Waterford Speedbowl to Close 2010 ACT Schedule

Thunder Road's Milk Bowl becomes stand-alone event

WATERFORD, Conn. -- The American-Canadian Tour has tweaked its previously released partial ACT Late Model Tour 2010 schedule, deleting the Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl at Barre's Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl from the championship slate and picking up a pair of events at Waterford Speedbowl on the Connecticut shoreline.

The racy 3/8-mile oval will host a 100-lap ACT Late Model Tour event on August 21, and will also close the series' schedule -- which now stands at 14 races -- in a Late Model/SK Modified twinbill event on October 9/10. ACT will become part of Waterford's annual SK Modified Nationals event, with each division running 150 laps; the Nationals event has traditionally been the track's season opener in April, but will close the Waterford and ACT schedules for the first time.

With the addition of the Waterford race, the Milk Bowl has once again become a non-championship, stand-alone event, but will still be run on its originally released date of October 2/3. ACT Late Model Tour champion Brian Hoar of Williston won a controversial event at Waterford in August after a late-race crash eliminated leader Brad Leighton. Other ACT winners at Waterford Speedbowl include Scott Payea (2008), Roger Brown (2004), and Brent Dragon (2003).

ACT LATE MODEL TOUR 2010 SCHEDULE (as of Nov. 30, 2009)

#-Day-Date-Track-Location-Laps

1. Sun., April 18 -- Lee USA Speedway, Lee, N.H. -- 150
2. Sun., April 25 -- Albany-Saratoga Speedway, Malta, N.Y. -- 100
3. Sun., May 2 -- Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre -- 150
4. Sat., May 8 -- Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y. -- 100
5. Sun., May 16 -- Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford, Me. -- 150
6. Sat., June 19 -- Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford, Me. -- 150
7. Sat., June 26 -- White Mountain Motorsports Park, North Woodstock, N.H. -- 150
-- Sun., July 18 -- Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford, Me. -- 250 (non-points)
8. Sat., July 24 -- Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Scarborough (Portland), Me. -- 150
9. Fri., July 30 -- Twin State Speedway, Claremont, N.H. -- 100
10. Sat., Aug. 14 -- Riverside Speedway, Ste-Croix, Qué. -- 200 (Tour/Castrol combo)
11. Sat., Aug. 21 -- Waterford Speedbowl, Waterford, Conn. -- 100
-- Sat., Aug. 28 -- Autodrome Chaudière, Vallée-Jonction, Qué. -- 200 (non-points)
12. Sun., Sept. 5 -- Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre -- 200
13. Sun., Sept. 12 -- Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y. -- 300
-- Sat., Sept. 18 -- New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, N.H. -- TBA (non-points)
-- Sat./Sun., Oct. 2/3 -- Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre -- 150 (non-points)
14. Sat./Sun., Oct. 9/10 -- Waterford Speedbowl, Waterford, Conn. -- 150

Williams Family Takes Second Driver of the Year Award

Vermont Motorsports Magazine Driver of the Year Awards presented by Subway

Late Model stock car driver Eric Williams has been named the winner of the Vermont Motorsports Magazine "On The Road" Driver of the Year Award presented by Subway, as decided by readers of Vermont Motorsports Magazine, an online news website. The veteran Hyde Park driver follows in the tracks of his son, Tucker, who won the VMM/Subway Driver of the Year Award in the Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl category one week earlier.

Eric Williams received exactly half of the more than 1,200 votes cast during a one-week open fan vote on the Vermont Motorsports Magazine website. Williams won the "On The Road" Driver of the Year honor in a category that included 30 Vermont racers competing on a touring series, or at tracks in New Hampshire and New York. Williams won 150-lap main events on the traveling American-Canadian Tour at Thunder Road in Barre in May and at Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine in October.

Ascutney teenager Chris Riendeau finished second in the VMM/Subway "On The Road" Driver of the Year poll, earning 28% of the votes. Riendeau was a feature winner at both Twin State Speedway and Canaan Fair Speedway in New Hampshire, and was a regular competitor in three weekly divisions. He also made two appearances on the ACT Late Model Tour. Another Ascutney youngster, Joey Jarvis, finished third in the poll with over 100 votes; Jarvis finished second in Modified championship standings at Twin State and was the division's Rookie of the Year.

