Modified Racing Series coverage presented by GossCars.com
BARRE-- It was nearly as simple as copying and pasting last year’s Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic results at Barre’s Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl on Sunday: Steve Masse dominated the Modified Racing Series event, and Dave Pembroke dominated the Late Model race.
But it wasn’t that simple.
While he stole the headlines with his career-first MRS win last year, Masse was nearly an afterthought to the MRS portion of the event in 2010, after a controversial finish involving Les Hinckley and Rowan Pennink at Airborne Speedway on Saturday night centered the focus on those two drivers.
Hinckley would prove to be a non-factor at Thunder Road, but Pennink kept everyone’s attention with two frightful trips over the top of the first turn, one of which sent his car into a barrel roll.
But once Pennink’s dust settled and he eventually retired from the event, Masse assumed the lead role. Masse was unchallenged virtually the entire 100-lap distance, leading by as much as a half-lap.
“I like this track,” said the 20 year-old Bellingham, Mass., driver, whose two career Modified Racing Series victories have both come at the track known to chew up and spit out veterans three times his age. “For some reason I know how to drive it. I feel like I’ve got a good grip on it. I don’t know how to explain it.”
Masse wrecked his primary car at Airborne on Saturday night and rolled out his back-up car to win at Thunder Road.
“The car was awesome, that’s it,” said Masse, who started fifth on the 24-car field. “[The win] is a tremendous thing. We found something [wrong with the car] over the long break we just had, and I think we’re going to be a contender all year long from now on. We should be fast at every track.”
Rob Goodenough of Swanzey, N.H., drove from seventh at the start to finish as the runner-up, and Ken Barry of Preston, Conn., came from 12th to finish a season-best third. Three-time MRS champion Kirk Alexander of West Swanzey, N.H., was fourth and rookie Max Zachem of Preston, Conn., was fifth. Hinckley finished sixth with Ascutney rookie Joey Jarvis seventh. Charlie Pasteryak, Dwight Jarvis, and Eddy Spiers completed the unofficial top ten.
Pembroke’s drive wasn’t quite as easy initially during the 100-lap Late Model feature, coming from 14th at the start.
As Pembroke drove through the field, Graniteville’s John Donahue battled Jeffersonville driver Joe Becker at the front, banging doors and fenders several times. Nick Sweet, who had arguably the fastest car on the track, made his way by Becker on lap 37 and raced outside Donahue for the lead until they came together on lap 46.
Sweet spun to bring out the yellow flag, leaving Pembroke in fourth place for the restart. Donahue and Becker resumed their previous fight up front, with the final blow coming on lap 68. As Becker slid up the track, Pembroke dived under both drivers to take the lead, then cruised to a large lead. He withstood a lap-96 restart and beat Donahue by two car-lengths to the finish. Donahue nipped Hyde Park’s Eric Williams by a foot for second place; Becker faded to sixth.
“I don’t want to say that luck was why I won, but it helped that I didn’t have to pass Nick to win the race. He had the fastest car, I think,” Pembroke said. “When [Donahue] and Joe Becker kind of touched a little bit getting into [Turn 1], Becker had to chase his car up the track and I just was able to turn under him.”
Pembroke’s Memorial Day Classic victory was his third in four years in the event. His name now ranks among some of the all-time Thunder Road elite winners and champions, including multi-time Memorial Day winners Dave Dion, Jean-Paul Cabana, and Robbie Crouch.
“I used to come here as a kid [to watch them race], and now… I don’t even know,” Pembroke said of his accomplishment. “It’s crazy. Crazy.”
Joey Laquerre of East Montpelier was fourth behind Williams, with Charlotte’s Rich Lowrey fifth. Tracie Bellerose, Jamie Fisher, Sweet, and Brent Dragon followed Becker across the line to complete the top ten.
Brendan Moodie of North Wolcott held off a race-long challenge from Hinesburg’s Tom Therrien to win the 35-lap Tiger Sportsman feature. Ricky Roberts was third, with Lance Allen and David Finck rounding out the top five.
Travis Hull of Graniteville earned his first career Street Stock victory over Mike MacAskill, Dan Lathrop, Jamie Davis, and Dave LaFleche. Ken Christman of Cabot earned his second Junkyard Warrior win in as many starts, beating Josh Erwin and Brock Parrott. Amanda Habel of Roxbury earned her first win the Street Stock/Warrior reserve feature.
Showing posts with label Nick Sweet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nick Sweet. Show all posts
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
The Juice: The Sweetness
-by Justin St. Louis
VMM Editor
How sweet it was at Thunder Road's Merchants Bank 150 last weekend. Sweet, yes, to be back in Barre at "The Nation's Site of Excitement", and Sweet, too, in victory lane. As in hometown boy Nick Sweet.
The 24 year-old grabbed his first career American-Canadian Tour victory in entertaining fashion, having driven from 12th starting spot to wage a 40-lap battle for the lead with Thunder Road heavyweight Dave Pembroke and Canadian star Patrick Laperle, then holding off defending ACT champion Brian Hoar in the final frames.
We've told parts of this story before, but what a story it is behind Sweet, who has become something of a cult hero in Central Vermont. In 2003, the high school student built a four-cylinder Street Stock and was an immediate contender for wins and championships. Four years later and ascending the local ladder, he was celebrated as the Tiger Sportsman champion and had won races at tracks like Airborne Speedway in New York, Lee USA Speedway in New Hampshire, and the intimidating Sanair Super Speedway tri-oval outside Montreal.
With high-profile backing from Saint J Auto, Sweet tackled the ACT Late Model circuit in 2008, winning Rookie of the Year. He returned to Thunder Road last season to notch his first Late Model win, and ran impressively enough during the year to earn the final starting spot in the inaugural ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He responded in kind with a runner-up finish in front of a NASCAR crowd.
Sunday he etched his name on the ACT win list by beating a few future Hall of Famers. For those that have watched Sweet develop, it seemed like only a matter of time before he broke through.
"He's one of the best to come out of Thunder Road in the Tiger division," said Hoar, a six-time ACT title winner. "He’s a future champion for sure."
"We knew [at Thunder Road] last year that Nick was a great, great driver," said Middlesex racer Pembroke. "It's just no one knew it at this [ACT] level yet."
Sweet, as usual, humbly deflected all praise to his team, noting his father/crew chief, Shayne, "made me look good." He respects the drivers he races against, frequently citing men he beats on the track as his childhood heroes. He has an obvious love for Thunder Road and its fans: "It's my home place in front my home people," he said Sunday. "I'm a native of Barre, Vermont. Winning here is like a dream."
Apparently it was no surprise when Nick Sweet pulled into the ACT winner's circle for the first time last weekend. Therefore, it probably won't be a surprise the next time, either.
***
We asked ACT and Thunder Road prexy Tom Curley about his thoughts on Nick Sweet's breakthrough. Here is Curley, in his own words:
VMM: "What does it mean for you to have a kid like Nick Sweet win his first ACT race at Thunder Road after having come up through the ladder system there?"
TC: "Well the real interesting thing about Nick Sweet is that he has continually surprised me at every step of the way. I don't ever remember a driver that I have been so wrong about. I knew we had a great talent in the Street Stocks [but] I thought he made his move to Tigers too soon. Wrong!
"As soon as he rolled onto the track I knew I was wrong. He was more dominant in that division in just a couple years than some of the all-time best ever like Cooper [MacRitchie], [John] Donahue, Eric Williams, [Dave] Pembroke, etc. He was doing things that bordered on veteran skills in his first year [but] I thought his move to Late Models was too fast. Wrong!
"I knew I was wrong around the fourth race. The character of the entire team bouncing back from the horrible start, when I privately told myself 'I told you so' proved me wrong again. After the [Oxford] 250 performance, I knew he was going to [the ACT Invitational at] NHMS. I never in my wildest imagination thought he would be the star of Loudon that day, on and off the track.
"I think he is the absolute poster boy for why I have done this business for so long.
"His father [Shayne] is one of the most remarkable men I have ever known in the business. A perfectionist, methodical, very grounded, and deals as well as anyone I have ever known with controversy. As an example, he had quietly geared up pretty much for the now infamous 'bump stop' fiasco early last spring. After our decision to get rid of them for economic reasons, Shayne wrote me a very respectful email about his disappointment, and the expensive costs that had been wasted by the #88 team because of our decision last June. We had one quick telephone conversation and they moved on quietly and without all the usual negative stuff that might have adversely affected his team. I now know why Nick is one of the best young drivers to come out of our system in the past 20 years.
"He was on my short list of recommended 'draft picks' for the annual Speed 51 deal. I was pleased to see him join two others I pitched, Joey [Polewarczyk] and Eddie [MacDonald] who made the list from our neck of the woods.
"Nick has earned instant respect from the veteran champions, handles his success with great humility, and I would say he and his overall team effort from the start until now ranks right up there [as] being one of the most worthwhile rewards I have gotten for 33 years of work."
***
The first load of asphalt is being put down at Devil's Bowl Speedway in West Haven as this column is being written. The first practice is Saturday, May 15.
***
Martin Roy's 2009 championship at Airborne Speedway certainly seems a little bit tainted now, doesn't it?
Roy ran afoul of the DIRTcar rulebook -- specifically, illegally altered cylinder heads -- for the second time in the last two Airborne events on Saturday night. Roy and Modified rival Patrick Dupree were each penalized for the infraction at the 2009 season finale last September, one week after championship points had been finalized. Roy and third-place finisher Richard Tisseur were busted again after Saturday's season opener for similar findings. Ironically, Dupree inherited the Saturday victory after his heads passed inspection.
Airborne officials inspected the parts thoroughly on Saturday night, but sent the heads of all three cars to DIRTcar inspectors, from where the disqualifications come. Any further penalties, including fines, suspensions, etc., will be decided upon by DIRTcar rather than Airborne Speedway.
We've seen Martin Roy race enough times to know that illegal or not, he is one whale of a driver, and the Jean-Claude Fortin team he drives for is as nice and friendly a group of people as you can ask for. But this isn't the 1950s, when Modifieds had no rules. Play with fire, and you're gonna get burned.
***
Congratulations to Thunder Road veteran George May. May scored the Tiger Sportsman win on opening day, sixteen years after his last victory.
***
ACT driver Mark Lamberton joked on Saturday that it took him fifteen years to learn how to get around Thunder Road, but only a couple of years away to forget. After a fifth-place finish in the Merchants Bank 150, it's probably okay to guess that he figured it back out in a hurry.
