Who's Quinny?" --Eddie MacDonald, after an entertaining battle with Quinny Welch at Lee USA Speedway
"As long as everybody's having a good time, it's all good." --Modified Racing Series founder Jack Bateman
"We come down here every year to the first big race, we pull in with our little hauler and trailer. Some of these rigs I could park my hauler and truck inside their rig and still have a picnic underneath it, you know? And you stand there and you look around and you almost say, 'Man, what am I doing? This is crazy.' " --Eric Williams on operating a winning ACT race team with a shoestring budget
"When I was paving it, I threw some money on the track before the roller came through so I can say I've got a couple dollars in it." --Airborne Speedway champion Bucko Branham, who was on the construction team that gave the track a $300,000 facelift in April
"Not many people would give a kid a dirt Modified and say, 'Here, have at it.' " --Jason Gray
"We thought we were headed to Waterford, and we ended up winning at Ste-Croix." --Brent Dragon "I'm gonna have to fly like the wind. Literally." --Eric Chase, on catching a flight from Concord, N.H., to Berlin, Vt., after qualifying a NASCAR Camping World Series East car at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Thursday afternoon and getting to Thunder Road in time to race that evening
"Dale kept telling me, 'Slow down, slow down, slow down, save your tires,' and I said, 'How slow do you want me to go? I'm not even driving hard enough to use my brakes!' " --John Donahue after blistering an ACT field at White Mountain Motorsports Park
"ACT called asking me to run Beech Ridge, and I called them back and I said, 'You know something, I have a hard time pulling a dime out of my pocket to race on Thursday nights.' " --Doug Murphy "If there wasn't no Saturday night racing, there wouldn't be no Sunday racing." --Seven-time NASCAR champion "King" Richard Petty on the importance of short track racing as it relates to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
"We were at the shop, heck, I was going home before them and I usually don't do that. I'm usually one of the last guys there, and I was like, 'Guys, I gotta go to work in the morning,' and they would just stay down there." --Nick Sweet on the dedication of his crew
"I've got a Formula 1 game for my PlayStation, but that's it. I drove around the track in a street car for the first time, and that track is so narrow the Formula 1 guys that raced there must be crazy." --Patrick Laperle on making his road course debut in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
"This is just for fun." --Chris Donnelly
"We're a family-run team and that's what makes it fun. We stay close as a family, and it's even fun sometimes when you're fighting. It's like a woman, you've got to fight 'em every once in a while. It wouldn't be real if you weren't fighting, right?" --Nick Sweet
"He along with his whole team always represented to me exactly why I have stayed in this business for so long. If I could have 30 Mark Lambertons on the road each week, I would keep doing this until I either dropped dead or became so senile that they threw me out." --ACT president Tom Curley, upon the news that Mark Lamberton would return to regular competition "I'm hoping they'll think I'm Jeff Taylor and they'll cheer for me." --Nick Sweet at Oxford Plains Speedway, referencing the paint scheme on his car honoring nine-time OPS champion Taylor
"Honest to God, if I could run with those guys every week, I'd come up here and run every single week." --Wayne Helliwell, Jr. on racing against Quinny Welch and Randy Potter
"You get butterflies when you turn off the road here into New Hampshire and come through the tunnel." --Scott Payea on racing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
"You couldn't ask for a better guy." --Crew chief Jeff Laquerre on his driver, Jean-Paul Cyr
"I couldn't be more pleased with the way Scott races people. He's very smart and doesn't abuse his equipment. Some guys, like Brad Leighton and Patrick Laperle, those guys will risk it all to win. He's not that type of driver." --Brian Hoar on Scott Payea "The reality is that the chemistry with me and this team is there. I've had more fun racing this year than ever before, and that's whether we're at the track, or in the trailer on the way to a race, or on Tuesday nights when we're all in the shop together working on the car. I actually look forward to Tuesday nights more than anything." --Brain Hoar on his RPM Motorsports team
"I'm 38 years old and I still get all excited when I see these (NASCAR) guys race at this track. And in about an hour I get to be one of the guys racing here." --Dave Pembroke at NHMS
"I appreciate short track racing and haven't forgotten where I learned the sport from the grassroots up." --NHMS vice president Jerry Gappens
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
The Juice -- At What Point Did John Donahue Become a Star?
-by Justin St. Louis
Don't look now, but there's a new kid in town. Actually, there's nothing new about him at all, really, or kid-like. He's a hard worker with strong, dirty hands, hints of an old-time "ayuh" accent, and has been around this game for the better part of 20 years.
But all of a sudden, for the first time, John Donahue is a headline driver.
There's no telling the exact moment when he became one. Sunday, after winning the Milk Bowl? It might have been the crown jewel of his career, but it certainly wasn't his first win, or even his first important win. But in writing the post-race wrap-up of the Milk Bowl on Sunday and Monday, I found myself surprised, thinking something to the effect of, "Holy cow, Donahue's racked up quite the résumé. When did that happen?" In reality, it began a lot longer ago than I realized, maybe longer than anyone did.
A farmer by trade, the woodchuck-through-and-through Donahue rolled out of the rural Graniteville hills with a block-long Chevrolet for the "Killer B" class at Barre's Thunder Road in 1994. He recalled thinking that his car -- a larger, heavier, less powerful version of the era's Flying Tigers -- was "too slow" to have any fun in, so he moved up to the Tigers to race against his older brother, Bill, who had followed in their father Paul's footsteps as a multi-time winner and championship contender in the division.
And it turned out that "Irish John" was a chip off the ol' block, finishing third in points as a rookie. During the five seasons that followed, he would earn a pair of Thunder Road championships, a Triple Crown title at New Hampshire's Riverside Speedway, a "Tiger 50 Series" title, well over two dozen feature races at Thunder Road, Riverside, and Airborne Speedway in New York, and three Strictly Stock features at Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine.
In 2002, Donahue was hired to drive an American-Canadian Tour Late Model for Lee Delphia, winning top rookie honors at Thunder Road and finishing second on the Tour to the well-financed Ryan Moore, while also taking a Limited Sportsman win at Oxford. But a split from Delphia as the season ended left Donahue without a full-time ride for 2003, and the funding for his Maine-based team dried up as well. Donahue was on the outside looking in before another car owner, Mike Thompson, put Donahue in his Late Model for 2004.
Although comparatively underfunded, the team notched a win in the 2005 regular season finale at Thunder Road, a second win in mid-2006, and was constantly a top-five threat. A few on-track tussles brought some fanfare, including a couple involving Eric Williams, one of Thunder Road's all-time great villains. Add to that the fact that T-Road impresario Ken Squier loved to say the words "Irish John Donahue" (as he still does), and the name was becoming a water cooler topic in the offices of Central Vermont each Friday morning after the races, but still rarely appeared in print, radio, or television.
A windfall ride from new car owner Kendall Roberts -- complete with flashy, high-profile sponsorship from the National Guard, a pair of brand new cars with technical support from chassis builder Dale Shaw, and the occasional performance boost in crew chief Jeff Laquerre, at least in the first season -- appeared at Donahue's door in 2007, and, as far as my best guess goes, anyway, that's probably when things really began to click. Donahue knocked off a 100-lap open win at Oxford in June and took his first ACT victory in Thunder Road's 200-lap Labor Day Classic in September. The next season, he won back-to-back races at Thunder Road, on Mother's Day and in the ACT race on Memorial Day, then finished in the top-five in points with both the weekly Thunder Road chase and the ACT Late Model Tour. But still, he was never much for the headlines.
Now, this year, Donahue scored a dominating ACT win at White Mountain Motorsports Park, has three ACT runner-up finishes, pulled down a third-place effort in the Oxford 250 after leading some laps, took fifth in the ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, won last week's Milk Bowl, and is about to again finish among the top five in ACT points. And we're finally talking about him. You'll notice that Donahue has won some races, big ones at that, but like was said earlier, he's been winning from the very start. So what's made him a star now? I think the answer might be John Donahue himself.
It's easy to tell that when speaking with the media, Donahue's still not always comfortable being in the spotlight. But he's certainly come a long way from the days of his Tiger championships; Donahue won the Milk Bowl season finale in 2001 to clinch both the track and Tiger 50 titles, and he got out of the car with big smile and a two-fisted "Rocky" salute to the crowd. All well and good for photos, but his victory lane speech -- and I still remember hearing it -- was pretty much void of the content or emotion a race fan might expect to hear from a driver going through so much excitement.
Last Sunday at the Milk Bowl, though, Donahue played it up for the crowd, for the media, for Squier, for the Governor, for everybody. He performed a series of smoky, spinning burnouts while carrying the checkered flag. He dumped Booth Bros. milk down his frontside as he drank from the bowl trophy. He lifted the farm-style milk can above his head as though it was the Stanley Cup. He kissed the cow in victory lane -- on the lips -- twice. He celebrated with his family and team. As a couple of television cameras and a crowd of a half-dozen reporters stuck their microphones in Donahue's face, he flashed a confident smile, answered on-the-spot questions, and even cracked a joke or two. He never backed down from a question, gave honest answers, and even spit a little bit of fire when confronted with another driver's ruffled feathers. At White Mountain in June, his victory lane and post-race radio interviews were well-spoken and entertaining. His confidence with being a publicly prominent sports figure in the region seems to grow after every top-five finish (and he's on a streak of six straight right now).
Travis Barrett of Green-White-Checker asked Donahue on Sunday if he has felt overlooked as a top driver. I asked him a similar question after the Fall Foliage 300 at Airborne last month, speaking in terms of the ACT championship battle. And it seemed as though Donahue didn't really care if he was forgotten or not. "I'm sort of out of the picture," Donahue said at Airborne. "That's okay, make 'em think." And then he rambled on -- yes, rambled -- about how good his car and his team are, and gave this writer more than enough to fill a blog post's worth of space.
If anyone on the track, in the media, or anywhere else -- myself included -- forgot to think about John Donahue in the past, well, we won't now.
He's not the new kid in town. But he's definitely in town.
***
Three words: Bucktona International Speedway. If you don't know, ask someone who does.
***
Interesting stuff from the Milk Bowl pit meeting:
--ACT president Tom Curley said that there is "no question" that his series will be invited back to New Hampshire Motor Speedway next year. Ken Squier said the same thing.
--Curley said that the 2010 ACT Late Model Tour schedule is expected to be completed and published by the end of October. The Tour will not return to Kawartha Speedway in Ontario, but will visit "one or two new tracks".
--ACT's announcement that it will continue to sanction the Castrol Series in Canada comes this early, in part, to dispell rumors that the recent Patrick Laperle scandal drove Curley's group away. In fact, Curley said he's going back to Canada in 2010 because he's "pissed off" about the Autodrome St-Eustache incident and wants to continue holding fair races for the teams that have supported him.