Other top vote-getters included White Mountain Motorsports Park (N.H.) Late Model Champion Stacy Cahoon of St. Johnsbury, Granite State Mini Sprint Series Champion Lacey Hanson of Orwell, and Thunder Road Milk Bowl winner John Donahue of Graniteville.

Eric Williams is the fourth VMM/Subway Driver of the Year honoree in the month of November, joining son Tucker, Bradford's Tom Placey of Bear Ridge Speedway, and Orwell racer Tim LaDuc of Devil's Bowl Speedway. Nearly 2,500 votes have been tallied in the month-long polling at Vermont Motorsports Magazine.

Voting for the final Vermont Motorsports Magazine 2009 Driver of the Year Award presented by Subway is now open through 11:59pm on Sunday, December 6. The 20-driver ballot for the 2009 Driver of the Year Award is comprised of the top-voted racers in the previous four categories. Nominees include Bear Ridge Speedway champions Gary Siemons, Dan Eastman, and Placey, Devil's Bowl Speedway Modified power trio LaDuc, Kenny Tremont, Jr., and Todd Stone, Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl stars Jean-Paul Cyr, Dave Pembroke, and Tucker Williams, and traveling racers Eric Williams, Riendeau, Joey Jarvis, Brian Hoar, and Dwight Jarvis.

To vote, visit Vermont Motorsports Magazine at http://vtmotormag.blogspot.com/. The VMM Driver of the Year Awards are presented by Subway of Barre, Montpelier, Waterbury, and Northfield. For more information on Subway, visit http://www.subway.com/.

(PHOTOS: 1. VMM/Subway "On The Road" Driver of the Year Eric Williams; 2. "On The Road" runner-up Chris Riendeau. Photo 1 by Justin St. Louis/VMM; Photo 2 by Alan Ward)

Hall of Famer Gahan Passes Away at 83

'62 Thunder Road winner was National Modified Champion

CRANBERRY ISLES, Me. -- Modified racing legend Ernie Gahan passed away at his Maine home on Thursday night at the age of 83. Gahan was the 1966 NASCAR National Modified Champion.

Among the many honors bestowed upon Gahan, who began racing in 1948 at a track in his home town of Dover, N.H., were inductions into several Halls of Fame; he was part of the inaugural class of the New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1998, and is also a member of the New York State Stock Car Association Hall of Fame, the Maine Motorsports Hall of Fame, and the Beech Ridge (Me.) Motor Speedway Hall of Fame.

Gahan's 300-plus feature victories included a Triple Crown effort at Barre's Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl on July 19, 1962; he was a frequent competitor there and at the former Catamount Stadium in Milton in the 1960s. Gahan made 11 starts in the NASCAR Grand National (Sprint Cup) Series from 1960-66, and was given the Buddy Shuman Award for outstanding contributions to NASCAR after helping DeWayne "Tiny" Lund rescue driver Marvin Panch from a fiery crash at Daytona Int'l Speedway in 1963.

Gahan's last competitive start with a NASCAR touring series came in 1987 at Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway in a Whelen Modified Tour event, finishing 20th with his famous number-50. His son, Bobby, has amassed 15 championships and nearly 400 feature wins in a 40-year career in and around sourthern New Hampshire.

"Ernie was part of the Modified legacy that has helped make NASCAR what it is today. He was a great racer and true New England legend," said Jim Hunter, NASCAR vice president for corporate communications. "On behalf of NASCAR and the France family, our thoughts and prayers go out to Gahan's family and friends."

Services for Gahan will be held Wednesday at Purdy Memorial Chapel, 2 Concord Rd., Durham, N.H. The wake will be from 12-2 pm, followed by the funeral service.

(Photo credit: Howie Hodge/NASCAR)

ACT Invitational to Return to New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 2010

Race distance and starting field to be expanded, Goodyear to develop new tire for event

From American-Canadian Tour press release

LOUDON, N.H. -- The American-Canadian Tour and New Hampshire Motor Speedway have reached an agreement for the second annual ACT Invitational to take place at the only superspeedway in the northeast on Saturday, September 18, 2010.