***
We're trying something new for 2010 by strapping the VMM camera -- a four year-old Olympus FE-340 point-and-shoot that you can find at any electronics store for around $75 -- into some race cars. So far we've done a Tiger Sportsman practice, a Late Model practice, and a Street Stock feature race at Thunder Road, and a Modified heat at Airborne. Not to brag, but in the two races, we've pulled down a win at T-Road with Mike MacAskill and a third at Airborne with Chris Cayea.
We figure it'll be fun until a big ol' glob of clay bounces up and takes the camera out at Bear Ridge some night. Even then, that should be pretty good footage, right?
***
Make sure to pick up a copy of The Barre-Montpelier (VT) Times Argus each Wednesday to check out the new "Rear View Mirror" column, written by yours truly. You can also read it online at http://www.timesargus.com/.
***
AROUND THE REGION:
Time to take a look at the top Vermonters from the past weekend...
ACT Late Model Tour: Barre's Nick Sweet took his frist career win at Thunder Road on Sunday, followed by Williston's Brian Hoar in second. Middlesex racer Dave Pembroke was fourth.
Airborne Speedway (Plattsburgh, N.Y.): Lance Rabtoy of Fairfax scored his first career Renegade victory after a race-long battle with Swanton's Kevin Boutin. Whiting's Jimmy Ryan was the top Vermonter in the Modified feature, placing 13th.
Modified Racing Series: Dwight Jarvis of Ascutney won the Bond Auto Spring Dash 100 at Monadnock Speedway on Saturday night in Winchester, N.H. Joey Jarvis of Ascutney was 17th.
Monadnock Speedway (Winchester, N.H.): Nate Kehoe of Windham finished ninth in the Sportsman Modifieds on Saturday, while Dana Shepard of Putney finished eighth in the Super Stock feature. Ludlow's Joe Rogers was tenth in the Mini Stocks.
NASCAR Nationwide Series: Shelburne's Kevin Lepage was 38th at Richmond Int'l Raceway on Friday night.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: David Stremme finished 29th at Richmond Int'l Raceway on Saturday night for Vermont-based Latitude 43 Motorsports. Marshfield native Dave Rogers earned his first career Sprint Cup Series win as crew chief for Kyle Busch.
PASS North Super Late Models: Scott Dragon of Milton finished 11th in Saturday's event at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, Me.
Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl (Barre): Barre's George May won the Tiger Sportsman feature over Williamstown's Mike Ziter and Barre's Cody Blake on Sunday. Mike MacAskill of Williamstown won the first Street Stock feature over Graniteville's Travis Hull and Bunker Hodgdon of Hardwick, while West Topsham's Tim Campbell won the second feature over Hardwick's Greg Adams, Jr., and Ron Gabaree of Barre. Ken Christman of Cabot won the first Junkyard Warrior feature over Williamstown's Kevin Hebert and Tommy Elwood of Morrisville, and Williasmtown's Kevin Wheatley won the second race over Barre's Kevin Dodge and Brock Parrott of Williamstown.
Twin State Speedway (Claremont, N.H.): Dallas Trombley of Rutland finished sixth in the Late Model feature on Friday night, while Robert Hagar of Windsor was fifth in the Modified event. Chris Wilk of Mendon won the Super Street feature over Russ Davis of Cavendish, and David Greenslit of Waitsfield won the Strictly Stock feature. Rob Leitch of Cavendish was second in the Wildcat feature, with Jeremiah Losee of North Springfield third.
***
THIS WEEK:
Friday, May 7
Albany-Saratoga Speedway, Malta, N.Y. -- 6:45pm (Grand Re-Opening)
Canaan Dirt Speedway, Canaan, N.H. -- 7:00pm (Season Opener)
Twin State Speedway, Claremont, N.H. -- 7:30pm (Regular Event)
Saturday, May 8
Bear Ridge Speedway, Bradford -- 10:00am (Car Show @ Jiffy Mart), 2:00pm (Practice)
Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y. -- 5:00pm (ACT Late Model Tour)
Canaan Fair Speedway, Canaan, N.H. -- 6:00pm (Season Opener)
Monadnock Speedway, Winchester, N.H. -- 6:00pm (Regular Event)
Riverside Speedway, Groveton, N.H. -- 11:00am Car Show, 1:00pm (Open Practice)
Sunday, May 9
Big Daddy's Speedbowl, Rumney, N.H. -- 4:00pm (Grand Opening)
TOURING SERIES:
ACT Late Model Tour: Sat., May 8 -- Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y. (5:00pm)
NASCAR Nationwide Series: Fri., May 7 -- Darlington Raceway, Darlington, S.C. (7:00pm)
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Sat., May 8 -- Darlington Raceway, Darlington, S.C. (7:30pm)
Pro All Stars Series: Fri., May 7 -- Wake County Speedway, Raleigh, N.C. (7:00pm)
VMM Editor
How sweet it was at Thunder Road's Merchants Bank 150 last weekend. Sweet, yes, to be back in Barre at "The Nation's Site of Excitement", and Sweet, too, in victory lane. As in hometown boy Nick Sweet.
The 24 year-old grabbed his first career American-Canadian Tour victory in entertaining fashion, having driven from 12th starting spot to wage a 40-lap battle for the lead with Thunder Road heavyweight Dave Pembroke and Canadian star Patrick Laperle, then holding off defending ACT champion Brian Hoar in the final frames.
We've told parts of this story before, but what a story it is behind Sweet, who has become something of a cult hero in Central Vermont. In 2003, the high school student built a four-cylinder Street Stock and was an immediate contender for wins and championships. Four years later and ascending the local ladder, he was celebrated as the Tiger Sportsman champion and had won races at tracks like Airborne Speedway in New York, Lee USA Speedway in New Hampshire, and the intimidating Sanair Super Speedway tri-oval outside Montreal.
With high-profile backing from Saint J Auto, Sweet tackled the ACT Late Model circuit in 2008, winning Rookie of the Year. He returned to Thunder Road last season to notch his first Late Model win, and ran impressively enough during the year to earn the final starting spot in the inaugural ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He responded in kind with a runner-up finish in front of a NASCAR crowd.
Sunday he etched his name on the ACT win list by beating a few future Hall of Famers. For those that have watched Sweet develop, it seemed like only a matter of time before he broke through.
"He's one of the best to come out of Thunder Road in the Tiger division," said Hoar, a six-time ACT title winner. "He’s a future champion for sure."
"We knew [at Thunder Road] last year that Nick was a great, great driver," said Middlesex racer Pembroke. "It's just no one knew it at this [ACT] level yet."
Sweet, as usual, humbly deflected all praise to his team, noting his father/crew chief, Shayne, "made me look good." He respects the drivers he races against, frequently citing men he beats on the track as his childhood heroes. He has an obvious love for Thunder Road and its fans: "It's my home place in front my home people," he said Sunday. "I'm a native of Barre, Vermont. Winning here is like a dream."
Apparently it was no surprise when Nick Sweet pulled into the ACT winner's circle for the first time last weekend. Therefore, it probably won't be a surprise the next time, either.
***
We asked ACT and Thunder Road prexy Tom Curley about his thoughts on Nick Sweet's breakthrough. Here is Curley, in his own words:
VMM: "What does it mean for you to have a kid like Nick Sweet win his first ACT race at Thunder Road after having come up through the ladder system there?"
TC: "Well the real interesting thing about Nick Sweet is that he has continually surprised me at every step of the way. I don't ever remember a driver that I have been so wrong about. I knew we had a great talent in the Street Stocks [but] I thought he made his move to Tigers too soon. Wrong!
"As soon as he rolled onto the track I knew I was wrong. He was more dominant in that division in just a couple years than some of the all-time best ever like Cooper [MacRitchie], [John] Donahue, Eric Williams, [Dave] Pembroke, etc. He was doing things that bordered on veteran skills in his first year [but] I thought his move to Late Models was too fast. Wrong!
"I knew I was wrong around the fourth race. The character of the entire team bouncing back from the horrible start, when I privately told myself 'I told you so' proved me wrong again. After the [Oxford] 250 performance, I knew he was going to [the ACT Invitational at] NHMS. I never in my wildest imagination thought he would be the star of Loudon that day, on and off the track.
"I think he is the absolute poster boy for why I have done this business for so long.
"His father [Shayne] is one of the most remarkable men I have ever known in the business. A perfectionist, methodical, very grounded, and deals as well as anyone I have ever known with controversy. As an example, he had quietly geared up pretty much for the now infamous 'bump stop' fiasco early last spring. After our decision to get rid of them for economic reasons, Shayne wrote me a very respectful email about his disappointment, and the expensive costs that had been wasted by the #88 team because of our decision last June. We had one quick telephone conversation and they moved on quietly and without all the usual negative stuff that might have adversely affected his team. I now know why Nick is one of the best young drivers to come out of our system in the past 20 years.
"He was on my short list of recommended 'draft picks' for the annual Speed 51 deal. I was pleased to see him join two others I pitched, Joey [Polewarczyk] and Eddie [MacDonald] who made the list from our neck of the woods.
"Nick has earned instant respect from the veteran champions, handles his success with great humility, and I would say he and his overall team effort from the start until now ranks right up there [as] being one of the most worthwhile rewards I have gotten for 33 years of work."
***
The first load of asphalt is being put down at Devil's Bowl Speedway in West Haven as this column is being written. The first practice is Saturday, May 15.
***
Martin Roy's 2009 championship at Airborne Speedway certainly seems a little bit tainted now, doesn't it?
Roy ran afoul of the DIRTcar rulebook -- specifically, illegally altered cylinder heads -- for the second time in the last two Airborne events on Saturday night. Roy and Modified rival Patrick Dupree were each penalized for the infraction at the 2009 season finale last September, one week after championship points had been finalized. Roy and third-place finisher Richard Tisseur were busted again after Saturday's season opener for similar findings. Ironically, Dupree inherited the Saturday victory after his heads passed inspection.
Airborne officials inspected the parts thoroughly on Saturday night, but sent the heads of all three cars to DIRTcar inspectors, from where the disqualifications come. Any further penalties, including fines, suspensions, etc., will be decided upon by DIRTcar rather than Airborne Speedway.
We've seen Martin Roy race enough times to know that illegal or not, he is one whale of a driver, and the Jean-Claude Fortin team he drives for is as nice and friendly a group of people as you can ask for. But this isn't the 1950s, when Modifieds had no rules. Play with fire, and you're gonna get burned.
***
Congratulations to Thunder Road veteran George May. May scored the Tiger Sportsman win on opening day, sixteen years after his last victory.
***
ACT driver Mark Lamberton joked on Saturday that it took him fifteen years to learn how to get around Thunder Road, but only a couple of years away to forget. After a fifth-place finish in the Merchants Bank 150, it's probably okay to guess that he figured it back out in a hurry.