--Okay, this wasn't at the pit meeting, but we overheard Curley telling third-place finisher Eric Williams that he is exploring the idea of expanding the Milk Bowl's three segments from 50 laps each to 75 laps, as early as next year. Curley thinks that another 25 laps would help bring back the possibility of the single-digit Milk Bowl win and bring back more excitement to the race. The fact that John Donahue's winning score was 17 points, and other recent winning scores have been as high as 23 points -- a far cry from Brian Hoar's 4-point win in 1998 -- means to Curley that the segments are just too short to produce the kind of racing the Milk Bowl became famous for. With the current ACT rules package, the cars are too equal to allow for three back-to-front drives through traffic. Robbie Crouch was the last driver to win every segment and score a perfect three points... in 1986. And it was a distant nine years ago that Phil Scott and Tracie Bellerose each scored eight points in the race, the most recent single-digit scores.
***
Speaking of Bellerose, she will be back in competition at Riverside Speedway on Saturday behind the wheel of a Late Model owned by Jane LeBlanc. Bellerose has been out of competition since a 10th-place ACT Late Model Tour finish at Oxford Plains Speedway in October 2007.
***
And speaking of Oxford, we'll be there on Sunday for the New England Dodge Dealers Fall Spectacular 150 and the ACT Late Model Tour season finale, welcoming a new supporter to Vermont Motorsports Magazine in Burnett Scrap Metals of Williston, Vt. Burnett has been involved in local racing for many years, and fielded a pair of race cars -- Neal Foster's Tiger Sportsman and Keith Fortier's Junkyard Warrior -- at Thunder Road in 2009.
Brian Hoar will try to fend off Scott Payea at Oxford for his sixth ACT championship, and first since 2000. Payea, of course, is looking for his first title, but will have to break his streak of not-so-good luck at Oxford. In ten career ACT starts at Oxford, Payea's got an average finish of just 12th, with a pair of sixth-place runs as his best finishes. He also has two 17ths, a 19th in May of this year, and a 22nd. Payea readily admits that Oxford is his achilles heel, and has been rumored to be building a second chassis for the 2010 season strictly to help improve his Oxford program. It'll be fun to watch, either way.
***
Rookie Jacob Dore of Sanford, Me. celebrated his first True Value Modified Racing Series win... a day after the race. Dore finished second across the finish line at Twin State Speedway on Sunday, but was named the winner of the Ricky Miller Memorial 112 on Monday after Matt Hirschman was disqualified. Dore, 20, was informed of the ruling as he was doing homework in his dorm room at the University of New Hampshire. Dwight Jarvis of Ascutney was fourth, and his nephew, Joey, finished 19th in a car normally driven by his father, Peter. The TVMRS cars now head to Seekonk Speedway in Massachusetts on Saturday and Sunday for the annual D. Anthony Venditti Memorial Fall Classic event.
Don't look now, but there's a new kid in town. Actually, there's nothing new about him at all, really, or kid-like. He's a hard worker with strong, dirty hands, hints of an old-time "ayuh" accent, and has been around this game for the better part of 20 years.
But all of a sudden, for the first time, John Donahue is a headline driver.
There's no telling the exact moment when he became one. Sunday, after winning the Milk Bowl? It might have been the crown jewel of his career, but it certainly wasn't his first win, or even his first important win. But in writing the post-race wrap-up of the Milk Bowl on Sunday and Monday, I found myself surprised, thinking something to the effect of, "Holy cow, Donahue's racked up quite the résumé. When did that happen?" In reality, it began a lot longer ago than I realized, maybe longer than anyone did.
A farmer by trade, the woodchuck-through-and-through Donahue rolled out of the rural Graniteville hills with a block-long Chevrolet for the "Killer B" class at Barre's Thunder Road in 1994. He recalled thinking that his car -- a larger, heavier, less powerful version of the era's Flying Tigers -- was "too slow" to have any fun in, so he moved up to the Tigers to race against his older brother, Bill, who had followed in their father Paul's footsteps as a multi-time winner and championship contender in the division.
And it turned out that "Irish John" was a chip off the ol' block, finishing third in points as a rookie. During the five seasons that followed, he would earn a pair of Thunder Road championships, a Triple Crown title at New Hampshire's Riverside Speedway, a "Tiger 50 Series" title, well over two dozen feature races at Thunder Road, Riverside, and Airborne Speedway in New York, and three Strictly Stock features at Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine.
In 2002, Donahue was hired to drive an American-Canadian Tour Late Model for Lee Delphia, winning top rookie honors at Thunder Road and finishing second on the Tour to the well-financed Ryan Moore, while also taking a Limited Sportsman win at Oxford. But a split from Delphia as the season ended left Donahue without a full-time ride for 2003, and the funding for his Maine-based team dried up as well. Donahue was on the outside looking in before another car owner, Mike Thompson, put Donahue in his Late Model for 2004.
Although comparatively underfunded, the team notched a win in the 2005 regular season finale at Thunder Road, a second win in mid-2006, and was constantly a top-five threat. A few on-track tussles brought some fanfare, including a couple involving Eric Williams, one of Thunder Road's all-time great villains. Add to that the fact that T-Road impresario Ken Squier loved to say the words "Irish John Donahue" (as he still does), and the name was becoming a water cooler topic in the offices of Central Vermont each Friday morning after the races, but still rarely appeared in print, radio, or television.
A windfall ride from new car owner Kendall Roberts -- complete with flashy, high-profile sponsorship from the National Guard, a pair of brand new cars with technical support from chassis builder Dale Shaw, and the occasional performance boost in crew chief Jeff Laquerre, at least in the first season -- appeared at Donahue's door in 2007, and, as far as my best guess goes, anyway, that's probably when things really began to click. Donahue knocked off a 100-lap open win at Oxford in June and took his first ACT victory in Thunder Road's 200-lap Labor Day Classic in September. The next season, he won back-to-back races at Thunder Road, on Mother's Day and in the ACT race on Memorial Day, then finished in the top-five in points with both the weekly Thunder Road chase and the ACT Late Model Tour. But still, he was never much for the headlines.
Now, this year, Donahue scored a dominating ACT win at White Mountain Motorsports Park, has three ACT runner-up finishes, pulled down a third-place effort in the Oxford 250 after leading some laps, took fifth in the ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, won last week's Milk Bowl, and is about to again finish among the top five in ACT points. And we're finally talking about him. You'll notice that Donahue has won some races, big ones at that, but like was said earlier, he's been winning from the very start. So what's made him a star now? I think the answer might be John Donahue himself.
It's easy to tell that when speaking with the media, Donahue's still not always comfortable being in the spotlight. But he's certainly come a long way from the days of his Tiger championships; Donahue won the Milk Bowl season finale in 2001 to clinch both the track and Tiger 50 titles, and he got out of the car with big smile and a two-fisted "Rocky" salute to the crowd. All well and good for photos, but his victory lane speech -- and I still remember hearing it -- was pretty much void of the content or emotion a race fan might expect to hear from a driver going through so much excitement.
Last Sunday at the Milk Bowl, though, Donahue played it up for the crowd, for the media, for Squier, for the Governor, for everybody. He performed a series of smoky, spinning burnouts while carrying the checkered flag. He dumped Booth Bros. milk down his frontside as he drank from the bowl trophy. He lifted the farm-style milk can above his head as though it was the Stanley Cup. He kissed the cow in victory lane -- on the lips -- twice. He celebrated with his family and team. As a couple of television cameras and a crowd of a half-dozen reporters stuck their microphones in Donahue's face, he flashed a confident smile, answered on-the-spot questions, and even cracked a joke or two. He never backed down from a question, gave honest answers, and even spit a little bit of fire when confronted with another driver's ruffled feathers. At White Mountain in June, his victory lane and post-race radio interviews were well-spoken and entertaining. His confidence with being a publicly prominent sports figure in the region seems to grow after every top-five finish (and he's on a streak of six straight right now).
Travis Barrett of Green-White-Checker asked Donahue on Sunday if he has felt overlooked as a top driver. I asked him a similar question after the Fall Foliage 300 at Airborne last month, speaking in terms of the ACT championship battle. And it seemed as though Donahue didn't really care if he was forgotten or not. "I'm sort of out of the picture," Donahue said at Airborne. "That's okay, make 'em think." And then he rambled on -- yes, rambled -- about how good his car and his team are, and gave this writer more than enough to fill a blog post's worth of space.
If anyone on the track, in the media, or anywhere else -- myself included -- forgot to think about John Donahue in the past, well, we won't now.
He's not the new kid in town. But he's definitely in town.
***
Three words: Bucktona International Speedway. If you don't know, ask someone who does.
***
Interesting stuff from the Milk Bowl pit meeting:
--ACT president Tom Curley said that there is "no question" that his series will be invited back to New Hampshire Motor Speedway next year. Ken Squier said the same thing.
--Curley said that the 2010 ACT Late Model Tour schedule is expected to be completed and published by the end of October. The Tour will not return to Kawartha Speedway in Ontario, but will visit "one or two new tracks".
--ACT's announcement that it will continue to sanction the Castrol Series in Canada comes this early, in part, to dispell rumors that the recent Patrick Laperle scandal drove Curley's group away. In fact, Curley said he's going back to Canada in 2010 because he's "pissed off" about the Autodrome St-Eustache incident and wants to continue holding fair races for the teams that have supported him.
--Okay, this wasn't at the pit meeting, but we overheard Curley telling third-place finisher Eric Williams that he is exploring the idea of expanding the Milk Bowl's three segments from 50 laps each to 75 laps, as early as next year. Curley thinks that another 25 laps would help bring back the possibility of the single-digit Milk Bowl win and bring back more excitement to the race. The fact that John Donahue's winning score was 17 points, and other recent winning scores have been as high as 23 points -- a far cry from Brian Hoar's 4-point win in 1998 -- means to Curley that the segments are just too short to produce the kind of racing the Milk Bowl became famous for. With the current ACT rules package, the cars are too equal to allow for three back-to-front drives through traffic. Robbie Crouch was the last driver to win every segment and score a perfect three points... in 1986. And it was a distant nine years ago that Phil Scott and Tracie Bellerose each scored eight points in the race, the most recent single-digit scores.
***
Speaking of Bellerose, she will be back in competition at Riverside Speedway on Saturday behind the wheel of a Late Model owned by Jane LeBlanc. Bellerose has been out of competition since a 10th-place ACT Late Model Tour finish at Oxford Plains Speedway in October 2007.