“The overwhelming success of the inaugural ACT Invitational this past September made it an easy decision to have the short track stars of our region return again next September,” said Jerry Gappens, executive vice president and general manager of New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Thirty-six teams from all six New England states, Quebec, and Ontario took part in the inaugural ACT Invitational during the Sylvania 300 weekend this past September.  One of the largest Saturday crowds in the 19-year history of the speedway was treated to an action packed tripleheader of racing featuring the ACT Late Models, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

“We really thought things went great at New Hampshire Motor Speedway during the first ACT Invitational last season,” said Tom Curley, President of ACT.  “I would expect things to be even more fun for our teams and fans in 2010.  We will add some laps to the event, and are discussing the possibility of allowing a tire change during the event.  We will also add some positions to the starting field.”

Teams were qualified for the first Invitational by winning ACT Late Model Tour and ACT Castrol Series events in the United States, Quebec, and Ontario. Additional teams qualified through special events such as the TD Bank 250 at Oxford Plains (Me.) Speedway and the Vermont Governor’s Cup at Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl in Barre.  Individual track champions from ACT-affiliated tracks were also invited to attend the inaugural Invitational.

“We plan to change some of the qualifying procedures as we continue to make this one of the most unique and exciting short track events in the country,” said Curley.

2009 ACT Champion Brian Hoar from Williston said, “It is no secret that New Hampshire Motor Speedway is my very favorite track of all time.  I can’t tell you how happy I am that we are going back.  They tell me Goodyear is making a tire for us just for New Hampshire, and that will be a good thing.  I really think I could have been in the battle to the great finish that Eddie (MacDonald), Nick Sweet, and the kid from Ontario (16 year-old Brandon Watson) had going on at the end of the race.  But I just ran out of tire. I now know what one of my goals for the RPM Motorsports team is going to be in 2010.  I can’t wait.”

The first qualifying event for the 2010 ACT Invitational will be held just down the road from New Hampshire Motor Speedway at the Lee USA Speedway in Lee, N.H.  Over 50 teams are expected to try and capture the first invitation at the opening 150-lap event on Sunday, April 18, 2010.

Rookie Williams Wins Thunder Road Driver of the Year

Vermont Motorsports Magazine Driver of the Year Awards presented by Subway

Rookie stock car driver Tucker Williams was voted the winner of the Vermont Motorsports Magazine Thunder Road International Speedbowl Driver of the Year Award presented by Subway, as decided by readers of Vermont Motorsports Magazine, an online news website. The 18 year-old Hyde Park competitor finished third in 2009 championship standings in the four-cylinder Street Stock division at Thunder Road in Barre, winning four feature races, including his first-ever start at the track in May, and handily won the Rookie of the Year title. Junkyard Warrior champion Donny Yates of North Montpelier, a six-time winner in 2009, finished second in the balloting.

Williams and Yates dominated the VMM/Subway Thunder Road Driver of the Year Award vote, earning a combined 71% of the tally registered at Vermont Motorsports Magazine during a one-week open poll. Dave Pembroke of Middlesex, winner of both prestigious Memorial Day Classic and Labor Day Classic events in 2009, was third in the poll. Other high-ranking drivers on the 15-person ballot included Late Model Track Champion Jean-Paul Cyr of Milton, Tiger Sportsman division champion Jimmy Hebert of Williamstown, and Warrior driver Kevin Streeter of Waitsfield.

Williams is the third VMM/Subway Driver of the Year honoree, joining Bradford's Tom Placey (Bear Ridge Speedway) and Tim LaDuc of Orwell (Devil's Bowl Speedway). Over 1,000 votes have been tallied in the month-long polling at Vermont Motorsports Magazine.

Voting for the Vermont Motorsports Magazine "On The Road" Driver of the Year Award presented by Subway is now open through 11:59pm on Sunday, November 29. The "On The Road" award will honor the top Vermont driver racing primarily on a touring series or at a track out of state. Nominees on the 30-driver ballot include American-Canadian Tour champion Brian Hoar of Williston, Granite State Mini Sprint series champion Lacey Hanson of Orwell, multi-division star Chris Riendeau of Ascutney, White Mountain Motorsports Park (N.H.) champion Stacy Cahoon of St. Johnsbury, Airborne (N.Y.) Speedway driver Aaron Bartemy of Sheldon, and undefeated Riverside (N.H.) Speedway champion Derek Ming of Island Pond.