***
We're trying something new for 2010 by strapping the VMM camera -- a four year-old Olympus FE-340 point-and-shoot that you can find at any electronics store for around $75 -- into some race cars. So far we've done a Tiger Sportsman practice, a Late Model practice, and a Street Stock feature race at Thunder Road, and a Modified heat at Airborne. Not to brag, but in the two races, we've pulled down a win at T-Road with Mike MacAskill and a third at Airborne with Chris Cayea.
We figure it'll be fun until a big ol' glob of clay bounces up and takes the camera out at Bear Ridge some night. Even then, that should be pretty good footage, right?
***
Make sure to pick up a copy of The Barre-Montpelier (VT) Times Argus each Wednesday to check out the new "Rear View Mirror" column, written by yours truly. You can also read it online at http://www.timesargus.com/.
***
AROUND THE REGION:
Time to take a look at the top Vermonters from the past weekend...
ACT Late Model Tour: Barre's Nick Sweet took his frist career win at Thunder Road on Sunday, followed by Williston's Brian Hoar in second. Middlesex racer Dave Pembroke was fourth.
Airborne Speedway (Plattsburgh, N.Y.): Lance Rabtoy of Fairfax scored his first career Renegade victory after a race-long battle with Swanton's Kevin Boutin. Whiting's Jimmy Ryan was the top Vermonter in the Modified feature, placing 13th.
Modified Racing Series: Dwight Jarvis of Ascutney won the Bond Auto Spring Dash 100 at Monadnock Speedway on Saturday night in Winchester, N.H. Joey Jarvis of Ascutney was 17th.
Monadnock Speedway (Winchester, N.H.): Nate Kehoe of Windham finished ninth in the Sportsman Modifieds on Saturday, while Dana Shepard of Putney finished eighth in the Super Stock feature. Ludlow's Joe Rogers was tenth in the Mini Stocks.
NASCAR Nationwide Series: Shelburne's Kevin Lepage was 38th at Richmond Int'l Raceway on Friday night.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: David Stremme finished 29th at Richmond Int'l Raceway on Saturday night for Vermont-based Latitude 43 Motorsports. Marshfield native Dave Rogers earned his first career Sprint Cup Series win as crew chief for Kyle Busch.
PASS North Super Late Models: Scott Dragon of Milton finished 11th in Saturday's event at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, Me.
Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl (Barre): Barre's George May won the Tiger Sportsman feature over Williamstown's Mike Ziter and Barre's Cody Blake on Sunday. Mike MacAskill of Williamstown won the first Street Stock feature over Graniteville's Travis Hull and Bunker Hodgdon of Hardwick, while West Topsham's Tim Campbell won the second feature over Hardwick's Greg Adams, Jr., and Ron Gabaree of Barre. Ken Christman of Cabot won the first Junkyard Warrior feature over Williamstown's Kevin Hebert and Tommy Elwood of Morrisville, and Williasmtown's Kevin Wheatley won the second race over Barre's Kevin Dodge and Brock Parrott of Williamstown.
Twin State Speedway (Claremont, N.H.): Dallas Trombley of Rutland finished sixth in the Late Model feature on Friday night, while Robert Hagar of Windsor was fifth in the Modified event. Chris Wilk of Mendon won the Super Street feature over Russ Davis of Cavendish, and David Greenslit of Waitsfield won the Strictly Stock feature. Rob Leitch of Cavendish was second in the Wildcat feature, with Jeremiah Losee of North Springfield third.
***
THIS WEEK:
Friday, May 7
Albany-Saratoga Speedway, Malta, N.Y. -- 6:45pm (Grand Re-Opening)
Canaan Dirt Speedway, Canaan, N.H. -- 7:00pm (Season Opener)
Twin State Speedway, Claremont, N.H. -- 7:30pm (Regular Event)
Saturday, May 8
Bear Ridge Speedway, Bradford -- 10:00am (Car Show @ Jiffy Mart), 2:00pm (Practice)
Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y. -- 5:00pm (ACT Late Model Tour)
Canaan Fair Speedway, Canaan, N.H. -- 6:00pm (Season Opener)
Monadnock Speedway, Winchester, N.H. -- 6:00pm (Regular Event)
Riverside Speedway, Groveton, N.H. -- 11:00am Car Show, 1:00pm (Open Practice)
Sunday, May 9
Big Daddy's Speedbowl, Rumney, N.H. -- 4:00pm (Grand Opening)
TOURING SERIES:
ACT Late Model Tour: Sat., May 8 -- Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y. (5:00pm)
NASCAR Nationwide Series: Fri., May 7 -- Darlington Raceway, Darlington, S.C. (7:00pm)
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Sat., May 8 -- Darlington Raceway, Darlington, S.C. (7:30pm)
Pro All Stars Series: Fri., May 7 -- Wake County Speedway, Raleigh, N.C. (7:00pm)
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Sweet Takes First ACT Victory at Thunder Road
BARRE – The first 80 laps of Sunday’s Merchants Bank 150 at Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl appeared to be a continuation of Dave Pembroke’s dominance of American-Canadian Tour events at the Barre track. After starting from the outside pole, the Middlesex driver had a full straightaway lead by lap 12 and was pulling away. That all changed on a lap 80 restart, though, as Patrick Laperle of St-Denis, Que., and hometown driver Nick Sweet arrived on the scene.
Laperle rode the outside line to take the lead on lap 81, then the trio waged a 40-lap battle at the front. Pembroke reassumed the lead on lap 96 before Sweet took over 14 circuits later. Pembroke and Sweet swapped the point four more times between laps 112 and 121 before Sweet took control for good. Defending ACT champion Brian Hoar of Williston arrived late in the going for second place, with Laperle third and Pembroke fourth.
“These long races are all about patience,” said Sweet, who started 12th on the 30-car grid. “You have to set up for these kinds of races. You can’t burn the tires off too soon, and I saved it. I’ve learned a lot over these past couple years, and look at me now, I’m winning races.”
For Sweet, in his third season of racing the top-tier Late Model division, the Merchants Bank 150 was his first ACT victory. For his competitors, though, it felt like a long time coming.
“I closed in on Nick the last five laps and tried to nerve him up a little bit, but he did a great job,” said Hoar. “He didn’t nerve up much. He’s definitely a future champion.”
“This is the first race we’ve had to worry about Nick Sweet,” Pembroke said sarcastically; the two are weekly competitors at Thunder Road. “We knew last year that Nick was a great, great driver.”
Mark Lamberton of Mooers Forks, N.Y., had a strong return to full-time competition by finishing in fifth place. The unofficial top ten was completed by Craig Bushey, Joey Laquerre, Chip Grenier, polesitter Scott Payea, and Mark Hayward in a career-best tenth.
With the win, Sweet became the first driver to qualify for the ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September.
Veteran driver George May of Barre won the 35-lap Tiger Sportsman feature in a caution-free event. May’s last win at Thunder Road came in 1994. Mike Ziter of Williamstown was second, followed by Cody Blake, Joel Hodgdon, and Josh Demers.
Street Stock driver Mike MacAskill of Williamstown dominated the first of two Street Stock/Junkyard Warrior combined features, with Travis Hull second and Bunker Hodgdon third. Tim Campbell of West Topsham beat Greg Adams, Jr., by two feet to win the second feature, with Barre’s Ron Gabaree third. Cabot’s Ken Christman and Kevin Wheatley of Williamstown were the top-finishing Junkyard Warrior drivers in their respective features.
Laperle rode the outside line to take the lead on lap 81, then the trio waged a 40-lap battle at the front. Pembroke reassumed the lead on lap 96 before Sweet took over 14 circuits later. Pembroke and Sweet swapped the point four more times between laps 112 and 121 before Sweet took control for good. Defending ACT champion Brian Hoar of Williston arrived late in the going for second place, with Laperle third and Pembroke fourth.
“These long races are all about patience,” said Sweet, who started 12th on the 30-car grid. “You have to set up for these kinds of races. You can’t burn the tires off too soon, and I saved it. I’ve learned a lot over these past couple years, and look at me now, I’m winning races.”
For Sweet, in his third season of racing the top-tier Late Model division, the Merchants Bank 150 was his first ACT victory. For his competitors, though, it felt like a long time coming.
“I closed in on Nick the last five laps and tried to nerve him up a little bit, but he did a great job,” said Hoar. “He didn’t nerve up much. He’s definitely a future champion.”
“This is the first race we’ve had to worry about Nick Sweet,” Pembroke said sarcastically; the two are weekly competitors at Thunder Road. “We knew last year that Nick was a great, great driver.”
Mark Lamberton of Mooers Forks, N.Y., had a strong return to full-time competition by finishing in fifth place. The unofficial top ten was completed by Craig Bushey, Joey Laquerre, Chip Grenier, polesitter Scott Payea, and Mark Hayward in a career-best tenth.
With the win, Sweet became the first driver to qualify for the ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September.
Veteran driver George May of Barre won the 35-lap Tiger Sportsman feature in a caution-free event. May’s last win at Thunder Road came in 1994. Mike Ziter of Williamstown was second, followed by Cody Blake, Joel Hodgdon, and Josh Demers.
Street Stock driver Mike MacAskill of Williamstown dominated the first of two Street Stock/Junkyard Warrior combined features, with Travis Hull second and Bunker Hodgdon third. Tim Campbell of West Topsham beat Greg Adams, Jr., by two feet to win the second feature, with Barre’s Ron Gabaree third. Cabot’s Ken Christman and Kevin Wheatley of Williamstown were the top-finishing Junkyard Warrior drivers in their respective features.