***
And speaking of Oxford, we'll be there on Sunday for the New England Dodge Dealers Fall Spectacular 150 and the ACT Late Model Tour season finale, welcoming a new supporter to Vermont Motorsports Magazine in Burnett Scrap Metals of Williston, Vt. Burnett has been involved in local racing for many years, and fielded a pair of race cars -- Neal Foster's Tiger Sportsman and Keith Fortier's Junkyard Warrior -- at Thunder Road in 2009.Brian Hoar will try to fend off Scott Payea at Oxford for his sixth ACT championship, and first since 2000. Payea, of course, is looking for his first title, but will have to break his streak of not-so-good luck at Oxford. In ten career ACT starts at Oxford, Payea's got an average finish of just 12th, with a pair of sixth-place runs as his best finishes. He also has two 17ths, a 19th in May of this year, and a 22nd. Payea readily admits that Oxford is his achilles heel, and has been rumored to be building a second chassis for the 2010 season strictly to help improve his Oxford program. It'll be fun to watch, either way.
***
Rookie Jacob Dore of Sanford, Me. celebrated his first True Value Modified Racing Series win... a day after the race. Dore finished second across the finish line at Twin State Speedway on Sunday, but was named the winner of the Ricky Miller Memorial 112 on Monday after Matt Hirschman was disqualified. Dore, 20, was informed of the ruling as he was doing homework in his dorm room at the University of New Hampshire. Dwight Jarvis of Ascutney was fourth, and his nephew, Joey, finished 19th in a car normally driven by his father, Peter. The TVMRS cars now head to Seekonk Speedway in Massachusetts on Saturday and Sunday for the annual D. Anthony Venditti Memorial Fall Classic event.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Laperle's Unplanned Pit Strategy Leads to Foliage Win
Fall Foliage 300 weekend coverage by Vermont Motorsports Magazine
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. -- The Fall Foliage 300 was sponsored by Akwesasne Mohawk Casino, and appropriately, Patrick Laperle made a huge gamble.
The St-Denis, Qué. driver started Sunday's ACT Late Model Tour event at Airborne Speedway from the pole position by virtue of earning a '+9' handicap in qualifying, then volleyed for the lead throughout the event with Donald Theetge, Karl Allard, Brent Dragon, and Brian Hoar.
Theetge and Laperle, the top-two point men in the battle for the Canadian-based ACT Castrol Series championship, made contact in Turn 4 on lap 15, spinning Theetge around and effectively out of contention. Allard and Laperle battled hard for the lead for the next 135 laps through three caution periods, one of which saw Dragon and Hoar pit for right-side tires and fuel on lap 123.
Laperle took a risk during a lap 151 caution by staying out on the speedway as Allard pitted. Laperle also stayed out during two more quick cautions on laps 153 and 158; it proved to be maybe the biggest gamble of his career.
As Allard pitted on lap 151, Dragon lined up second to set up a battle with Laperle for the lead. The two diced for the top spot for nearly 100 laps, including an unexpected stretch of 90 green flag laps, one that Laperle would have pitted during had there been a caution flag.
As the laps clicked away, Laperle's tires began to wear out and his fuel burned off. Dragon pinned Laperle behind the lapped car of Pete Potvin to take the lead on lap 221, and Brian Hoar drove past Laperle on the inside lane on lap 237 to take second place. But Laperle caught a lucky break as Dave Whitcomb spun exiting Turn 4 on lap 248, bringing out the caution flag and allowing Laperle to head to pit road. As he pulled off the race track, the car sputtered, and the engine was silent as Laperle entered his pit stall, starved of fuel.
But a quick stop for right-side tires and gas got Laperle back out onto the track where he lined up seventh among lead-lap cars, 14th in track position. In eight short laps, Laperle sliced through the traffic into fourth place before the tenth and final caution flew on lap 256. Two laps later, Laperle was in the lead, blowing past Scott Payea, Dragon, and Hoar. ACT Late Model Tour point leader Hoar was able to keep pace with Laperle during the closing laps, and had a brief chance to take over on la 284 in lapped traffic, but Laperle held on for the win. Hoar was second with Dragon third.
"Really, man, on the backstretch when I came to the pit road, [the engine was sputtering] 'bang, bang,' like that, and I said, 'No, no, no!'" explained Laperle. "So I pressed on the gas pedal in the turn on pit road, then I pushed in the clutch and put it neutral. When I got to my pit, [the engine] was stopped. I was like 'Come on, start!'"
Eric Laperle, Patrick's crew chief and twin brother, said they had hoped to make their pit stop earlier than lap 248. "That was not the plan at all," he said. "That was scary."
Patrick Laperle said he was more confident in the car as the race went on and he kept the same pace as others, like Allard at mid-race, and Dragon near the finish, slowed down. "I saw Karl Allard was going pretty good, and I was like, 'Okay, Karl, go out and burn your tires.' He was going hard and was sideways all the time. At the beginning [my] car was not good, but in the middle of the race when there was less gas in the gas tank the car seemed to be much better, so I let them burn their tires and when I pit we put some [new] tires on and it was good. In like 12 laps we started at the rear and got to the front."
Hoar and Dragon said they knew they were sitting ducks when Laperle came to pit road late in the race. "Yeah, oh yeah, we knew," said Hoar. "The second he came down pit road, we were like, 'Crap, we're done, we're toast, this is going to be ugly.' We knew right away what he was doing as soon as he didn't come down with everybody else, or when he didn't come down with the 48 (Allard). If it worked out for him, it was the best pit strategy to have. Trust me we had that [in mind], that was Plan A. But Plan A didn't work with that long stretch of green (from lap 32-123), the caution didn't fall where we needed it to fall. So we had to go to Plan B, which was to pit basically in the middle of the race when everybody else did."
"He pulled up beside me when he was going in the pits and he gave me the thumbs up because we raced so clean, and that was awesome," said Dragon, "but when he pitted I knew if he came back with those two tires, it would be like us [after we pitted on lap 123]. It wasn't five laps and we were back to the front. He did what he had to do."
Unofficially, there were 19 lead changes in the race. John Donahue finished in fourth place with Payea fifth. The top ten was completed by Chip Grenier, Theetge, Sylvain Lacombe, Craig Bushey, and Glen Luce. Allard fell out of the race with a broken rear end on lap 213, finishing 22nd. Laperle's win was his first ACT Late Model Tour victory of the year, and Hoar stretched his lead over Payea to 28 points with one event remaining at Oxford Plains Speedway on October 11.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS -- Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Fall Foliage 300
ACT Late Model Tour -- Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009
Pos.-Driver-Hometown (# - indicates rookie)
1. Patrick Laperle, St-Denis-sur-Richelieu, Qué.
2. Brian Hoar, Williston
3. Brent Dragon, Milton
4. John Donahue, Graniteville
5. Soctt Payea, Milton
6. Chip Grenier, Graniteville
7. Donald Theetge, Boischatel, Qué.
8. Sylvain Lacombe, Terrebonne, Qué.
9. Craig Bushey, Cambridge
10. Glen Luce, Turner, Me.
11. Trampas Demers, South Burlington
12. #Joey Doiron, Berwick, Me.
13. Mark Lamberton, Mooers Forks, N.Y.
14. Stépahne Descoste, Oka, Qué.
15. Pete Potvin, III, Graniteville
16. Ricky Rolfe, Albany Twp., Me.
17. Dave Whitcomb, Essex Junction
18. Steve Fisher, Shelburne
19. David Michaud, Blainville, Qué.
20. Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., Hudson, N.H.
21. Eric Williams, Hyde Park
22. Karl Allard, St-Félicien, Qué.
23. Sam Caron, Colchester
24. #Dylan Smith, Randolph
25. Tyler Cahoon, St. Johnsbury
26. Dave Paya, Milton
27. Randy Potter, Groveton, N.H.
28. Martin Lacombe, Terrebonne, Qué.
29. Joe Tetreault, Enfield, N.H.
30. Jamie Fisher, Shelburne
31. Brad Leighton, Center Harbor, N.H.
32. Joey Laquerre, East Montpelier
33. Derek Lynch, Warkworth, Ont.
34. Daniel Descoste, St-Joseph-du-Lac, Qué.
35. Dave Wilcox, Fairfield
36. Eric Chase, Milton
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. -- The Fall Foliage 300 was sponsored by Akwesasne Mohawk Casino, and appropriately, Patrick Laperle made a huge gamble.The St-Denis, Qué. driver started Sunday's ACT Late Model Tour event at Airborne Speedway from the pole position by virtue of earning a '+9' handicap in qualifying, then volleyed for the lead throughout the event with Donald Theetge, Karl Allard, Brent Dragon, and Brian Hoar.
Theetge and Laperle, the top-two point men in the battle for the Canadian-based ACT Castrol Series championship, made contact in Turn 4 on lap 15, spinning Theetge around and effectively out of contention. Allard and Laperle battled hard for the lead for the next 135 laps through three caution periods, one of which saw Dragon and Hoar pit for right-side tires and fuel on lap 123.
Laperle took a risk during a lap 151 caution by staying out on the speedway as Allard pitted. Laperle also stayed out during two more quick cautions on laps 153 and 158; it proved to be maybe the biggest gamble of his career.
As Allard pitted on lap 151, Dragon lined up second to set up a battle with Laperle for the lead. The two diced for the top spot for nearly 100 laps, including an unexpected stretch of 90 green flag laps, one that Laperle would have pitted during had there been a caution flag.
As the laps clicked away, Laperle's tires began to wear out and his fuel burned off. Dragon pinned Laperle behind the lapped car of Pete Potvin to take the lead on lap 221, and Brian Hoar drove past Laperle on the inside lane on lap 237 to take second place. But Laperle caught a lucky break as Dave Whitcomb spun exiting Turn 4 on lap 248, bringing out the caution flag and allowing Laperle to head to pit road. As he pulled off the race track, the car sputtered, and the engine was silent as Laperle entered his pit stall, starved of fuel.
But a quick stop for right-side tires and gas got Laperle back out onto the track where he lined up seventh among lead-lap cars, 14th in track position. In eight short laps, Laperle sliced through the traffic into fourth place before the tenth and final caution flew on lap 256. Two laps later, Laperle was in the lead, blowing past Scott Payea, Dragon, and Hoar. ACT Late Model Tour point leader Hoar was able to keep pace with Laperle during the closing laps, and had a brief chance to take over on la 284 in lapped traffic, but Laperle held on for the win. Hoar was second with Dragon third.
"Really, man, on the backstretch when I came to the pit road, [the engine was sputtering] 'bang, bang,' like that, and I said, 'No, no, no!'" explained Laperle. "So I pressed on the gas pedal in the turn on pit road, then I pushed in the clutch and put it neutral. When I got to my pit, [the engine] was stopped. I was like 'Come on, start!'"