A final, overall "2009 Driver of the Year" poll will be held at the Vermont Motorsports Magazine website on the first week of December; nominees will include the top vote-getters from the Bear Ridge Speedway, Devil's Bowl Speedway, Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, and "On The Road" polls. To vote, visit http://vtmotormag.blogspot.com/. The VMM Driver of the Year Awards are presented by Subway of Barre, Montpelier, Waterbury, and Northfield. For more information on Subway, visit http://www.subway.com/.

(PHOTO: VMM/Subway Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl Driver of the Year Tucker Williams. Photo by Leif Tillotson.)

Thunder Road Announces 2010 Schedule

Late Models to make appearance at Devil's Bowl

BARRE -- Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl in Barre released its event schedule for the 2010 season on Thursday. Eighteen race dates have been announced for the track, along with a date reserved on May 23 for the headline Late Model division to hold a race at the soon-to-be paved Devil's Bowl Speedway in West Haven. Details on the event are expected next week.

Among the marquee events returning to Thunder Road are the season-opening 12th annual Merchants Bank 150 on May 2 for the American-Canadian Tour, and the third annual Late Model/Modified doubleheader at the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic on May 30. The CARQUEST Vermont Governor's Cup -- which returns from a 150-lap format in 2009 to 100 laps in 2010 -- on June 24.

The ACT Tiger Sportsman Series opens its season with a 100-lap race on July 1, followed two weeks later by the Times Argus Mid-Season Championships. Other big events include the M&M Beverage Enduro 200 (August 8), the Late Model championship finale (August 26), and the Bond Auto Labor Day Classic (Sept. 5) and Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl (October 2/3) for the ACT Late Model Tour.

One noteable change is that early-June events have been moved from the traditional Thursday-night slot to Sundays. "We have decided to see if our fans and competitors feel that a couple of early-season twilight Sunday events might better fit their schedules. Recently, schools seem to be in session longer, and we are hoping that fans might enjoy the early Sunday regular point events to conclude their weekends in mid-June," said Director of Administration, Darla Hartt, in the track's official press release. Thursday events begin with the Governor's Cup 100 on June 24.

THUNDER ROAD INT'L SPEEDBOWL 2010 SCHEDULE -- BARRE, VT.

#-Day-Date-Event

1. Sun., May 2 -- Merchants Bank 150 (ACT Late Model Tour)
-- Sun., May 23 -- Devil's Bowl Speedway (Late Models)
2. Sun., May 30 -- Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic (Modified Racing Series/Late Models)
3. Sun., June 13 -- Ferguson Waterworks
4. Sun., June 20 -- Harvest Equipment
5. Thu., June 24 -- CARQUEST Vermont Governor's Cup 100
6. Thu., July 1 -- ACT Tiger Sportsman Series 100
7. Sun., July 4 -- Pepsi Fireworks
8. Thu., July 8 -- Charter Communications
9. Thu., July 15 -- Times Argus Mid-Season Championships
10. Thu., July 22 -- Casella Waste Management
11. Thu., July 29 -- WDEV Radio/Calkins Portables Port-A-Potty Grand Prix
12. Thu., Aug. 5 -- Weekly Event
13. Sun., Aug. 8 -- M&M Beverage Enduro 200 (Street Stock/Warrior Special)
14. Thu., Aug. 12 -- Vermont ACE Hardware Stores
15. Thu., Aug 19 -- Weekly Event
16. Thu., Aug. 26 -- Late Model Championship Finale
17. Sun., Sept. 5 -- Bond Auto Labor Day Classic (ACT Late Model Tour)
18. Sat./Sun., Oct. 2/3 -- Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl (ACT Late Model Tour)

LaDuc Named Devil's Bowl Speedway Driver of the Year

Vermont Motorsports Magazine Driver of the Year Awards presented by Subway

Veteran stock car driver Tim LaDuc has won the Vermont Motorsports Magazine Devil's Bowl Speedway Driver of the Year Award presented by Subway, as voted by readers of Vermont Motorsports Magazine, an online news website. The popular Orwell driver finished third in 2009 championship standings in the headline 358-Modified division at Devil's Bowl Speedway in Fair Haven; LaDuc won the opening day event in May and was in the thick of the title hunt the entire year, finishing just 13 points behind Track Champion Kenny Tremont, Jr. of West Sand Lake, N.Y., a dozen points behind runner-up Todd Stone of Middlebury.