REVISED Merchants Bank 150 Results
OFFICIAL RESULTS – Merchants Bank 150 (revised 5/06)
American-Canadian Tour – Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl, Barre, Vt.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
(Pos.-Driver-Hometown)
ACT Late Model Tour (150 laps)
1. Nick Sweet, Barre
2. Brian Hoar, Williston
3. Patrick Laperle, St-Denis, Que.
4. Dave Pembroke, Middlesex
5. Mark Lamberton, Mooers Forks, N.Y.
6. Craig Bushey, Cambridge
7. Joey Laquerre, East Montpelier
8. Chip Grenier, Graniteville
9. Scott Payea, Milton
10. Mark Hayward, Newport, N.H.
Bond Auto Tiger Sportsman (35 laps)
1. George May, Barre
2. Mike Ziter, Williamstown
3. Cody Blake, Barre
4. Joel Hodgdon, Craftsbury
5. Josh Demers, Middlesex
Allen Lumber Street Stock/Junkyard Warrior #1 (30 laps)
1. Mike MacAskill, Williamstown (SS)
2. Travis Hull, Graniteville (SS)
3. Bunker Hodgdon, Hardwick (SS)
4. Jean LeBlanc, Gorham, N.H. (SS)
5. Billy Hennequin, Morrisville (SS)
14. Ken Christman, Cabot (JW)
17. Kevin Hebert, Williamstown (JW)
20. Tommy Elwood, Morrisville (JW)
Allen Lumber Street Stock/Junkyard Warrior #2 (30 laps)
1. Tim Campbell, West Topsham (SS)
2. Greg Adams, Jr., Hardwick (SS)
3. Ron Gabaree, Barre (SS)
4. Scott Weston, Berlin (SS)
5. Joe Fecteau, Hardwick (SS)
7. Shawn Swallow, Stark, N.H. (JW)
10. Kevin Wheatley, Williamstown (JW)
11. Kevin Dodge, Barre (JW)
American-Canadian Tour – Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl, Barre, Vt.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
(Pos.-Driver-Hometown)
ACT Late Model Tour (150 laps)
1. Nick Sweet, Barre
2. Brian Hoar, Williston
3. Patrick Laperle, St-Denis, Que.
4. Dave Pembroke, Middlesex
5. Mark Lamberton, Mooers Forks, N.Y.
6. Craig Bushey, Cambridge
7. Joey Laquerre, East Montpelier
8. Chip Grenier, Graniteville
9. Scott Payea, Milton
10. Mark Hayward, Newport, N.H.
Bond Auto Tiger Sportsman (35 laps)
1. George May, Barre
2. Mike Ziter, Williamstown
3. Cody Blake, Barre
4. Joel Hodgdon, Craftsbury
5. Josh Demers, Middlesex
Allen Lumber Street Stock/Junkyard Warrior #1 (30 laps)
1. Mike MacAskill, Williamstown (SS)
2. Travis Hull, Graniteville (SS)
3. Bunker Hodgdon, Hardwick (SS)
4. Jean LeBlanc, Gorham, N.H. (SS)
5. Billy Hennequin, Morrisville (SS)
14. Ken Christman, Cabot (JW)
17. Kevin Hebert, Williamstown (JW)
20. Tommy Elwood, Morrisville (JW)
Allen Lumber Street Stock/Junkyard Warrior #2 (30 laps)
1. Tim Campbell, West Topsham (SS)
2. Greg Adams, Jr., Hardwick (SS)
3. Ron Gabaree, Barre (SS)
4. Scott Weston, Berlin (SS)
5. Joe Fecteau, Hardwick (SS)
7. Shawn Swallow, Stark, N.H. (JW)
10. Kevin Wheatley, Williamstown (JW)
11. Kevin Dodge, Barre (JW)
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
WINNING
Some do it in their first try, for some it can take decades. Some do it once, some do it once a week, some never get the chance at all. But for everyone, it's all they want to do.
Just win.
***
"I'm typically not that patient." --Brad Leighton
"To race with him here is pretty impressive for us." --Quinny Welch on keeping up with hometown hero Eddie MacDonald at Lee USA Speedway
"It was interesting out there." --Rob Goodenough, Modified Racing Series winner at Monadnock Speedway, after leader Kirk Alexander crashed out with 10 laps remaining
"It's not really hard, you go as fast as you can and turn left." --Tucker Williams
"We're just small-town people up in the hills around Hyde Park, and this is a big deal for us. I'm just proud as can be of my boy." --Eric Williams, after he and son Tucker swept their feature events on opening day at Thunder Road
"I guess I was prepared to finish second. I was not looking forward to having to ask him for a ticket to Loudon." --Dave Pembroke after winning the Memorial Day Classic at Thunder Road and a qualifying berth for the ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway; Joey Polewarczyk dominated the race but spun out of the lead on lap 82
"Last year I had some bad situations I was in and things didn't turn out like I wanted them to, but this year it's just been one hell of a year." --Steve Masse after winning his first Modified Racing Series feature at Thunder Road
"I'm getting lucky this year." --Josh Harrington after his third-straight victory to open the season at Bear Ridge Speedway
"It was a lot of fun, but it wasn't pretty, I know that." --Bobby Dragon, after winning a match race at Bear Ridge Speedway over his brother, Beaver, and nephew, Brent
"They think it's kind of a facade I'm putting on, but it's really fun and I seem to do pretty well at it. I think they just hate it that I can beat them at their own kind of game." --Amanda Gray on beating the boys
"There's nothing easy about races here. Starting first is a bonus, but it's still hard. I was driving as hard as I could." --Dave Pembroke after winning the Thursday night opener at Thunder Road
"You don't want to win like that." --Daniel Laperle on his brother, Patrick, winning a wreck-filled race at New Smyrna Speedway, shortened from 25 laps to 11.
"Chris Donnelly is probably the best driver we've got in this class, and for me as an 18 year-old kid to come out and race with these guys, it's awesome." --Jason Gray
"I guess it was worth the trip." --June Dragon, wife of Brent Dragon, after winning a Série ACT-Castrol race at Riverside Speedway in Ste-Croix, Qué., on June 20; the ACT Late Model Tour event at Waterford, Conn., that the Dragons planned on running was rained out earlier that day
"Pretty friggin' good." --Joey Polewarczyk's answer to the question, "How does it feel to finally win at Thunder Road?"
"I bent my steering shaft down punching the steering wheel I was so excited. I couldn't hardly turn doing the burnout." --Jimmy Hebert after his first Tiger Sportsman win
"My God, I've been waiting for that. My car's always junk, you know what I mean?" --Grant Folsom after his first win at Thunder Road
"We unload and nine out of ten times it's fast." --Jon McKennedy
"I came here probably 15 or 18 years ago with my father to watch the 250 and just watch these guys. I never thought I'd be able to come here and win the thing." --Eddie MacDonald after winning the TD Bank 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway
"We have one spare shock in the race car trailer, and that's the only spare part we have with us other than our wheels and tires. We have no spare springs, the setup in the car is what we run every week. When I watch these guys beside us that are just throwing shocks and springs at their cars to make them go better, it's like, man, why do they do all that? We can do it with just what we have." --Doug Murphy
"Overall the night rates about an 8 [out of 10]. It could be a little better, but I've got to spend the money I won fixing the car." --Bucko Branham after taking an Airborne Speedway win despite his car missing half of its bodywork due to crashes
"At the front was the place to be tonight as far as I can tell. I mean, we came around and one car was upside down." --Ryan Avery after taking his first Sportsman Modified win at Bear Ridge Speedway
"I was almost in tears. I said, 'There it goes.' I knew it was going to happen here." --Shawn Duquette's mid-race thoughts after crashing in the ACT Tiger Sportsman Series finale at Thunder Road; he clinched the championship after a tie-breaker with Jason Bonnett
"We lose as a team, we win as a team, and you really find out who your real friends are when you're down. I mean, look at us, we were down tonight. This is what happens in racing. You're at your lowest point in the season, you don't think it can get any worse, all of sudden you're like, 'I'm so sick of it, I can't wait for it to be over,' and then you win a race. And look at us now, I've got a grin on my face, I'm on the ninth cloud, and we're going to come back tomorrow." --Nick Sweet after his first Late Model win
"It's really fun to race here when people actually give you some room." --Jamie Fisher
"It was easy tonight." --Martin Roy after his fifth Airborne Speedway win
"It was probably the best race I've been in, I don't know, probably my whole career." --Quinny Welch, after battling Wayne Helliwell, Jr. and Randy Potter in the Clash of the Titans 150 at Riverside (N.H.) Speedway and finishing second
"They said that we were pretty fast, but sometimes I wonder if he's not showing it all." --Todd Stone on championship rival Kenny Tremont, Jr., after Stone won the penultimate race at Devil's Bowl Speedway
"This is cool. This is what I wanted." --Jean-Paul Cyr while watching fireworks, moments after winning the Thunder Road championship
"No, no, no. The winner is on the last lap of the last race." --Martin Roy on being able to relax after gaining a season-high 12-point lead over Patrick Dupree entering the final event at Airborne Speedway
"This is our first win in the States this year, so I guess I can be a U.S. citizen again. Everybody's been beating on me about being a Canadian all year." --Brent Dragon in ACT victory lane at Twin State Speedway; Dragon had previously won at Riverside Speedway and Autodrome Chaudière, both in Québec
"You always think about the bad times instead of the good times, like when we won in '05 at Drummond. But tonight nothing bad happened. It's a happy time." --Martin Roy after clinching the Airborne Speedway Modified championship
"We went up this morning after the drivers meeting, Tom (Curley) 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." --Dave Pembroke after winning the Labor Day Classic 200 at Thunder Road; granite monuments at the track honor past winners of the Labor Day Classic, Memorial Day Classic, and Vermont Milk Bowl events
"It's not that easy. I'll bet it looks easy though." --Chris Donnelly, after his sixth win of the season at Bear Ridge Speedway
"I've won titles and I've lost some really close battles, 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 him? Yes, I do." --Brian Hoar on ACT title rival Scott Payea
"Thank God for Nick spinning out." --Lonnie Rivers, after clinching the Airborne Speedway Renegade championship when point leader Nick Heywood went off the track in the season finale
"It wasn't until last night after we got done at Donnie Avery's race shop, I was laying underneath the car changing gears, that it sunk in -- I'm going to Loudon." --Stacy Cahoon, who won the White Mountain Motorsports Park track championship late Friday night, changed his car's setup in track promoter Avery's garage, and was at New Hampshire Motor Speedway by 7:30 on Saturday morning
"Yes it was." --Oxford Plains Speedway champion Travis Adams' interjection to our offering, "Sorry your Loudon experience wasn't what you wanted." Adams finished 32nd in the ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway but was so happy to be racing at the track that he cared little about his finish
"We're not idiots in this business, and I know a lot of you think we are, but we're not." --ACT president Tom Curley
"A month ago Tom (Curley) brought us all up there, and I'm looking on down through and I'm on two of them, and I said, 'Boy, I'd really like to be on that Milk Bowl one, that way my name is on all three of them.' I've been thinking about it since then." --John Donahue, moments after winning the Milk Bowl at Thunder Road and realizing his name would be on each granite monument at the track
"It's ten times better than I ever thought it would be. Ever since I was little, I dreamed of this. I never thought I would race at 16, say nothing about winning a championship at 18." --Thunder Road Tiger Sportsman champion Jimmy Hebert
"Yes." --Mike Rollins' straight-faced answer to the question, "Did you expect to win?" after winning the Hart 100 at Bucktona Int'l Speedway
"I'd see how quickly I pulled away and I figured, as long I didn't do anything mentally challenged I'll be just fine." --Eric Williams after beating Joey Polewarczyk to win the ACT Late Model Tour finale at Oxford Plains Speedway
"I celebrated for about ten minutes when we signed the deal, but then I put my head down in the ditch and got to work." --Bill Jenkins, after purchasing the #26 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team from Roush-Fenway Racing
"The irony behind it all is that probably if you hadn't decided to go with them, I might not have the opportunity to be where I'm standing right now." --Brian Hoar addressing Jean-Paul Cyr during his ACT championship speech; Cyr left the RPM Motorsports team after 2008 to form a new team with Joey and Jeff Laquerre at Thunder Road, and Hoar filled the RPM seat on the ACT Late Model Tour. The switch resulted in both Hoar and Cyr winning their respective championships in 2009
Just win.