Eric Laperle, Patrick's crew chief and twin brother, said they had hoped to make their pit stop earlier than lap 248. "That was not the plan at all," he said. "That was scary."
Patrick Laperle said he was more confident in the car as the race went on and he kept the same pace as others, like Allard at mid-race, and Dragon near the finish, slowed down. "I saw Karl Allard was going pretty good, and I was like, 'Okay, Karl, go out and burn your tires.' He was going hard and was sideways all the time. At the beginning [my] car was not good, but in the middle of the race when there was less gas in the gas tank the car seemed to be much better, so I let them burn their tires and when I pit we put some [new] tires on and it was good. In like 12 laps we started at the rear and got to the front."
Hoar and Dragon said they knew they were sitting ducks when Laperle came to pit road late in the race. "Yeah, oh yeah, we knew," said Hoar. "The second he came down pit road, we were like, 'Crap, we're done, we're toast, this is going to be ugly.' We knew right away what he was doing as soon as he didn't come down with everybody else, or when he didn't come down with the 48 (Allard). If it worked out for him, it was the best pit strategy to have. Trust me we had that [in mind], that was Plan A. But Plan A didn't work with that long stretch of green (from lap 32-123), the caution didn't fall where we needed it to fall. So we had to go to Plan B, which was to pit basically in the middle of the race when everybody else did."
"He pulled up beside me when he was going in the pits and he gave me the thumbs up because we raced so clean, and that was awesome," said Dragon, "but when he pitted I knew if he came back with those two tires, it would be like us [after we pitted on lap 123]. It wasn't five laps and we were back to the front. He did what he had to do."
Unofficially, there were 19 lead changes in the race. John Donahue finished in fourth place with Payea fifth. The top ten was completed by Chip Grenier, Theetge, Sylvain Lacombe, Craig Bushey, and Glen Luce. Allard fell out of the race with a broken rear end on lap 213, finishing 22nd. Laperle's win was his first ACT Late Model Tour victory of the year, and Hoar stretched his lead over Payea to 28 points with one event remaining at Oxford Plains Speedway on October 11.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS -- Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Fall Foliage 300
ACT Late Model Tour -- Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009
Pos.-Driver-Hometown (# - indicates rookie)
1. Patrick Laperle, St-Denis-sur-Richelieu, Qué.
2. Brian Hoar, Williston
3. Brent Dragon, Milton
4. John Donahue, Graniteville
5. Soctt Payea, Milton
6. Chip Grenier, Graniteville
7. Donald Theetge, Boischatel, Qué.
8. Sylvain Lacombe, Terrebonne, Qué.
9. Craig Bushey, Cambridge
10. Glen Luce, Turner, Me.
11. Trampas Demers, South Burlington
12. #Joey Doiron, Berwick, Me.
13. Mark Lamberton, Mooers Forks, N.Y.
14. Stépahne Descoste, Oka, Qué.
15. Pete Potvin, III, Graniteville
16. Ricky Rolfe, Albany Twp., Me.
17. Dave Whitcomb, Essex Junction
18. Steve Fisher, Shelburne
19. David Michaud, Blainville, Qué.
20. Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., Hudson, N.H.
21. Eric Williams, Hyde Park
22. Karl Allard, St-Félicien, Qué.
23. Sam Caron, Colchester
24. #Dylan Smith, Randolph
25. Tyler Cahoon, St. Johnsbury
26. Dave Paya, Milton
27. Randy Potter, Groveton, N.H.
28. Martin Lacombe, Terrebonne, Qué.
29. Joe Tetreault, Enfield, N.H.
30. Jamie Fisher, Shelburne
31. Brad Leighton, Center Harbor, N.H.
32. Joey Laquerre, East Montpelier
33. Derek Lynch, Warkworth, Ont.
34. Daniel Descoste, St-Joseph-du-Lac, Qué.
35. Dave Wilcox, Fairfield
36. Eric Chase, Milton
VIDEO: Laperle's Impressive Foliage Drive
Fall Foliage 300 weekend coverage by Vermont Motorsports Magazine
Patrick Laperle won the ACT Late Model Tour Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Fall Foliage 300 at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y. on Sunday afternoon, using an exciting -- if somewhat unplanned -- pit strategy to take his third career Foliage victory. VMM will have full recaps of the Fall Foliage 300 on Monday. This series of videos highlights the St-Denis, Qué. driver's impressive outing.
The first clip shows Laperle (#91) battling for the lead with countryman Karl Allard (#48) just before the halfway point of the race, with Brent Dragon (#55) and Brian Hoar (#37) enjoying a tight battle for third place. And no, these aren't pace laps, the racing was side-by-side for much of the day.
The second clip shows Laperle's pit stop for fuel and right-side tires under caution on lap 248, dropping him from third place to seventh, the final car on the lead lap at the time. Laperle nearly fell victim to several long green-flag runs that emtpied his gas tank; as Laperle pulled alongside the pace car before entering the pits, the car began to sputter. As he arrived at his pit stall, Laperle's car was silent, out of fuel.
The final clip shows Laperle blasting by Hoar and Dragon to get back into the lead on lap 258, just ten laps after pitting, and only two laps after a restart that lined him up fourth behind Hoar, Dragon, and Scott Payea (#89). He went on to beat Hoar for the win. Dragon finished third, John Donahue fourth, and Payea fifth.
(Videos by Justin St. Louis/VMM)
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Hoar in Familiar Territory, Having Fun as Championship Looms
Fall Foliage 300 weekend coverage by Vermont Motorsports Magazine
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. -- Brian Hoar has been in this position before, but he wasn't sure he'd be there again this year.
"When we agreed to put this together, we said we wanted to make a run at the championship," Hoar says of a meeting he had with car owner Rick Paya last October. "I don't know if 'expected' is the right word, but it was our goal, and we hoped to be in this position. at this point in the year."
With two races remaining, including Sunday's Fall Foliage 300 at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y., Hoar finds himself leading the ACT Late Model Tour championship standings by a slim 16 points over Scott Payea. It's not new ground for Hoar, either. The Williston driver has won five ACT championships, the most recent coming in 2000 after winning the Fall Foliage event, and is a former champion of Airborne, Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl in Barre, and the 1-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H.
The 2009 season had a bit of a rocky start for the RPM Motorsports team headed by Paya, who was Jean-Paul Cyr's crew chief for five ACT championships earlier in the decade. Through the first six races, there were just two top-five finishes and a dismal 22nd at White Mountain Motorsports Park. "We knew it would take a bit of time to learn each other and our preferences, but our intention the whole time has been to race for the ACT championship," said Hoar.
And apparently the jelling period has passed. Since White Mountain, the Hoar-Paya record has been sterling with finishes of sixth or better in each of the last five ACT championship events -- including back-to-back victories at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway and Waterford Speedbowl -- and impressive results in the non-points Oxford 250 and Showdown 200 at Autodrome Chaudière.
Hoar says he is enjoying himself this season, not only working and winning with the RPM team, but racing against his main rival, Payea.
"Scott is a great guy, and I couldn't ask for a better driver to race against for the title," Hoar said. "My only regret about this year is that Jean isn't here [in the championship battle]. For all the titles we've both won, it seems like we've still never raced against each other for one. But I couldn't be more pleased with the way Scott races people. He's very smart and doesn't abuse his equipment. Some guys, like Brad Leighton and Patrick Laperle, those guys will risk it all to win. He's not that type of driver, and neither am I, typically, except for maybe Waterford this year. I see a lot of similarities between us as far as that goes. And I have a lot of respect for his team; his crew chief, Chris Companion, was my very first crew chief with our Goss Dodge team back in 1990 or '91, and his spotter, Ed, was a big part of our team. It's a great group of guys."
But, Hoar says, the pressure on Payea to win his first ACT championship -- versus what would be Hoar's sixth -- may be Hoar's biggest asset down the stretch. "I've won titles, and I've lost some really close battles," Hoar explains, "but at the end of the day, I've still got five championships. I'm not going to lose sleep if I don't win another one this year. Don't get me wrong, I want nothing more than to win my sixth ACT championship, but do I think the pressure to perform is greater on [Payea]? Yes, I do."
And because Hoar feels the pressure rests on Payea's shoulders, and those of third-place driver John Donahue, he'll be able to have more fun this weekend at Airborne and at the season finale at Oxford on October 11. "There is pressure on me, but there's definitely no more pressure than anyone else has on them. Those guys have to perform, too, and I'd rather be leading with two races to go than have to catch up. If I lose my focus, then that's my problem, but I don't see that happening. We're probably more prepared as a team for these next two races than anyone else. We can't wait for the 300 [at Airborne]. We had a blast there [in May], and I think we're ready for pit stops more than anyone else. And after our run at the 250, we're really looking forward to Oxford.
"The reality is that the chemistry with me and this team is there. I've had more fun racing this year than ever before, and that's whether we're at the track, or in the trailer on the way to a race, or on Tuesday nights when we're all in the shop together working on the car. I actually look forward to Tuesday nights more than anything.
"I wouldn't do this if I didn't think we could win."
(PHOTO: Brian Hoar gives a playful wink as he jokes with his RPM Motorsports teammates. Despite being in the middle of a tight championship battle, Hoar says he's having more fun racing this year than ever before. Justin St. Louis/VMM photo)
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. -- Brian Hoar has been in this position before, but he wasn't sure he'd be there again this year."When we agreed to put this together, we said we wanted to make a run at the championship," Hoar says of a meeting he had with car owner Rick Paya last October. "I don't know if 'expected' is the right word, but it was our goal, and we hoped to be in this position. at this point in the year."
With two races remaining, including Sunday's Fall Foliage 300 at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y., Hoar finds himself leading the ACT Late Model Tour championship standings by a slim 16 points over Scott Payea. It's not new ground for Hoar, either. The Williston driver has won five ACT championships, the most recent coming in 2000 after winning the Fall Foliage event, and is a former champion of Airborne, Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl in Barre, and the 1-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H.
The 2009 season had a bit of a rocky start for the RPM Motorsports team headed by Paya, who was Jean-Paul Cyr's crew chief for five ACT championships earlier in the decade. Through the first six races, there were just two top-five finishes and a dismal 22nd at White Mountain Motorsports Park. "We knew it would take a bit of time to learn each other and our preferences, but our intention the whole time has been to race for the ACT championship," said Hoar.
And apparently the jelling period has passed. Since White Mountain, the Hoar-Paya record has been sterling with finishes of sixth or better in each of the last five ACT championship events -- including back-to-back victories at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway and Waterford Speedbowl -- and impressive results in the non-points Oxford 250 and Showdown 200 at Autodrome Chaudière.