LaDuc won the VMM/Subway Devil's Bowl Speedway Driver of the Year Award by earning 39% of the votes registered at Vermont Motorsports Magazine during a one-week open poll. Tremont finished second in the balloting with 19% of the vote, while Stone was third with 15%. Two-time Budget Sportsman winner C.V. Elms, III of North Haverhill, N.H. ranked high among the 14 drivers on the ballot, as Six-Cylinder Mini Stock champion Kayla Bryant of Rutland and Pro Street Stock champion Cale Kneer of Troy, N.Y.

Voting for the Vermont Motorsports Magazine Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl Driver of the Year Award presented by Subway is now open through 11:59pm on Sunday, November 22. Nominees on the 15-driver Thunder Road ballot include Late Model Track Champion Jean-Paul Cyr, Tiger Sportsman Champion Jimmy Hebert, and Street Stock Rookie of the Year Tucker Williams.

Driver of the Year polls will be held at the Vermont Motorsports Magazine website throughout the month of November; to vote, visit http://vtmotormag.blogspot.com/. The VMM Driver of the Year Awards are presented by Subway of Barre, Montpelier, Waterbury, and Northfield. For more information on Subway, visit http://www.subway.com/.

(PHOTO: VMM/Subway Devil's Bowl Speedway Driver of the Year Tim LaDuc. Photo by Dave D'Alessandro/CVRA)

ACT Late Model Tour Releases Partial 2010 Schedule

Tour returns to Québec; Director Curley asks for earlier start times

WATERBURY -- The American-Canadian Tour released most of its 2010 Late Model Tour schedule earlier this week, with 13 confirmed dates at nine venues in New England, New York, and Québec. Two more dates are expected to be added this month, according to the series' official press release.

Tentatively, the ACT Late Model Tour will open its season for the third-straight year at Lee USA (N.H.) Speedway, on April 18. The series then travels to Malta, N.Y. on April 25 for its first-ever visit to Albany-Saratoga Speedway, which is currently undergoing a major transformation from a clay surface to asphalt.

Barre's Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl will host three events, while Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y. and Oxford Plains (Me.) Speedway will each have a pair of races. Single events will also be held at White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H., Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, Me., Twin State Speedway in Claremont, N.H., and Riverside Speedway in Ste-Croix, Qué. Two dates have been reserved for non-championship events: the TD Bank 250 at Oxford Plains on July 18 and the third-annual "Showdown at Chaudière", an all-star race for the ACT Late Model Tour and Série ACT-Castrol, at Autodrome Chaudière in Vallée-Jonction, Qué. on August 28.

POINTS OF INTEREST

--No mention of a return date to New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. was made in the ACT press release, although it is widely believed that an announcement will be made in the near future. NHMS hosted the first-ever ACT Invitational, a 50-lap, non-points event, on Saturday, Sept. 19 during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' Sylvania 300 weekend. The spectator crowd, estimated by some near 40,000, was reported to be one of the track's most successful Saturday draws in its 20-year history.

--The 200-lap event at Riverside Speedway (formerly Circuit Ste-Croix) on August 14 marks the first championship-counting ACT Late Model Tour event in Québec since a race at Autodrome St-Eustache in July 2007. The "Can-Am Confrontation by the Seaway" at Riverside will also be a combination event for ACT's two touring series, and is the first race since the 2007 St-Eustache event that will award championship points for both the U.S.-based ACT Late Model Tour and the Canadian-based Série ACT-Castrol. Riverside's 5/8-mile layout is the largest that either series will compete on in 2010.

--ACT president Tom Curley has asked track promoters to be conscientious of traveling race teams and fans in the upcoming season. "For 2010 ACT feature events, we have requested that the features be started no later than 8:30pm," said Curley. "We continue to try and accommodate the fans and teams of ACT racing in our efforts to make the tours friendlier to compete in and to attend." Some events were negatively effected by late start times in 2009, including a 100-lap feature at Twin State Speedway in September that began just before 11:30pm.

--Big Bigelow of the Caledonian-Record (Vt.) is reporting that there will be no "Pick 10" championship format in 2010, and that all point-counting events on the schedule will count toward the ACT Late Model Tour championship.