***
"I'm typically not that patient." --Brad Leighton"To race with him here is pretty impressive for us." --Quinny Welch on keeping up with hometown hero Eddie MacDonald at Lee USA Speedway
"It was interesting out there." --Rob Goodenough, Modified Racing Series winner at Monadnock Speedway, after leader Kirk Alexander crashed out with 10 laps remaining
"It's not really hard, you go as fast as you can and turn left." --Tucker Williams
"We're just small-town people up in the hills around Hyde Park, and this is a big deal for us. I'm just proud as can be of my boy." --Eric Williams, after he and son Tucker swept their feature events on opening day at Thunder Road"I guess I was prepared to finish second. I was not looking forward to having to ask him for a ticket to Loudon." --Dave Pembroke after winning the Memorial Day Classic at Thunder Road and a qualifying berth for the ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway; Joey Polewarczyk dominated the race but spun out of the lead on lap 82
"Last year I had some bad situations I was in and things didn't turn out like I wanted them to, but this year it's just been one hell of a year." --Steve Masse after winning his first Modified Racing Series feature at Thunder Road
"I'm getting lucky this year." --Josh Harrington after his third-straight victory to open the season at Bear Ridge Speedway"It was a lot of fun, but it wasn't pretty, I know that." --Bobby Dragon, after winning a match race at Bear Ridge Speedway over his brother, Beaver, and nephew, Brent
"They think it's kind of a facade I'm putting on, but it's really fun and I seem to do pretty well at it. I think they just hate it that I can beat them at their own kind of game." --Amanda Gray on beating the boys
"There's nothing easy about races here. Starting first is a bonus, but it's still hard. I was driving as hard as I could." --Dave Pembroke after winning the Thursday night opener at Thunder Road
"You don't want to win like that." --Daniel Laperle on his brother, Patrick, winning a wreck-filled race at New Smyrna Speedway, shortened from 25 laps to 11.
"Chris Donnelly is probably the best driver we've got in this class, and for me as an 18 year-old kid to come out and race with these guys, it's awesome." --Jason Gray"I guess it was worth the trip." --June Dragon, wife of Brent Dragon, after winning a Série ACT-Castrol race at Riverside Speedway in Ste-Croix, Qué., on June 20; the ACT Late Model Tour event at Waterford, Conn., that the Dragons planned on running was rained out earlier that day
"Pretty friggin' good." --Joey Polewarczyk's answer to the question, "How does it feel to finally win at Thunder Road?"
"I bent my steering shaft down punching the steering wheel I was so excited. I couldn't hardly turn doing the burnout." --Jimmy Hebert after his first Tiger Sportsman win
"My God, I've been waiting for that. My car's always junk, you know what I mean?" --Grant Folsom after his first win at Thunder Road
"We unload and nine out of ten times it's fast." --Jon McKennedy
"I came here probably 15 or 18 years ago with my father to watch the 250 and just watch these guys. I never thought I'd be able to come here and win the thing." --Eddie MacDonald after winning the TD Bank 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway
"We have one spare shock in the race car trailer, and that's the only spare part we have with us other than our wheels and tires. We have no spare springs, the setup in the car is what we run every week. When I watch these guys beside us that are just throwing shocks and springs at their cars to make them go better, it's like, man, why do they do all that? We can do it with just what we have." --Doug Murphy
"Overall the night rates about an 8 [out of 10]. It could be a little better, but I've got to spend the money I won fixing the car." --Bucko Branham after taking an Airborne Speedway win despite his car missing half of its bodywork due to crashes"At the front was the place to be tonight as far as I can tell. I mean, we came around and one car was upside down." --Ryan Avery after taking his first Sportsman Modified win at Bear Ridge Speedway
"I was almost in tears. I said, 'There it goes.' I knew it was going to happen here." --Shawn Duquette's mid-race thoughts after crashing in the ACT Tiger Sportsman Series finale at Thunder Road; he clinched the championship after a tie-breaker with Jason Bonnett
"We lose as a team, we win as a team, and you really find out who your real friends are when you're down. I mean, look at us, we were down tonight. This is what happens in racing. You're at your lowest point in the season, you don't think it can get any worse, all of sudden you're like, 'I'm so sick of it, I can't wait for it to be over,' and then you win a race. And look at us now, I've got a grin on my face, I'm on the ninth cloud, and we're going to come back tomorrow." --Nick Sweet after his first Late Model win"It's really fun to race here when people actually give you some room." --Jamie Fisher
"It was easy tonight." --Martin Roy after his fifth Airborne Speedway win
"It was probably the best race I've been in, I don't know, probably my whole career." --Quinny Welch, after battling Wayne Helliwell, Jr. and Randy Potter in the Clash of the Titans 150 at Riverside (N.H.) Speedway and finishing second
"They said that we were pretty fast, but sometimes I wonder if he's not showing it all." --Todd Stone on championship rival Kenny Tremont, Jr., after Stone won the penultimate race at Devil's Bowl Speedway
"This is cool. This is what I wanted." --Jean-Paul Cyr while watching fireworks, moments after winning the Thunder Road championship
"No, no, no. The winner is on the last lap of the last race." --Martin Roy on being able to relax after gaining a season-high 12-point lead over Patrick Dupree entering the final event at Airborne Speedway
"This is our first win in the States this year, so I guess I can be a U.S. citizen again. Everybody's been beating on me about being a Canadian all year." --Brent Dragon in ACT victory lane at Twin State Speedway; Dragon had previously won at Riverside Speedway and Autodrome Chaudière, both in Québec
"You always think about the bad times instead of the good times, like when we won in '05 at Drummond. But tonight nothing bad happened. It's a happy time." --Martin Roy after clinching the Airborne Speedway Modified championship"We went up this morning after the drivers meeting, Tom (Curley) 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." --Dave Pembroke after winning the Labor Day Classic 200 at Thunder Road; granite monuments at the track honor past winners of the Labor Day Classic, Memorial Day Classic, and Vermont Milk Bowl events
"It's not that easy. I'll bet it looks easy though." --Chris Donnelly, after his sixth win of the season at Bear Ridge Speedway
"I've won titles and I've lost some really close battles, 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 him? Yes, I do." --Brian Hoar on ACT title rival Scott Payea
"Thank God for Nick spinning out." --Lonnie Rivers, after clinching the Airborne Speedway Renegade championship when point leader Nick Heywood went off the track in the season finale
"It wasn't until last night after we got done at Donnie Avery's race shop, I was laying underneath the car changing gears, that it sunk in -- I'm going to Loudon." --Stacy Cahoon, who won the White Mountain Motorsports Park track championship late Friday night, changed his car's setup in track promoter Avery's garage, and was at New Hampshire Motor Speedway by 7:30 on Saturday morning
"Yes it was." --Oxford Plains Speedway champion Travis Adams' interjection to our offering, "Sorry your Loudon experience wasn't what you wanted." Adams finished 32nd in the ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway but was so happy to be racing at the track that he cared little about his finish
"We're not idiots in this business, and I know a lot of you think we are, but we're not." --ACT president Tom Curley
"A month ago Tom (Curley) brought us all up there, and I'm looking on down through and I'm on two of them, and I said, 'Boy, I'd really like to be on that Milk Bowl one, that way my name is on all three of them.' I've been thinking about it since then." --John Donahue, moments after winning the Milk Bowl at Thunder Road and realizing his name would be on each granite monument at the track"It's ten times better than I ever thought it would be. Ever since I was little, I dreamed of this. I never thought I would race at 16, say nothing about winning a championship at 18." --Thunder Road Tiger Sportsman champion Jimmy Hebert
"Yes." --Mike Rollins' straight-faced answer to the question, "Did you expect to win?" after winning the Hart 100 at Bucktona Int'l Speedway
"I'd see how quickly I pulled away and I figured, as long I didn't do anything mentally challenged I'll be just fine." --Eric Williams after beating Joey Polewarczyk to win the ACT Late Model Tour finale at Oxford Plains Speedway
"I celebrated for about ten minutes when we signed the deal, but then I put my head down in the ditch and got to work." --Bill Jenkins, after purchasing the #26 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team from Roush-Fenway Racing
"The irony behind it all is that probably if you hadn't decided to go with them, I might not have the opportunity to be where I'm standing right now." --Brian Hoar addressing Jean-Paul Cyr during his ACT championship speech; Cyr left the RPM Motorsports team after 2008 to form a new team with Joey and Jeff Laquerre at Thunder Road, and Hoar filled the RPM seat on the ACT Late Model Tour. The switch resulted in both Hoar and Cyr winning their respective championships in 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
Mixed Entries Headed Into Oxford
New England Dodge Dealers 150 coverage presented by C&S Screenprinting and Burnett Scrap Metals
OXFORD, Me. -- Entries from all over the region have been flooding into Oxford Plains Speedway for the ACT Late Model Tour season
finale this Sunday. OPS and ACT officials are expecting cars from across northern New England and Canada.
"We would be thrilled with fifty cars," said OPS Marketing Director Butch Lenberg. "And fifty seems to be the benchmark number for these ACT races [at Oxford] over the last few years. It's the last hurrah for us this year, and there's no reason why we shouldn't have all of our regulars here to compete with ACT."
Lenberg said he expects to see track champion Travis Adams of Canton, Me. attempt to qualify for the race, along with former OPS title winners Shawn Martin, Tim Brackett, and possibly Al Hammond.
Vermont Motorsports Magazine has learned that former Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl champion Eric Williams of Hyde Park has filed an official entry with ACT for the New England
Dodge Dealers 150 on Sunday, as has former White Mountain Motorsports Park champion Quinny Welch of Lancaster, N.H. Milk Bowl pole winner Nick Sweet of Barre and Série ACT-Castrol competitors Daniel and Stéphane Descoste of Québec are expected to travel to Oxford, and multi-time PASS champion Ben Rowe will return to the seat of the Avery #10NH car.