Hoar says he is enjoying himself this season, not only working and winning with the RPM team, but racing against his main rival, Payea.
"Scott is a great guy, and I couldn't ask for a better driver to race against for the title," Hoar said. "My only regret about this year is that Jean isn't here [in the championship battle]. For all the titles we've both won, it seems like we've still never raced against each other for one. But I couldn't be more pleased with the way Scott races people. He's very smart and doesn't abuse his equipment. Some guys, like Brad Leighton and Patrick Laperle, those guys will risk it all to win. He's not that type of driver, and neither am I, typically, except for maybe Waterford this year. I see a lot of similarities between us as far as that goes. And I have a lot of respect for his team; his crew chief, Chris Companion, was my very first crew chief with our Goss Dodge team back in 1990 or '91, and his spotter, Ed, was a big part of our team. It's a great group of guys."
But, Hoar says, the pressure on Payea to win his first ACT championship -- versus what would be Hoar's sixth -- may be Hoar's biggest asset down the stretch. "I've won titles, and I've lost some really close battles," Hoar explains, "but at the end of the day, I've still got five championships. I'm not going to lose sleep if I don't win another one this year. Don't get me wrong, I want nothing more than to win my sixth ACT championship, but do I think the pressure to perform is greater on [Payea]? Yes, I do."
And because Hoar feels the pressure rests on Payea's shoulders, and those of third-place driver John Donahue, he'll be able to have more fun this weekend at Airborne and at the season finale at Oxford on October 11. "There is pressure on me, but there's definitely no more pressure than anyone else has on them. Those guys have to perform, too, and I'd rather be leading with two races to go than have to catch up. If I lose my focus, then that's my problem, but I don't see that happening. We're probably more prepared as a team for these next two races than anyone else. We can't wait for the 300 [at Airborne]. We had a blast there [in May], and I think we're ready for pit stops more than anyone else. And after our run at the 250, we're really looking forward to Oxford.
"The reality is that the chemistry with me and this team is there. I've had more fun racing this year than ever before, and that's whether we're at the track, or in the trailer on the way to a race, or on Tuesday nights when we're all in the shop together working on the car. I actually look forward to Tuesday nights more than anything.
"I wouldn't do this if I didn't think we could win."
(PHOTO: Brian Hoar gives a playful wink as he jokes with his RPM Motorsports teammates. Despite being in the middle of a tight championship battle, Hoar says he's having more fun racing this year than ever before. Justin St. Louis/VMM photo)
Friday, September 11, 2009
Winning is Not the Only Thing on Payea's Mind
Fall Foliage 300 weekend coverage by Vermont Motorsports Magazine
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. -- It's not just the ACT Late Model Tour championship on Scott Payea's mind. It's not Brian Hoar, who overtook Payea for the point lead last Sunday. It's not last year's loss of the championship by a single point. It's not the 11th-place, lap-down finish Payea had at Thunder Road last week. It's all of that.
"I've just got to go out and run the best I can. I've got to get out there and go for the win every time," Payea said. And with just two races left in the ACT championship, including this weekend's Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Fall Foliage 300 at Airborne Speedway, it's his only choice.
Payea was the first ACT driver to win on the new Airborne track, which was redesigned in April to include racier, progressively banked corners, taking the Spring Green 100 there in May. But at mid-season, at a time when Hoar hit his stride on the ACT Tour, Payea faltered, if ever so slightly. Hoar has finished sixth or better in each of the last five races. During that same stretch, which began at Kawartha Speedway in July, Payea had three third-place finishes but also slumped to ninth at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway -- a race Hoar won -- and 11th at Thunder Road last week.
Payea led the ACT point standings after 10 races had been run this season through last Friday's race at Twin State Speedway. But Hoar's fourth-place finish at Thunder Road on Sunday -- combined with the implementation of the ACT "Pick 10" format in which each driver uses his or her ten best point-tallying results toward the championship -- vaulted him past Payea for the lead by 16 points.
No driver has earned more top-five finishes than Payea this season -- seven, all of which were finishes of third or better -- but the difference is in bonus points. Hoar's lead for the championship is equal to the number of bonus points he has outscored Payea, primarily through qualifying heat finishes, which pay five points to win.
"Twin State is a good example," says Payea, who entered and left the event with a five-point lead over Hoar. "I beat [Hoar] in the race -- I was third and he was fifth -- but he won his heat and we were even after it was over. It all comes down to heat points. It sucks. I can beat him in the [feature], but he's doing well in the heats." Payea says that if he is to win the ACT championship and avenge last year's loss, he only has one option: win, "or at least hope he finishes behind me."
After learning a tough lesson about tire conservation during an unprecedented 181-lap stretch of green flag racing at Thunder Road last Sunday, Payea thinks Airborne Speedway might be the place to get back on the right track. "We learned a lot about racing long distance events," Payea said. "Last week was crazy. A hundred and eighty laps [without a caution] at Thunder Road? No one guessed that would happen, and it taught us some stuff about the setup and what I need to behind the wheel. We've put a 22-gallon fuel cell in the car for Airborne, but obviously we'll still need to pit for gas and fresh tires. Three hundred laps is the longest race of the year, and Airborne is a big track, too. You have to think about it differently [than a 100-lapper]. And obviously last weekend showed us not to gamble and take chances."
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And on top of the new knowledge Payea's team gained, they also might have the upper hand at Airborne.
"[The Spring Green victory] certainly does help with confidence going back to Airborne, and we didn't even really get to show how good the car was until the last five laps," said Payea. "We've got good notes and a lot of confidence, and it's not like I'm going out there and pussyfooting around. We're going over to win, and that's all we can do."
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. -- It's not just the ACT Late Model Tour championship on Scott Payea's mind. It's not Brian Hoar, who overtook Payea for the point lead last Sunday. It's not last year's loss of the championship by a single point. It's not the 11th-place, lap-down finish Payea had at Thunder Road last week. It's all of that. "I've just got to go out and run the best I can. I've got to get out there and go for the win every time," Payea said. And with just two races left in the ACT championship, including this weekend's Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Fall Foliage 300 at Airborne Speedway, it's his only choice.
Payea was the first ACT driver to win on the new Airborne track, which was redesigned in April to include racier, progressively banked corners, taking the Spring Green 100 there in May. But at mid-season, at a time when Hoar hit his stride on the ACT Tour, Payea faltered, if ever so slightly. Hoar has finished sixth or better in each of the last five races. During that same stretch, which began at Kawartha Speedway in July, Payea had three third-place finishes but also slumped to ninth at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway -- a race Hoar won -- and 11th at Thunder Road last week.
Payea led the ACT point standings after 10 races had been run this season through last Friday's race at Twin State Speedway. But Hoar's fourth-place finish at Thunder Road on Sunday -- combined with the implementation of the ACT "Pick 10" format in which each driver uses his or her ten best point-tallying results toward the championship -- vaulted him past Payea for the lead by 16 points.
No driver has earned more top-five finishes than Payea this season -- seven, all of which were finishes of third or better -- but the difference is in bonus points. Hoar's lead for the championship is equal to the number of bonus points he has outscored Payea, primarily through qualifying heat finishes, which pay five points to win.
"Twin State is a good example," says Payea, who entered and left the event with a five-point lead over Hoar. "I beat [Hoar] in the race -- I was third and he was fifth -- but he won his heat and we were even after it was over. It all comes down to heat points. It sucks. I can beat him in the [feature], but he's doing well in the heats." Payea says that if he is to win the ACT championship and avenge last year's loss, he only has one option: win, "or at least hope he finishes behind me."
After learning a tough lesson about tire conservation during an unprecedented 181-lap stretch of green flag racing at Thunder Road last Sunday, Payea thinks Airborne Speedway might be the place to get back on the right track. "We learned a lot about racing long distance events," Payea said. "Last week was crazy. A hundred and eighty laps [without a caution] at Thunder Road? No one guessed that would happen, and it taught us some stuff about the setup and what I need to behind the wheel. We've put a 22-gallon fuel cell in the car for Airborne, but obviously we'll still need to pit for gas and fresh tires. Three hundred laps is the longest race of the year, and Airborne is a big track, too. You have to think about it differently [than a 100-lapper]. And obviously last weekend showed us not to gamble and take chances."
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And on top of the new knowledge Payea's team gained, they also might have the upper hand at Airborne. "[The Spring Green victory] certainly does help with confidence going back to Airborne, and we didn't even really get to show how good the car was until the last five laps," said Payea. "We've got good notes and a lot of confidence, and it's not like I'm going out there and pussyfooting around. We're going over to win, and that's all we can do."
(PHOTOS: 1. Scott Payea is thinking "Win" at Airborne Speedway; 2. Payea takes the checkered flag in May's Spring Green at Airborne. Photo 1 by Justin St. Louis/VMM; Photo 2 by Leif Tillotson)
Monday, September 7, 2009
NO LOVE: Donahue and Laperle Trade Jabs All Day Long
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BARRE -- What Thunder Road's Bond Auto Labor Day Classic might have lacked for action at the top spot, the battle for second place -- or rather, the day-long slugfest between John Donahue and Patrick Laperle -- was a bit more entertaining. From their multiple run-ins in qualifying until the final circuits of the 200-lap main event, the two seemed never more than an arm's reach from each other. And sometimes an arm's reach would have meant a little breathing room. Laperle tried in vain to get under Donahue several times in the second heat race, in an attempt to get to the low lane and pass not only Donahue, but also the cars of Eric Chase and Travis Stearns. None of his moves worked, and despite moving to the high lane in the final laps, neither Donahue or Laperle qualified in the heat race.
"I wish he would have stopped hitting me and just let us race, because we would have caught those guys and passed them," Donahue said. Following the heat race, Laperle had a similar
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experience with Eric Williams in the second consolation race, one that saw him go from the speed bumps on the extreme inside lane of the track the far outside lane to finally pass Williams and take a qualified position. "Everybody does it, I don't think it's right, but he wanted the low side and he couldn't get around [up high]," said Donahue. "Everybody tried to get [qualified] and do what they had to do to get in. You're going to have bumping and rubbing in racing, that's just the way it is. "I deal with it, I run with it, I try not to do that. But that's the way I race, not the way [Laperle] races. I went into defensive mode [racing against Laperle]. I knew he wasn't going around me and that's just the way it was. Instead of being focused on the guy in front of me, I focused on him and said, 'If you're gonna get around me, you're gonna go to the high side.' So I slowed down and stayed down low."
Laperle saw it differently. "Aw, I mean, [Donahue] was blocking, like Williams was doing in the consi," he responded. "I tried high, he went high, I tried low, he went low. He blocked me. The guy might be a bit faster if he would go harder in the corner. I tried to slow down and tried not to take him out."