--Two tracks that have hosted multiple ACT Late Model Tour events, Connecticut's Waterford Speedbowl and Kawartha Speedway in Ontario, have not yet been included in the 2010 ACT schedule. Kawartha has held one ACT event each year since 2007, while Waterford rejoined the schedule in 2008 and '09 after a four-year absence; Waterford recently staved off foreclosure for the second time. Both tracks operate with a weekly Late Model division under ACT-legal rulebooks.

--The 100-lap event at Albany-Saratoga will be the 200th championship-counting race for the ACT Late Model Tour, which began in 1992.

--Two major events at Thunder Road -- the Merchants Bank 150 and the Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200 -- remain on the ACT Late Model Tour schedule. The third event, however, will not be the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic, as it was in 2009, but rather the Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl, which closes the ACT championship on October 2/3.

ACT LATE MODEL TOUR 2010 SCHEDULE (as of Nov. 9, 2009)

#-Day-Date-Track-Location-Laps

1. Sun., April 18 -- Lee USA Speedway, Lee, N.H. -- 150
2. Sun., April 25 -- Albany-Saratoga Speedway, Malta, N.Y. -- 100
3. Sun., May 2 -- Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre -- 150
4. Sat., May 8 -- Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y. -- 100
5. Sun., May 16 -- Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford, Me. -- 150
6. Sat., June 19 -- Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford, Me. -- 150
7. Sat., June 26 -- White Mountain Motorsports Park, North Woodstock, N.H. -- 150
-- Sun., July 18 -- Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford, Me. -- 250 (non-points)
8. Sat., July 24 -- Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Scarborough (Portland), Me. -- 150
9. Fri., July 30 -- Twin State Speedway, Claremont, N.H. -- 100
10. Sat., Aug. 14 -- Riverside Speedway, Ste-Croix (Québec City), Qué. -- 200 (Tour/Castrol combo)
-- Sat., Aug. 28 -- Autodrome Chaudière, Vallée-Jonction, Qué. -- 200 (non-points)
11. Sun., Sept. 5 -- Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre -- 200
12. Sun., Sept. 12 -- Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y. -- 300
13. Sat./Sun., Oct. 2/3 -- Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre -- 150

Placey Voted Bear Ridge Speedway Driver of the Year

Vermont Motorsports Magazine Driver of the Year Awards presented by Subway

Stock car racer Tom Placey has won the Vermont Motorsports Magazine Bear Ridge Speedway Driver of the Year Award presented by Subway, as voted by readers of Vermont Motorsports Magazine, an online news website. The 25 year-old won the 2009 Hornet division championship at the 1/4-mile Bear Ridge Speedway dirt track in his hometown of Bradford on the strength of a whopping 11 feature event victories in 17 starts.

Placey won the VMM/Subway Bear Ridge Speedway Driver of the Year Award by earning an impressive 51% of the votes registered at Vermont Motorsports Magazine during a one-week open poll. Limited Late Model champion Dan Eastman of Thetford Center finished second in the balloting with 17% of the vote, while Piermont, N.H. driver Chris Donnelly, a six-time winner in the headline Sportsman Modified class, was third with 8% of the vote. Other high-ranking drivers among the 15 nominees on the poll included Sportsman Modified champion Gary Siemons, Sportsman Coupe champion Josh Harrington, and Hornet Queen champion Misty Bell.

Voting for the Vermont Motorsports Magazine Devil's Bowl Speedway Driver of the Year Award presented by Subway is now open through 11:59pm on Sunday, November 15. Drivers on the Devil's Bowl nomination roster include Modified track champion Kenny Tremont, Jr., Budget Sportsman star Frank Hoard, III, and Pro Street Stock champion Cale Kneer.

Driver of the Year polls will be held at the Vermont Motorsports Magazine website throughout the month of November; to vote, visit http://vtmotormag.blogspot.com/. The VMM Driver of the Year Awards are presented by Subway of Barre, Montpelier, Waterbury, and Northfield. For more information on Subway, visit http://www.subway.com/.

(PHOTO: VMM/Subway Bear Ridge Speedway Driver of the Year Tom Placey. Photo by Justin St. Louis/VMM)

ACT Releases 2010 Castrol Series Schedule

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

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

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

SÉRIE ACT-CASTROL 2010 SCHEDULE

#-Day-Date-Track-Location-Laps

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