Speed51.com reported earlier in the week that young D.J. Shaw will be driving the #55NH car for owner Pete Duto, and Beech Ridge Motor Speedway driver Bradley Babb will race the #60NH car owned by Sally Bolduc, while Big Bigelow of the Caledonian-Record is reporting that White Mountain Motorsports Park champion Stacy Cahoon of St. Johnsbury will be behind the wheel of his familiar #83 car at Oxford. Duto ranks seventh in ACT Owner Points on the strength of two wins by Brad Leighton this season, and the car has also been driven by Phil Scott and Bobby Dragon. Bolduc's entry was raced in ACT competition by Andy Shaw at White Mountain in June and by T.J. Watson at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last month. Cahoon's lone ACT Late Model Tour win came at Oxford in 1995.
OXFORD, Me. -- Entries from all over the region have been flooding into Oxford Plains Speedway for the ACT Late Model Tour season
finale this Sunday. OPS and ACT officials are expecting cars from across northern New England and Canada."We would be thrilled with fifty cars," said OPS Marketing Director Butch Lenberg. "And fifty seems to be the benchmark number for these ACT races [at Oxford] over the last few years. It's the last hurrah for us this year, and there's no reason why we shouldn't have all of our regulars here to compete with ACT."
Lenberg said he expects to see track champion Travis Adams of Canton, Me. attempt to qualify for the race, along with former OPS title winners Shawn Martin, Tim Brackett, and possibly Al Hammond.
Vermont Motorsports Magazine has learned that former Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl champion Eric Williams of Hyde Park has filed an official entry with ACT for the New England
Dodge Dealers 150 on Sunday, as has former White Mountain Motorsports Park champion Quinny Welch of Lancaster, N.H. Milk Bowl pole winner Nick Sweet of Barre and Série ACT-Castrol competitors Daniel and Stéphane Descoste of Québec are expected to travel to Oxford, and multi-time PASS champion Ben Rowe will return to the seat of the Avery #10NH car.Speed51.com reported earlier in the week that young D.J. Shaw will be driving the #55NH car for owner Pete Duto, and Beech Ridge Motor Speedway driver Bradley Babb will race the #60NH car owned by Sally Bolduc, while Big Bigelow of the Caledonian-Record is reporting that White Mountain Motorsports Park champion Stacy Cahoon of St. Johnsbury will be behind the wheel of his familiar #83 car at Oxford. Duto ranks seventh in ACT Owner Points on the strength of two wins by Brad Leighton this season, and the car has also been driven by Phil Scott and Bobby Dragon. Bolduc's entry was raced in ACT competition by Andy Shaw at White Mountain in June and by T.J. Watson at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last month. Cahoon's lone ACT Late Model Tour win came at Oxford in 1995.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Michaud out, Wheeler in at Milk Bowl
Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl coverage presented by RPM Racing Engines
BARRE -- Former Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl champion Chad Wheeler of Waterbury Center will return to the track on Sunday at the second attempt at running the 47th Annual Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl.
BARRE -- Former Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl champion Chad Wheeler of Waterbury Center will return to the track on Sunday at the second attempt at running the 47th Annual Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl.Northfield's Cris Michaud, who qualified 14th for the race last Saturday before rains postponed the main event the next day, was injured in a work accident this week and has asked Wheeler to compete in his place.
Wheeler ended Michaud's bid for three consecutive Thunder Road track championships in 2006, taking the title despite going winless on the season; after wrapping up the "King of the Road" crown, Wheeler retired on the spot and has not driven a race since.
"I had a great time racing against Cris for a lot of years and beating him for the title in 2006 got me to thinking that there really wasn’t much more for me in the sport at this time in my life," said Wheeler in a Thunder Road press release. "I wanted to spend a lot of time with my young boys, but now maybe there is one more thing I could accomplish with racing. It sure will be fun to try. I am looking forward to it, and I appreciate the confidence Cris has in putting me in his car.”
"What better guy to take over my ride in the Milk Bowl than Chad?" said Michaud.
Michaud won the 2004 Milk Bowl en route to his second of three Thunder Road championships. Wheeler won the second leg of the three-segment event in 1999; his best overall efforts in the race were fifth-place finishes in 1999 and 2005.
Nick Sweet and Joey Polewarczyk, Jr. will start from the front row of the Milk Bowl on Sunday at 1:00pm.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Milk Bowl Postponed by Rain
Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl coverage presented by RPM Racing Engines
The 47th annual Milk Bowl at Barre's Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl has been postponed by rain to Sunday, October 4 at 1:00pm.
The 47th annual Milk Bowl at Barre's Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl has been postponed by rain to Sunday, October 4 at 1:00pm.Qualifying was completed on Saturday, with hometown driver Nick Sweet earning his first career Milk Bowl pole position with a time trial lap of 13.110 seconds. Joey Polewarczyk, Jr. of Hudson, N.H. will start on the outside of the front row after posting a time of 13.164 seconds; Polewarczyk had won the Milk Bowl pole in each of the previous three years.
Dave Pembroke, John Donahue, and Joey Laquerre won the "Triple 50" qualifying heats.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Milk Bowl Starting Lineup
Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl coverage presented by RPM Racing Engines
Official Starting Lineup for 47th Milk Bowl, Sunday, Sept. 27
Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre, Vt.
Pos.-Driver-Hometown
1. Nick Sweet, Barre
2. Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., Hudson, N.H.
3. Brent Dragon, Milton
4. Dave Pembroke, Middlesex
5. John Donahue, Graniteville
6. Joey Laquerre, East Montpelier
7. Eric Williams, Hyde Park
8. Jamie Fisher, Shelburne
9. Chip Grenier, Graniteville
10. Joey Doiron, Berwick, Me.
11. Phil Scott, Montpelier
12. Scott Payea, Milton
13. Cris Michaud, Northfield
14. Jean-Paul Cyr, Milton
15. Brad Leighton, Center Harbor, N.H.
16. Tyler Cahoon, St. Johnsbury
17. Rich Lowrey, Charlotte
18. Mike Bailey, South Barre
19. Brian Hoar, Williston
20. Glen Luce, Turner, Me.
21. Pete Potvin, III, Graniteville
22. Matt White, Northfield
23. Mike Olsen, North Haverhill, N.H.
24. Tony Andrews, Northfield
25. Quinny Welch, Lancaster, N.H.
26. Wayne Helliwell, Jr., Dracut, Mass.
27. Dave Whitcomb, Essex Junction
28. Mark Hayward, Unity, N.H.
29. Joey Becker, Jeffersonville
30. Eric Chase, Milton
Stay tuned Sunday morning for notice of postponement due to inclement weather. Official announcement expected at 8:00am.
Official Starting Lineup for 47th Milk Bowl, Sunday, Sept. 27Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre, Vt.
Pos.-Driver-Hometown
1. Nick Sweet, Barre
2. Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., Hudson, N.H.
3. Brent Dragon, Milton
4. Dave Pembroke, Middlesex
5. John Donahue, Graniteville
6. Joey Laquerre, East Montpelier
7. Eric Williams, Hyde Park
8. Jamie Fisher, Shelburne
9. Chip Grenier, Graniteville
10. Joey Doiron, Berwick, Me.
11. Phil Scott, Montpelier
12. Scott Payea, Milton
13. Cris Michaud, Northfield
14. Jean-Paul Cyr, Milton
15. Brad Leighton, Center Harbor, N.H.
16. Tyler Cahoon, St. Johnsbury
17. Rich Lowrey, Charlotte
18. Mike Bailey, South Barre
19. Brian Hoar, Williston
20. Glen Luce, Turner, Me.
21. Pete Potvin, III, Graniteville
22. Matt White, Northfield
23. Mike Olsen, North Haverhill, N.H.
24. Tony Andrews, Northfield
25. Quinny Welch, Lancaster, N.H.
26. Wayne Helliwell, Jr., Dracut, Mass.
27. Dave Whitcomb, Essex Junction
28. Mark Hayward, Unity, N.H.
29. Joey Becker, Jeffersonville
30. Eric Chase, Milton
Stay tuned Sunday morning for notice of postponement due to inclement weather. Official announcement expected at 8:00am.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The Juice: The Good, the Bad, and the Abhorrent
-by Justin St. Louis
It has been the craziest week in the history of auto racing. Ever. Okay, maybe not, but a lot went on. And thanks to my newfound love of the word "abhorrent" (it's one of those words you know exists, but don't realize it's missing from your life until you use it once, kinda like the way I feel about dirt racing after this year), we've got ourselves a column.
Here's a look at the week that was.
THE GOOD:
--The NASCAR Camping World Series East, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, and ACT Invitational events at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last weekend. I thought they were great. The two NASCAR events had a few too many cautions -- and for dumb stuff, like Jason Patison and Eric Curran wrecking each other for last place in the East race -- but the actual racing for the lead was very entertaining in all three events.
--Donny Lia was stellar in the Modifieds.
--Helping coach SPEED Channel's Bob Dillner on the iRacing Modified simulator in the infield media center on Saturday with driver Ryan Preece, not 15 minutes after Preece finished third in the WMT race. We ran Stafford Motor Speedway, the site of Preece's most recent WMT victory, and Dillner wasn't exactly, um, the smoothest guy. Not horrible, but not smooth. Preece got in the seat and beat Dillner's best lap by a half-second... on the first lap. And then it was my turn, and I felt pretty good about being only four tenths off Preece's best time. It's a helluva jump (or is it "Heluva Good!"?) from a four-cylinder Mustang five years ago to a, uh, digitally-created SK Modified at Stafford. But we got it done.
--The ACT Invitational was superlative, especially for a first effort. The 36 cars were all very classy-looking, the drivers were racy and ultra-respectful of each other on the track, and holy cow, the crowd got into it. ACT announcer Troy Germain is to be commended for his energetic introduction of each driver, and Tom Curley's idea to incorporate the presentation of the team battle flags onto the edge of the race track blew the crowd away. Many fans stood for the entire 50 laps.
--The tractor trailer shower setup things in the parking lots at NHMS were out-freaking-standing.
--The most interesting part of the huge crowd that stuck around after the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event on Saturday to see the ACT race was listening to where the cheers came from during introductions. Some estimates had as many as 40,000 fans there, but it was probably more like 18,000 to 25,000 for the ACT Invitational. Every fan applauded every driver, but for each one there were patches of localized families and fans losing their minds for their favorite drivers. When Randy Potter was introduced, one 50-person section of the stands, most likely centered around Groveton, N.H., went crazy on the frontstretch. When T.J. Watson was up, his Maine-based fans went nuts over in Turn 1, or wherever they were. And the Milton fans cheered for guys like Brent Dragon, Scott Payea, Jean-Paul Cyr, and Eric Chase. It was very cool, and it also sent a message loud and clear to NHMS officials that there were a lot people there specifically to watch the ACT Invitational.
--Three words: Juan Pablo Montoya.