"If you want to jack me up and [spin me out], well, you're going to the rear, too. That's just the way I look at things," said Donahue. "For me, it's just when he jacks you up, I try to focus on that instead of what's in front of me, and it's not the way it should be done, but I'm not going to let someone booger me around, either."
Early in the 200, the pair ran together after starting seventh and eighth. After Laperle got past Donahue on lap 18, Donahue gave Laperle a shot in the left-rear quarterpanel. Late in the race while running in third, Laperle forced his way three-wide under Donahue and the lapped car of Craig Bushey following a lap-181 restart. Donahue was not impressed by the three-wide move.
"The only time I thought [Laperle] crossed a line is when he tried to go three-wide on the restart. You can't do that here, not out of [Turn 4]," said Donahue. "The poor guy on the outside gets the shaft. It's not his fault he's there, he's just there. That time I thought he crossed the line."
Kendall Roberts, Donahue's car owner and crew chief, told Laperle's brother/crew chief, Eric, he's had enough. "I told Eric in victory lane that the way [Patrick] raced John today wasn't right," Roberts said. "He does it to us all the time. The one time John hit him was a long time ago and it was an accident, we apologized for it. They came up to me in victory lane and hugged me and shook my hand, and I looked at Eric and told him that the way he was driving just wasn't right and I'm sick of it."
"I don't want to talk about it, I don't want to say bad things," said Patrick Laperle. "The car is in one piece, and I don't have it all scratched like [Donahue]. Go look at his front bumper, that's it."
VIDEO: John Donahue (#26) and Patrick Laperle (#91) raced each other hard all day the Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200 at Barre's Thunder Road. Also in the video are eventual race winner Dave Pembroke (#44), ACT point leaders Scott Payea (#89) and Brian Hoar (#37), and others.
(PHOTOS: 1. Laperle (#91) gets Donahue (#26) crossed up in qualifying while racing with Jean-Paul Cyr (#11); 2. Laperle is sideways after contact with Eric Williams (#7) in Consi 2. Leif Tillotson photos. Video by Justin St. Louis/VMM)
Worst to First: Pembroke Dominates Labor Day Classic at Thunder Road
BARRE -- Dave Pembroke says there was one thing -- one very unexpected thing -- that made his day a good one at the ACT Late Model Tour's Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200 at Thunder Road in Barre on Sunday."Drawing 70th," Pembroke said, seemingly taking himself by surprise as the words came out of his mouth. The number-70 chip is usually the one in the ACT qualifying heat starting position draw bag that nobody wants; it means that the driver who chooses it will start from the last position in the final heat race. Nine times out of ten, it makes for a long day.
For Pembroke, however, it was a blessing. The Middlesex driver, who had previously etched his name in the granite monuments honoring former Milk Bowl and Memorial Day Classic winners at the track, drove from 11th starting position -- last, of course -- to finish third in his heat race, earning a '+8' handicap value and the pole position for the 200-lap main event.
"When we rolled in here this morning, the worst thing I thought that ever could have happened was pulling '70' out of [the draw bag], and it turns out being the thing that did it for us, absolutely," said Pembroke. "And then the heat race working out the way it did. You couldn't have scripted it any better to get through the heat race to third in 15 laps. I mean, it just doesn't happen. Our day started like that and we went from last on the board to first on the field in 15 laps."
From there, all he managed to do was lead every lap of the Labor Day Classic 200, putting all but the top five cars a lap down in the process. Pembroke ran at an unprecedented pace, as the first 181 laps were run without a caution flag. The only incident -- a minor spin by Joey Polewarczyk, Jr. and Eric Chase -- did little to slow the leader down.
"We went up this morning after the drivers meeting, Tom (Curley, the ACT/Thunder Road president) took all the Late Models up to the three stones up there [in the grandstands]. My name was on two of them at the beginning of the day, now it's on all three," Pembroke grinned. "That was my goal, I'm telling you, I wanted to get on that Labor Day Classic [monument]. I've been second, I've been third, and now we've won it. It's pretty special, it's pretty cool to be on all three of those up there."
Just prior to the lap 181 caution period, Pembroke used Eric Williams, who was running in fifth place at the tail end of the lead lap, as a guide through heavy lapped traffic. The situation reminded Pembroke of the 2006 edition of the race.
"The 200 that I finished second in, that's about the way we finished. I was on [Williams's] bumper, but he was on the lead lap that race," said Pembroke. "This one, we were chasing him around, he was on the tail end and he was opening the door, we were just kind of hanging with him and didn't really need to pass him at the time, so we were just patient. He was doing a good job, he was good on the bottom and he wasn't moving people, but he was just running around and we were following him and it worked out really good, I should probably go thank him."
Far behind Pembroke, nearly a half-lap away at times, Patrick Laperle and John Donahue had an entertaining, sometimes physical battle for second place. The two also had contact in their qualifying heat. After Laperle forced Donahue and the lapped car of Craig Bushey three-wide after the lap 181 restart, they raced side-by-side for the remainder of the event without further incident. Donahue, of Graniteville, nipped St-Denis, Qué. driver Laperle at the finish line for the runner-up spot. Brian Hoar of Williston finished a bumper ahead of Williams in fourth place.
ACT point leader Scott Payea, the outside polesitter, suffered badly worn tires due to the long green flag run, and finished 11th after running at the front with Pembroke early in the event. All 30 starters finished the 200-lap race, which was completed in a blistering 54 minutes.
Scott Coburn of Barre took down the 50-lap Tiger Sportsman feature for his second win of the year, beating Ricky Roberts and Pete Ainsworth, while rookie Tucker Williams of Hyde Park posted his fourth Street Stock win of the season over Tommy "Thunder" Smith and David Whitcomb. Donny Yates of North Montpelier was the top Junkyard Warrior driver, beating Kevin Streeter and Ken Christman.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS -- Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200
ACT Late Model Tour -- Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre, Vt.
Sunday, Sept. 6, 2009
Pos.-Driver-Hometown (# - indicates rookie)
ACT Late Model Tour (200 laps)
1. Dave Pembroke, Middlesex
2. John Donahue, Graniteville
3. Patrick Laperle, St-Denis-sur-Richelieu, Qué.
4. Brian Hoar, Williston
5. Eric Williams, Hyde Park
6. Cris Michaud, Northfield
7. Brent Dragon, Milton
8. Chip Grenier, Graniteville
9. Craig Bushey, Cambridge
10. Nick Sweet, Barre
11. Scott Payea, Milton
12. Jean-Paul Cyr, Milton
13. Phil Scott, Montpelier
14. Pete Potvin, III, Graniteville
15. Jamie Fisher, Shelburne
16. Travis Stearns, Auburn, Me.
17. Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., Hudson, N.H.
18. Brad Leighton, Center Harbor, N.H.
19. #Quinny Welch, Lancaster, N.H.
20. Randy Potter, Groveton, N.H.
21. Tony Andrews, Northfield
22. Trampas Demers, South Burlington
23. Tyler Cahoon, St. Johnsbury
24. Joey Becker, Jeffersonville
25. Eric Chase, Milton
26. Dave Paya, North Clarendon
27. Gary Caron, Colchester
28. Dave Whitcomb, Essex Junction
29. Jerry Lesage, Winooski
30. Glen Luce, Turner, Me.
NAPA Tiger Sportsman (50 laps)
1. Scott Coburn, Barre
2. Ricky Roberts, Washington
3. Pete Ainsworth, Jr., Middlesex
4. Joey Laquerre, East Montpelier
5. Tommy Therrien, Hinesburg
6. Lance Allen, Barre
7. Bobby Therrien, Hinesburg
8. Shawn Fleury, Middlesex
9. Brendan Moodie, North Wolcott
10. Matt Potter, Marshfield
Allen Lumber Street Stock/Power Shift Online Junkyard Warrior (25 laps)
1. #Tucker Williams, Hyde Park (SS)
2. Tommy Smith, Williamstown (SS)
3. David Whitcomb, Elmore (SS)
4. Jason Corliss, Danville (SS)
5. Lloyd Blakely, Barre (SS)
21. Donny Yates, North Montpelier (JW)
22. Kevin Streeter, Waitsfield (JW)
23. Ken Christman, Cabot (JW)
24. Keith Fortier, Hinesburg (JW)
25. Kevin Dodge, Barre (JW)
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Scott Wrecks, Dragon Wins at Twin State
CLAREMONT, N.H. -- It's been eight years, 11 months, and four days since Phil Scott won an ACT Late Model Tour race. And unfortunately for Scott, that time will extend for at least one more day. The Vermont State Senator and former ACT champion was practically a shoo-in to end the dry spell at Twin State Speedway in Claremont, N.H. on Friday night before a pair of late-race incidents, both involving number-four point driver Randy Potter, effectively ended Scott's night.Scott led every step of the Twin State 100 from the pole position, navigating lapped traffic with ease, before a lap 70 caution brought second-place runner Brent Dragon to Scott's tail for a restart. The yellow caution flag flew for Guy Caron, who after some tight, sometimes physical racing with Potter, was dumped off the backstretch by Potter by into the infield.
With Dragon pressuring Scott for the lead a dozen laps later, Potter spun just before Turn 1, coming to rest with the front half of his car on the racing surface. Potter got his stalled car refired in time to move out of the way as the leaders approched, but in a brief instant, the yellow flag flew just as Potter inexplicably drove out onto the track directly into their path. Scott jammed on his brakes and drove to the high side in an attempt to avoid, but collided hard with Potter and spun into the wall; Dragon got by unscathed on the inside.
Despite heavy cosmetic damage, Scott refired his car on his own, but was placed at the rear of the field for the restart with Potter. It was then smooth sailing for Dragon, who held off John Donahue through that restart and another final one on lap 93 for the win.
Scott was obviously disappointed with the wreck. "I guess I could have paid attention [to what Potter was doing] more. I saw him coming out, I just thought he was going to stay there," Scott said. "I did what I thought was right, and usually a car that's spun on the inside usually comes down and stays low, it doesn't cross the track. I don't know if he didn't see how quickly we were coming."Potter left the pit area almost immediately after the race concluded and was unavailable for comment.
Scott was also frustrated with the call made by race director Tom Curley to place him at the rear of the field for the lap 82 restart, thinking that the caution flag flew for Potter before the accident. Scott fell off the pace at the restart until debris cleared itself away from the right-front tire of his car under the green flag. "As it turned out, I don't know as we could have held on to the lead anyhow, but I wasn't happy with [the call]," Scott said. "But you know, you make the calls as you see them, and obviously [Curley] was throwing the yellow for [Potter]. And [Curley] was letting some cars spin and stay there [until they refired during other incidents in the race], so it's not like it was anything directed at me, but sometimes, you know, it's tough to take."
Prior to the lap 82 wreck, Dragon had several chances to force his way into the lead past Scott, both on the inside and outside lanes. In fact, Dragon was just under Scott's car at the time of the accident.
"I think I could have beat Phil. We were pressuring him pretty good, and it's too bad he got wrecked," Dragon said. "He was so tight in the middle of the corner, and I could have drove up underneath him. Even on the straightaway there was a couple times I had my nose in there. And I had him outside, too, but I really wanted to go underneath him and just beat him on the straightaway nice and clean, because I knew once I got all the way beside he'd just let me go. It would have been interesting, it would have been fun."
Scott saw it differently, thinking he had the car to beat. "I was just being very, very careful trying to protect the bottom when we had that restart [on lap 70] with the lapped car on the outside," he said. "I didn't want to slip up into him and I didn't want to have Brent dive underneath me, so I was just biding my time a little bit, protecting the bottom. Once I got out and started hitting my marks again, I don't know as Brent could have caught us. We had a very stout car. We'll try [Sunday at Thunder Road] to go out and win that race."
For Dragon, the win was his third of 2009, but his first victory of the year on the ACT Late Model Tour. He won a pair of events in Canada prior to the Twin State 100 -- the Coors Light 200 Showdown all-star event at Autodrome Chaudière last Sunday, and a Série ACT-Castrol event at Riverside Speedway in Ste-Croix, Qué. in June. Dragon joked that he was relieved to finally be able to put an end to the season-long ribbing he's taken from friends and competitors that he couldn't win a race in the United States.
"This is our first win in the States this year, so I guess I can be a U.S. citizen again," Dragon laughed. "Everybody's been beating on me about being a Canadian all year."
ACT Late Model Tour point leader Scott Payea had a quiet, but impressive drive from 19th starting position to finish in third place. The finish was his sixth third-place effort of the year, coupled with a win at Airborne Speedway in May. Rookie Joey Doiron, 17, finished an ACT career-best fourth, with Brian Hoar, Payea's chief rival for the championship, in fifth place. Daniel Descoste finished a career-best sixth, in front of Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., Ben Rowe, and Twin State Speedway regulars Aaron Fellows and Dallas Trombley.
Unofficially, Payea maintained a narrow five-point lead over Hoar entering Sunday's Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200 at Thunder Road in Barre.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS -- Twin State 100
ACT Late Model Tour -- Twin State Speedway, Claremont, N.H.
Friday, Sept. 4, 2009
Pos.-Driver-Hometown (# - indicates rookie)
1. Brent Dragon, Milton
2. John Donahue, Graniteville
3. Scott Payea, Milton
4. #Joey Doiron, Berwick, Me.
5. Brian Hoar, Williston
6. Daniel Descoste, St-Joseph-du-Lac, Qué.
7. Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., Hudson, N.H.
8. Ben Rowe, Turner, Me.
9. Aaron Fellows, Croydon, N.H.
10. Dallas Trombley, Rutland
11. Stéphane Descoste, Oka, Qué.
12. Randy Potter, Groveton, N.H.
13. Darrell Keane, Springfield, Mass.
14. Phil Scott, Montpelier
15. Chris Riendeau, Ascutney
16. Tyler Cahoon, St. Johnsbury
17. Jamie Fisher, Shelburne
18. Todd Davis, Claremont, N.H.
19. Pete Potvin, III, Graniteville
20. Marc Palmisano, Hadley, Mass.
21. Chip Grenier, Graniteville
22. Bryan Town, Charlestown, N.H.
23. Chris Bergeron, Claremont, N.H.
24. Mark Hayward, Unity, N.H.
25. Punky Caron, Goshen, N.H.
26. Guy Caron, Lempster, N.H.
27. Eric Williams, Hyde Park
28. Dennis Stange, Athol, Mass.
29. Ricky Rolfe, Albany Twp., Me.
30. Glen Luce, Turner, Me.
(PHOTOS: 1. Bretn Dragon waves to the crowd after his victory in the Twin State 100; 2. Phil Scott's car became a mangled mess after a lap 82 crash while Scott was leading. Photos by Justin St. Louis/VMM)
Monday, August 31, 2009
Dragon Wins ACT Showdown at Chaudière
VALLÉE-JONCTION, Qué. -- Brent Dragon of Milton won the second annual Coors Light 200 Showdown at Chaudière, a non-points all-star event for top U.S.- and Canadian-based ACT teams, on Sunday.ACT Late Model Tour point leader Scott Payea, also of Milton, and top Série ACT-Castrol driver Karl Allard of St-Félicien, Qué. traded the lead several times over the first 91 laps before Dragon took command. Dragon led the final 109 laps, and led the U.S. group to its second "team" victory in the two years of the event.
Payea finished second, with Randy Potter of Groveton, N.H. third. Castrol point leader Donald Theetge of Boischatel, Qué. was the top Canadian in fourth place, while Graniteville's Pete Potvin, III had a career day with a fifth-place showing.
The Showdown was originally scheduled for Saturday, but was pushed back by rain to Sunday afternoon.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS -- Coors Light 200 Showdown at Chaudière
Autodrome Chaudière, Vallée-Jonction, Qué.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Pos.-Driver-Hometown-(Team)
1. Brent Dragon, Milton (USA)
2. Scott Payea, Milton (USA)
3. Randy Potter, Groveton, N.H. (USA)
3. Randy Potter, Groveton, N.H. (USA)
4. Donald Theetge, Boischatel, Qué. (CAN)
5. Pete Potvin, III, Graniteville (USA)
6. Brian Hoar, Williston (USA)
7. Karl Allard, St-Félicien, Qué. (CAN)
8. Jean-François Déry, Québec, Qué. (CAN)
9. Joey Doiron, Berwick, Me. (USA)
10. Chip Grenier, Graniteville (USA)
11. Patrick Cliche, St-Jean-de-Chrysostome, Qué. (CAN)
12. Jacques Poulin, East-Broughton, Qué. (CAN)
13. Yvon Bédard, St-Nicolas, Qué. (CAN)
14. Dany Ouellet, La Pocatière, Qué. (CAN)
15. Brooks Clark, Fayston (USA)
16. Ricky Rolfe, Albany Twp., Me. (USA)
17. Patrick Laperle, St-Denis-sur-Richelieu, Qué. (CAN)
18. Claude Leclerc, Lanoraie, Qué. (CAN)
19. John Donahue, Graniteville (USA)
20. Alexandre Gingras, Québec, Qué. (CAN)
21. Patrick Hamel, St-Édouard-de-Lotbinière, Qué. (CAN)
22. Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., Hudson, N.H. (USA)
Thursday, August 27, 2009
The Juice: From Street Stocks to Superspeedways
-by Justin St. Louis
A decade ago, it would have been a tall order to find a driver in Thunder Road's Street Stock division thinking he or she had a legitimate shot at racing on a superspeedway. But that was a decade ago. On Tuesday and Wednesday, six graduates of the entry-level four-cylinder class turned laps around the 1.058-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. And of the 48 drivers that tested over the two-day session, 14 of them had spent time in Thunder Road's Flying Tiger or Tiger Sportsman division.
Cris Michaud, Jamie Fisher, Tyler Cahoon, Pete Potvin, Nick Sweet, and Scott Payea -- a group that any track or series would be proud to have in its pit area -- cut their teeth in the "crunch bunch" Street Stocks and have since progressed through the ranks to be considered among the elite in the northeast, earning themselves invitations to test at NHMS, with the majority of them likely earning an invitation to return back for the first-ever ACT event there on September 19.
"Twelve years ago [as a Street Stock rookie], I wouldn't have thought I'd be here," said Cahoon, the 2000 Street Stock champion at Thunder Road. "I did a Richard Petty Driving Experience here once." Wedensday, St. Johnsbury driver Cahoon, who this season has earned the first two top-ten finishes of his ACT Late Model Tour career after a very successful six-year run in the Late Model division at White Mountain Motorsports Park, spent a lot of time on the track at NHMS, much of it racing near his father, multi-time champion Stacy Cahoon.
But that Petty experience was likely as close to racing at the "Magic Mile" as Cahoon -- or any of the 14 -- would have imagined they would get.
"You hope some day maybe you'll do that ride and drive program in one of those cars, not in a car that you're actually familiar with, when it's your own stuff and you'll take honor in it," said Potvin, of Graniteville, who spent two years in the Street Stocks and another three seasons in Tiger Sportsmen. "I rememeber coming to the first race here and just looking at this place and thinking this is the cat's ass up here in New England, you know? I never thought we'd get a chance to test, let alone get the chance to have a sanctioned race. It's pretty cool. It's quite mind-boggling, actually. You're not just jumping into something and racing. That's what makes it even more special, I think."
Scott Payea, who has become one of the most recognizable racers in the northeastern United States and Canada, remembers when he first got started. "It seems like it was just yesterday [I was] beating around in a little Mustang," he said of his 1999 rookie season at Thunder Road and Airborne Speedway. "It's a progression. The best time I had was in a Tiger car for four years. You learn more in those than anything else, just how you drive a race car. You don't have a spotter telling you what to do, stuff like that. It's unbelievable to be here. You get butterflies when you turn off the road here into New Hampshire and come through the tunnel."
And who knows, maybe in another ten years kids like Jason Corliss, Tucker Williams, or Jimmy Hebert will be the ones getting those butterflies.
***
My apologies for the delay and the brevity of "The Juice" this week. There's a lot of stuff going on, which isn't even close to being a bad thing. By the time Saturday rolls around, VMM will have been to five race tracks in eight days, on top of holding down a full-time job and having a full-time hobby of eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. (They're just so good, dude.)
We'll give yet another tip of the hat to Green-White-Checker and The Backstretch for their on-site coverage of the NHMS test. Go check 'em out.
So yeah, in that eight-day span, we'll have been to Airborne, Devil's Bowl, NHMS, Thunder Road, and Bear Ridge. Lots of miles, lots of laps, lots of fun.
***
So, apparently, Bruce Ricahrds has in fact decided to pave Albany-Saratoga Speedway. On Wednesday, press releases from the American-Canadian Tour and the True Value Modified Racing Series announced that dates have been tentatively agreed upon to host events at the soon-to-be former dirt track in Malta, N.Y.
Rumors began surfacing surrounding a possible paving of Albany-Saratoga in July. The 4/10-mile track was a very successful asphalt modified hotbed in the 1960s and early '70s, hosting some of the most important events in the history of the legendary division. Richie Evans, named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers, was a 17-time winner there in the asphalt days.