--Five words: Eddie MacDonald and Rollie Lachance.
--You gotta love Travis Adams' attitude. Adams spent the year chasing a dream for his father, the late Donnie Adams, and won his fourth-straight Oxford Plains Speedway championship. But his goals were two-fold: Adams wanted the title for his dad, but he also wanted to win the title so he would be invited to Loudon, N.H. for the ACT Invitational, just for the chance to race at NHMS. He tested at the track in August, although not very well, and then was scored 32nd in the race after a poor showing on Saturday. I went over to ask Adams a couple of questions about his race as he loaded his car to head back home to Maine, and he was clearly busy, but in his typical fashion, he spoke as he worked. After getting the answers I was looking for, I shook his hand and said, "I'm sorry your Loudon wasn't what you wanted." And Travis Adams stopped what he was doing, looked me in the eye, and said, "Yes it was." That's how important that race was to him, and to 35 other drivers. That moment was by far my favorite part of the weekend.
--Fred Neergaard, the NHMS Director of Communications, is a good man, and bent over backwards -- even when he didn't have to -- to help me out last weekend.
--Tony Stewart and Joey Polewarczyk chatted after the CWSE race on Friday night. And Stewart's obviously been paying attention since the Governor's Cup in June, because he asked Polewarczyk if he was ready for next weekend. Polewarczyk replied, "I'm not running Dover, we don't have the money for that," and Stewart said, "No, I know. I meant the Milk Bowl. That's a big deal."
--The post-race ACT Invitational press conference was truly the epitome of small-time racers in front of a big-time audience. Runner-up Nick Sweet and third-place finisher Brandon Watson were way out of their element speaking to a brightly-lit room full of people with cameras and tape recorders, but they performed as well in there as they did on the track. If you're a regular reader here at VMM, you've probably figured out by now that Sweet is a great interview because of his honesty and natural goofiness, and it was more of the same at NHMS, although instead of just me asking him questions, it was 40 people at once. Watson, all of 16 years old, was clearly uncomfortable and stared at the back wall or at the ceiling while answering questions, but both drivers said all the right things. Seth Leavitt of WCAX-TV asked Sweet to compare racing the mile at NHMS against the quarter-mile at Thunder Road, and Sweet gave his answer. Leavitt then asked Sweet, "Were you nervous?" and Sweet replied, "Right now I am. This is the hardest part." As winner Eddie MacDonald made his way to the head table, Watson's very proud mother rushed up to the middle of the room, where she inadvertantly set off a two-minute photo session by getting a shot of her boy with MacDonald. It was a very endearing moment, and certainly one that took some folks by surprise. The Q&A session with Watson and Sweet ended with a round of applause initiated by Neergaard, who was obviously enjoying the show. And when Sweet got up from the table, his straight-faced question "Can I have this bottle of water?" was enough to set the crowd off into a roar of laughter. MacDonald, of course, is no stranger to those types of events, and accorded himself in the way most professional athletes do with the media. But the presser was as special a moment as the race itself, in my opinion, and to be honest I'm not sure I expected it to go any differently.
--We weren't there to see it, but the efforts of Donald Theetge's team to literally rebuild the left-front corner of his wrecked car at Autodrome St-Eustache on Sunday. The knuckle-busting ultimately led to a Série ACT-Castrol championship for the group.
THE BAD:
--I arrived at New Hampshire Motor Speedway more unprepared to do my job than I have ever been at any race, ever, in nearly ten years of work. From my days on the ACT payroll when I forgot to bring a printer to a Canadian race, or from my days in high school freelancing for whatever newspaper would let me, or from my first "interview" with Matt Kenseth at the 2004 Oxford 250. I was simply a floundering idiot at NHMS as far as having my stuff together. You might not have noticed, but I sure did, and I know some VIPs did, too. I apologize to you all and to myself.
--Can anyone tell me who Richard Harriman, Chris Jones, Chris Lawson, and Nick Tucker are, or why I don't have a Truck ride?
--Speedway Motorsports Inc. should really consider contracting their long-time partner, Sylvania, into installing some lights around NHMS. The CWSE race was cut 26 laps short because of darkness on Friday night, and it was so bad that if there was a black car going down the frontstretch, well, I sure didn't see it.
--Polewarczyk's wreck in the CWSE race was an extremely hard hit, driver's door first into the Turn 1 wall. Polewarczyk admitted that he was dazed: "Everything went black."
--ACT teams running too much tire stagger, as much as three inches, and causing problems for themselves. There were a lot of cars affected, including Ben Rowe, who hit the wall in Turn 3 after his right-front tire blew out, Brian Hoar, who faded from second to eighth over the final five laps, early leader Joey Doiron, and winner Eddie MacDonald, who had a major blister on the right-rear tire of his car.
--The weather on Friday delayed everything at NHMS, which in turn cancelled our trip to White Mountain Motorsports Park for the Late Model championship event at the PASS North season finale.
THE ABHORRENT:
--Patrick Laperle's Castrol deal at St-Eustache. After listening to both Laperle and ACT's Tom Curley, it appears rather obvious to me that the Jacques Laperle car was used in the lap 273 yellow flag to aid the ailing Patrick Laperle car. It was totally wrong. But I'm also not sure I agree with Curley's decision to not open pit road, because that potentially could have had a negative effect on everyone else running the race, too. Luckily, it appears that it didn't. At the end of the day, I think Patrick Laperle took a chance he shouldn't have taken and he got burned for it.
--Because I was at NHMS, I again wasn't there to see it, but I'm hearing that Airborne Speedway top dogs Martin Roy and Patrick Dupree were disqualified from Sunday's non-points "Apple Bowl 100" at the track for illegal engine parts. Reportedly, Dupree was running unapproved titanium parts in his DIRTcar 'spec' engine, and Roy's issues went much farther than that. DIRTcar inspectors in fact traveled to Airborne on Monday to confirm the findings. That having been said, neither driver had any issues in technical inspection during the regular season, and they were both in the tech shed plenty of times.
--The cold weather at night at Loudon was atrocious. Go ahead and try to sleep in a pop-up camper when it's 74 below outside, I dare ya.
***
AROUND THE REGION:
Time to take a look at the top Vermonters from the past weekend...
ACT Late Model Tour: On Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H., Eddie MacDonald of Rowley, Mass. beat Barre's Nick Sweet to win the inaugural ACT Invitational. Brandon Watson of Stayner, Ont. was third with Patrick Laperle of St-Denis, Qué. fourth and Graniteville's John Donahue fifth.
Airborne Speedway (Plattsburgh, N.Y.): Aaron Bartemy of Sheldon finished eighth in Sunday's Apple Bowl 100 for Modifieds. Milton's Bill Sawyer was the Sportsman runner-up, with Joey Roberts of Georgia sixth, Brad Bushey of Georgia ninth, and Joe Steffen of Essex Junction tenth. Lance Rabtoy of Fairfax was fourth in the Renegade feature with brother Dave Rabtoy of Swanton fifth.
Monadnock Speedway (Winchester, N.H.): Dwight Jarvis of Ascutney was eighth in Friday's Modified feature with Josh King of Vernon 12th. Dana Shepard of Putney was 13th in the Super Stock race, and Joe Rogers of Ludlow was 10th in the Mini Stocks. Vernon drivers Heath Renaud, Josh Houle, and Pat Houle finished second, fourth, and fifth in the four-cylinder Enduro, respectively.
NASCAR Camping World Series East: Barney McRae of Milton finished 33rd in Friday's Heluva Good! 125 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H.
PASS North Super Late Models: Richie Dearborn of Hollis, Me. won Friday's season finale at White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H. over Ben Rowe of Turner, Me., Kelly Moore of Scarborough, Me., Travis Benjamin of Morrill, Me., and 2009 champion Johnny Clark of Farmingdale, Me. Danville rookie Steven Legendre finished seventh.
Riverside Speedway (Groveton, N.H.): Ben Bedor of Lyndonville was fifth in Saturday's Super Stock feature. Dean Switser, Jr. of Lyndonville was third in the Street Stocks with Andy Fecteau of Hardwick fifth. Toby Merchant of Concord was the Dwarf Car runner-up, and Johanna Christman of Cabot won the Angel feature.
White Mountain Motorsports Park (North Woodstock, N.H.): St. Johnsbury's Stacy Cahoon finished fifth in the Late Model feature on Friday to wrap up his second-straight track championship. Stevie Parker of Lyndonville was the Strictly Stock runner-up, taking that division's championship, and Concord's Rubin Call won the Strictly Stock Mini race, finishing second in the championship to Opie Thayer.
***
WEEKEND SCHEDULE:
Saturday, Sept. 26
Bear Ridge Speedway, Bradford -- 6:00pm (Final Event -- Championship Night, Enduro, Demolition Derby)
Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre -- 1:00pm (Booth Bros./H.P. Hood Qualifying Day)
Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y. -- 5:00pm (Final Event -- Non-Winners Races)
Monadnock Speedway, Winchester, N.H. -- 2:00pm (Final Event -- School Bus Race, Demolition Derby)
Sunday, Sept. 27
Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre -- 1:00pm (Final Event -- Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl)
It has been the craziest week in the history of auto racing. Ever. Okay, maybe not, but a lot went on. And thanks to my newfound love of the word "abhorrent" (it's one of those words you know exists, but don't realize it's missing from your life until you use it once, kinda like the way I feel about dirt racing after this year), we've got ourselves a column.
Here's a look at the week that was.
THE GOOD:
--The NASCAR Camping World Series East, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, and ACT Invitational events at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last weekend. I thought they were great. The two NASCAR events had a few too many cautions -- and for dumb stuff, like Jason Patison and Eric Curran wrecking each other for last place in the East race -- but the actual racing for the lead was very entertaining in all three events.
--Donny Lia was stellar in the Modifieds.
--Helping coach SPEED Channel's Bob Dillner on the iRacing Modified simulator in the infield media center on Saturday with driver Ryan Preece, not 15 minutes after Preece finished third in the WMT race. We ran Stafford Motor Speedway, the site of Preece's most recent WMT victory, and Dillner wasn't exactly, um, the smoothest guy. Not horrible, but not smooth. Preece got in the seat and beat Dillner's best lap by a half-second... on the first lap. And then it was my turn, and I felt pretty good about being only four tenths off Preece's best time. It's a helluva jump (or is it "Heluva Good!"?) from a four-cylinder Mustang five years ago to a, uh, digitally-created SK Modified at Stafford. But we got it done.
--The ACT Invitational was superlative, especially for a first effort. The 36 cars were all very classy-looking, the drivers were racy and ultra-respectful of each other on the track, and holy cow, the crowd got into it. ACT announcer Troy Germain is to be commended for his energetic introduction of each driver, and Tom Curley's idea to incorporate the presentation of the team battle flags onto the edge of the race track blew the crowd away. Many fans stood for the entire 50 laps.