***
It should be quite a moment when Jean-Paul Cyr clinches his first Thunder Road championship tonight in Barre. Well, technically, it's "if", but Cyr's going to have to really screw up to lose the title. Phil Scott trails by 52 points, which means he could win (75 points) and Cyr could finish 24th or worse (24 points) and Cyr would still win by a single point. But it's 14 points to win a heat race, so that might make things interesting.
Stranger things have happened with title chases at Thunder Road, including twice with this same Phil Scott. In 2003, he lost a 33-point lead and subsquently a championship in a tie-breaker with Jamie Fisher. Last year, he made up 50 points in two weeks, was the unofficial point leader on lap 47 of the final 50-lap event, and then, due to some late passing, ultimately finished second to Eric Williams by a scant three points.
Cyr, the seven-time ACT Late Model Tour champion, hasn't won a weekly track championship since 1990, when he was the Devil's Bowl Speedway Pro Stock champion. This season has been his first with a new car, new crew chief, new team, and new goal. And it looks like everything has worked.
***
Sorry, but no "Around the Region" recap this week. Here's a schedule, though...
WEEKEND SCHEDULE:
Thursday, Aug. 27
Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre -- 6:00pm (NASCAR driver David Ragan, final Late Model championship event)
Friday, Aug. 28
Albany-Saratoga Speedway, Malta, N.Y. -- 6:45pm (Ridge Runner/Budget Sportsman Series)
Canaan Dirt Speedway, Canaan, N.H. -- 7:00pm (SCoNE 360 Sprint Cars)
Twin State Speedway, Claremont, N.H. -- 7:30pm (Regular Event, plus Demolition Derby/Enduro)
Saturday, Aug. 29
Bear Ridge Speedway, Bradford -- 6:00pm (Old Timers' Night, plus SCoNE 360 Sprints and Granite State Mini Sprints)
Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y. -- 6:00pm (Topless Modifieds)
Canaan Fair Speedway, Canaan, N.H. -- 6:00pm (Regular Event)
Monadnock Speedway, Winchester, N.H. -- 6:00pm (All Divisions, plus Demolition Derby)
Riverside Speedway, Groveton, N.H. -- 6:00pm (Super Stock Double Features)
White Mountain Motorsports Park, North Woodstock, N.H. -- 6:00pm (Regular Event)
Sunday, Aug. 30
Devil's Bowl Speedway, West Haven -- 6:45pm (Empire Lightning Sprints, double features for 358-Modifieds, Budget Sportsmen, Pro Stocks, and Limiteds)
TOURING SERIES:
ACT Late Model Tour/Série ACT-Castrol: Sat., Aug. 29 -- Autodrome Chaudière, Vallée-Jct., Qué. (Coors Light 200 Showdown -- 6:00pm)
SCoNE 360 Sprint Cars: Fri., Aug. 28 -- Canaan Dirt Speedway, Canaan, N.H. (7:00pm)
SCoNE 360 Sprint Cars: Sat., Aug. 29 -- Bear Ridge Speedway, Bradford (6:00pm)
True Value Modified Racing Series: Thu.. Aug. 27 -- Thompson Int'l Speedway, Thompson, Conn. (5:30pm)
(PHOTOS: 1. Scott Payea (left) and Tyler Cahoon (right) listen to ACT President Tom Curley at the drivers meeting at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Wednesday morning; 2. The green light was on for Pete Potvin as he flashed by the start/finish line at NHMS. Photos by Justin St. Louis/VMM)
A decade ago, it would have been a tall order to find a driver in Thunder Road's Street Stock division thinking he or she had a legitimate shot at racing on a superspeedway. But that was a decade ago. On Tuesday and Wednesday, six graduates of the entry-level four-cylinder class turned laps around the 1.058-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. And of the 48 drivers that tested over the two-day session, 14 of them had spent time in Thunder Road's Flying Tiger or Tiger Sportsman division.Cris Michaud, Jamie Fisher, Tyler Cahoon, Pete Potvin, Nick Sweet, and Scott Payea -- a group that any track or series would be proud to have in its pit area -- cut their teeth in the "crunch bunch" Street Stocks and have since progressed through the ranks to be considered among the elite in the northeast, earning themselves invitations to test at NHMS, with the majority of them likely earning an invitation to return back for the first-ever ACT event there on September 19.
"Twelve years ago [as a Street Stock rookie], I wouldn't have thought I'd be here," said Cahoon, the 2000 Street Stock champion at Thunder Road. "I did a Richard Petty Driving Experience here once." Wedensday, St. Johnsbury driver Cahoon, who this season has earned the first two top-ten finishes of his ACT Late Model Tour career after a very successful six-year run in the Late Model division at White Mountain Motorsports Park, spent a lot of time on the track at NHMS, much of it racing near his father, multi-time champion Stacy Cahoon.
But that Petty experience was likely as close to racing at the "Magic Mile" as Cahoon -- or any of the 14 -- would have imagined they would get.
"You hope some day maybe you'll do that ride and drive program in one of those cars, not in a car that you're actually familiar with, when it's your own stuff and you'll take honor in it," said Potvin, of Graniteville, who spent two years in the Street Stocks and another three seasons in Tiger Sportsmen. "I rememeber coming to the first race here and just looking at this place and thinking this is the cat's ass up here in New England, you know? I never thought we'd get a chance to test, let alone get the chance to have a sanctioned race. It's pretty cool. It's quite mind-boggling, actually. You're not just jumping into something and racing. That's what makes it even more special, I think."Scott Payea, who has become one of the most recognizable racers in the northeastern United States and Canada, remembers when he first got started. "It seems like it was just yesterday [I was] beating around in a little Mustang," he said of his 1999 rookie season at Thunder Road and Airborne Speedway. "It's a progression. The best time I had was in a Tiger car for four years. You learn more in those than anything else, just how you drive a race car. You don't have a spotter telling you what to do, stuff like that. It's unbelievable to be here. You get butterflies when you turn off the road here into New Hampshire and come through the tunnel."
And who knows, maybe in another ten years kids like Jason Corliss, Tucker Williams, or Jimmy Hebert will be the ones getting those butterflies.
***
My apologies for the delay and the brevity of "The Juice" this week. There's a lot of stuff going on, which isn't even close to being a bad thing. By the time Saturday rolls around, VMM will have been to five race tracks in eight days, on top of holding down a full-time job and having a full-time hobby of eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. (They're just so good, dude.)
We'll give yet another tip of the hat to Green-White-Checker and The Backstretch for their on-site coverage of the NHMS test. Go check 'em out.
So yeah, in that eight-day span, we'll have been to Airborne, Devil's Bowl, NHMS, Thunder Road, and Bear Ridge. Lots of miles, lots of laps, lots of fun.
***
So, apparently, Bruce Ricahrds has in fact decided to pave Albany-Saratoga Speedway. On Wednesday, press releases from the American-Canadian Tour and the True Value Modified Racing Series announced that dates have been tentatively agreed upon to host events at the soon-to-be former dirt track in Malta, N.Y.
Rumors began surfacing surrounding a possible paving of Albany-Saratoga in July. The 4/10-mile track was a very successful asphalt modified hotbed in the 1960s and early '70s, hosting some of the most important events in the history of the legendary division. Richie Evans, named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers, was a 17-time winner there in the asphalt days.
***
It should be quite a moment when Jean-Paul Cyr clinches his first Thunder Road championship tonight in Barre. Well, technically, it's "if", but Cyr's going to have to really screw up to lose the title. Phil Scott trails by 52 points, which means he could win (75 points) and Cyr could finish 24th or worse (24 points) and Cyr would still win by a single point. But it's 14 points to win a heat race, so that might make things interesting.
Stranger things have happened with title chases at Thunder Road, including twice with this same Phil Scott. In 2003, he lost a 33-point lead and subsquently a championship in a tie-breaker with Jamie Fisher. Last year, he made up 50 points in two weeks, was the unofficial point leader on lap 47 of the final 50-lap event, and then, due to some late passing, ultimately finished second to Eric Williams by a scant three points.
Cyr, the seven-time ACT Late Model Tour champion, hasn't won a weekly track championship since 1990, when he was the Devil's Bowl Speedway Pro Stock champion. This season has been his first with a new car, new crew chief, new team, and new goal. And it looks like everything has worked.
***
Sorry, but no "Around the Region" recap this week. Here's a schedule, though...
WEEKEND SCHEDULE:
Thursday, Aug. 27
Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre -- 6:00pm (NASCAR driver David Ragan, final Late Model championship event)
Friday, Aug. 28
Albany-Saratoga Speedway, Malta, N.Y. -- 6:45pm (Ridge Runner/Budget Sportsman Series)
Canaan Dirt Speedway, Canaan, N.H. -- 7:00pm (SCoNE 360 Sprint Cars)
Twin State Speedway, Claremont, N.H. -- 7:30pm (Regular Event, plus Demolition Derby/Enduro)
Saturday, Aug. 29
Bear Ridge Speedway, Bradford -- 6:00pm (Old Timers' Night, plus SCoNE 360 Sprints and Granite State Mini Sprints)
Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y. -- 6:00pm (Topless Modifieds)
Canaan Fair Speedway, Canaan, N.H. -- 6:00pm (Regular Event)
Monadnock Speedway, Winchester, N.H. -- 6:00pm (All Divisions, plus Demolition Derby)
Riverside Speedway, Groveton, N.H. -- 6:00pm (Super Stock Double Features)
White Mountain Motorsports Park, North Woodstock, N.H. -- 6:00pm (Regular Event)
Sunday, Aug. 30
Devil's Bowl Speedway, West Haven -- 6:45pm (Empire Lightning Sprints, double features for 358-Modifieds, Budget Sportsmen, Pro Stocks, and Limiteds)
TOURING SERIES:
ACT Late Model Tour/Série ACT-Castrol: Sat., Aug. 29 -- Autodrome Chaudière, Vallée-Jct., Qué. (Coors Light 200 Showdown -- 6:00pm)
SCoNE 360 Sprint Cars: Fri., Aug. 28 -- Canaan Dirt Speedway, Canaan, N.H. (7:00pm)
SCoNE 360 Sprint Cars: Sat., Aug. 29 -- Bear Ridge Speedway, Bradford (6:00pm)
True Value Modified Racing Series: Thu.. Aug. 27 -- Thompson Int'l Speedway, Thompson, Conn. (5:30pm)
(PHOTOS: 1. Scott Payea (left) and Tyler Cahoon (right) listen to ACT President Tom Curley at the drivers meeting at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Wednesday morning; 2. The green light was on for Pete Potvin as he flashed by the start/finish line at NHMS. Photos by Justin St. Louis/VMM)
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