--The tractor trailer shower setup things in the parking lots at NHMS were out-freaking-standing.
--The most interesting part of the huge crowd that stuck around after the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event on Saturday to see the ACT race was listening to where the cheers came from during introductions. Some estimates had as many as 40,000 fans there, but it was probably more like 18,000 to 25,000 for the ACT Invitational. Every fan applauded every driver, but for each one there were patches of localized families and fans losing their minds for their favorite drivers. When Randy Potter was introduced, one 50-person section of the stands, most likely centered around Groveton, N.H., went crazy on the frontstretch. When T.J. Watson was up, his Maine-based fans went nuts over in Turn 1, or wherever they were. And the Milton fans cheered for guys like Brent Dragon, Scott Payea, Jean-Paul Cyr, and Eric Chase. It was very cool, and it also sent a message loud and clear to NHMS officials that there were a lot people there specifically to watch the ACT Invitational.
--Three words: Juan Pablo Montoya.
--Five words: Eddie MacDonald and Rollie Lachance.
--You gotta love Travis Adams' attitude. Adams spent the year chasing a dream for his father, the late Donnie Adams, and won his fourth-straight Oxford Plains Speedway championship. But his goals were two-fold: Adams wanted the title for his dad, but he also wanted to win the title so he would be invited to Loudon, N.H. for the ACT Invitational, just for the chance to race at NHMS. He tested at the track in August, although not very well, and then was scored 32nd in the race after a poor showing on Saturday. I went over to ask Adams a couple of questions about his race as he loaded his car to head back home to Maine, and he was clearly busy, but in his typical fashion, he spoke as he worked. After getting the answers I was looking for, I shook his hand and said, "I'm sorry your Loudon wasn't what you wanted." And Travis Adams stopped what he was doing, looked me in the eye, and said, "Yes it was." That's how important that race was to him, and to 35 other drivers. That moment was by far my favorite part of the weekend.
--Fred Neergaard, the NHMS Director of Communications, is a good man, and bent over backwards -- even when he didn't have to -- to help me out last weekend.
--Tony Stewart and Joey Polewarczyk chatted after the CWSE race on Friday night. And Stewart's obviously been paying attention since the Governor's Cup in June, because he asked Polewarczyk if he was ready for next weekend. Polewarczyk replied, "I'm not running Dover, we don't have the money for that," and Stewart said, "No, I know. I meant the Milk Bowl. That's a big deal."
--The post-race ACT Invitational press conference was truly the epitome of small-time racers in front of a big-time audience. Runner-up Nick Sweet and third-place finisher Brandon Watson were way out of their element speaking to a brightly-lit room full of people with cameras and tape recorders, but they performed as well in there as they did on the track. If you're a regular reader here at VMM, you've probably figured out by now that Sweet is a great interview because of his honesty and natural goofiness, and it was more of the same at NHMS, although instead of just me asking him questions, it was 40 people at once. Watson, all of 16 years old, was clearly uncomfortable and stared at the back wall or at the ceiling while answering questions, but both drivers said all the right things. Seth Leavitt of WCAX-TV asked Sweet to compare racing the mile at NHMS against the quarter-mile at Thunder Road, and Sweet gave his answer. Leavitt then asked Sweet, "Were you nervous?" and Sweet replied, "Right now I am. This is the hardest part." As winner Eddie MacDonald made his way to the head table, Watson's very proud mother rushed up to the middle of the room, where she inadvertantly set off a two-minute photo session by getting a shot of her boy with MacDonald. It was a very endearing moment, and certainly one that took some folks by surprise. The Q&A session with Watson and Sweet ended with a round of applause initiated by Neergaard, who was obviously enjoying the show. And when Sweet got up from the table, his straight-faced question "Can I have this bottle of water?" was enough to set the crowd off into a roar of laughter. MacDonald, of course, is no stranger to those types of events, and accorded himself in the way most professional athletes do with the media. But the presser was as special a moment as the race itself, in my opinion, and to be honest I'm not sure I expected it to go any differently.
--We weren't there to see it, but the efforts of Donald Theetge's team to literally rebuild the left-front corner of his wrecked car at Autodrome St-Eustache on Sunday. The knuckle-busting ultimately led to a Série ACT-Castrol championship for the group.
THE BAD:
--I arrived at New Hampshire Motor Speedway more unprepared to do my job than I have ever been at any race, ever, in nearly ten years of work. From my days on the ACT payroll when I forgot to bring a printer to a Canadian race, or from my days in high school freelancing for whatever newspaper would let me, or from my first "interview" with Matt Kenseth at the 2004 Oxford 250. I was simply a floundering idiot at NHMS as far as having my stuff together. You might not have noticed, but I sure did, and I know some VIPs did, too. I apologize to you all and to myself.
--Can anyone tell me who Richard Harriman, Chris Jones, Chris Lawson, and Nick Tucker are, or why I don't have a Truck ride?
--Speedway Motorsports Inc. should really consider contracting their long-time partner, Sylvania, into installing some lights around NHMS. The CWSE race was cut 26 laps short because of darkness on Friday night, and it was so bad that if there was a black car going down the frontstretch, well, I sure didn't see it.
--Polewarczyk's wreck in the CWSE race was an extremely hard hit, driver's door first into the Turn 1 wall. Polewarczyk admitted that he was dazed: "Everything went black."
--ACT teams running too much tire stagger, as much as three inches, and causing problems for themselves. There were a lot of cars affected, including Ben Rowe, who hit the wall in Turn 3 after his right-front tire blew out, Brian Hoar, who faded from second to eighth over the final five laps, early leader Joey Doiron, and winner Eddie MacDonald, who had a major blister on the right-rear tire of his car.
--The weather on Friday delayed everything at NHMS, which in turn cancelled our trip to White Mountain Motorsports Park for the Late Model championship event at the PASS North season finale.
THE ABHORRENT:
--Patrick Laperle's Castrol deal at St-Eustache. After listening to both Laperle and ACT's Tom Curley, it appears rather obvious to me that the Jacques Laperle car was used in the lap 273 yellow flag to aid the ailing Patrick Laperle car. It was totally wrong. But I'm also not sure I agree with Curley's decision to not open pit road, because that potentially could have had a negative effect on everyone else running the race, too. Luckily, it appears that it didn't. At the end of the day, I think Patrick Laperle took a chance he shouldn't have taken and he got burned for it.
--Because I was at NHMS, I again wasn't there to see it, but I'm hearing that Airborne Speedway top dogs Martin Roy and Patrick Dupree were disqualified from Sunday's non-points "Apple Bowl 100" at the track for illegal engine parts. Reportedly, Dupree was running unapproved titanium parts in his DIRTcar 'spec' engine, and Roy's issues went much farther than that. DIRTcar inspectors in fact traveled to Airborne on Monday to confirm the findings. That having been said, neither driver had any issues in technical inspection during the regular season, and they were both in the tech shed plenty of times.
--The cold weather at night at Loudon was atrocious. Go ahead and try to sleep in a pop-up camper when it's 74 below outside, I dare ya.
***
AROUND THE REGION:
Time to take a look at the top Vermonters from the past weekend...
ACT Late Model Tour: On Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H., Eddie MacDonald of Rowley, Mass. beat Barre's Nick Sweet to win the inaugural ACT Invitational. Brandon Watson of Stayner, Ont. was third with Patrick Laperle of St-Denis, Qué. fourth and Graniteville's John Donahue fifth.
Airborne Speedway (Plattsburgh, N.Y.): Aaron Bartemy of Sheldon finished eighth in Sunday's Apple Bowl 100 for Modifieds. Milton's Bill Sawyer was the Sportsman runner-up, with Joey Roberts of Georgia sixth, Brad Bushey of Georgia ninth, and Joe Steffen of Essex Junction tenth. Lance Rabtoy of Fairfax was fourth in the Renegade feature with brother Dave Rabtoy of Swanton fifth.
Monadnock Speedway (Winchester, N.H.): Dwight Jarvis of Ascutney was eighth in Friday's Modified feature with Josh King of Vernon 12th. Dana Shepard of Putney was 13th in the Super Stock race, and Joe Rogers of Ludlow was 10th in the Mini Stocks. Vernon drivers Heath Renaud, Josh Houle, and Pat Houle finished second, fourth, and fifth in the four-cylinder Enduro, respectively.
NASCAR Camping World Series East: Barney McRae of Milton finished 33rd in Friday's Heluva Good! 125 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H.
PASS North Super Late Models: Richie Dearborn of Hollis, Me. won Friday's season finale at White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H. over Ben Rowe of Turner, Me., Kelly Moore of Scarborough, Me., Travis Benjamin of Morrill, Me., and 2009 champion Johnny Clark of Farmingdale, Me. Danville rookie Steven Legendre finished seventh.
Riverside Speedway (Groveton, N.H.): Ben Bedor of Lyndonville was fifth in Saturday's Super Stock feature. Dean Switser, Jr. of Lyndonville was third in the Street Stocks with Andy Fecteau of Hardwick fifth. Toby Merchant of Concord was the Dwarf Car runner-up, and Johanna Christman of Cabot won the Angel feature.
White Mountain Motorsports Park (North Woodstock, N.H.): St. Johnsbury's Stacy Cahoon finished fifth in the Late Model feature on Friday to wrap up his second-straight track championship. Stevie Parker of Lyndonville was the Strictly Stock runner-up, taking that division's championship, and Concord's Rubin Call won the Strictly Stock Mini race, finishing second in the championship to Opie Thayer.
***
WEEKEND SCHEDULE:
Saturday, Sept. 26
Bear Ridge Speedway, Bradford -- 6:00pm (Final Event -- Championship Night, Enduro, Demolition Derby)
Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre -- 1:00pm (Booth Bros./H.P. Hood Qualifying Day)
Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y. -- 5:00pm (Final Event -- Non-Winners Races)
Monadnock Speedway, Winchester, N.H. -- 2:00pm (Final Event -- School Bus Race, Demolition Derby)
Sunday, Sept. 27
Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre -- 1:00pm (Final Event -- Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl)
Monday, September 21, 2009
MAGIC MAN: MacDonald Wins ACT Invitational
New Hampshire Motor Speedway coverage presented by RPM Racing Engines
LOUDON, N.H. -- He's been known for a while as "The Outlaw" for the way he barnstorms into whichever touring series suits him on any given weekend and winning races. But after the clinic Eddie MacDonald put on at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last weekend, maybe he should be known as the "Magic Man".
MacDonald won Friday's Heluva Good! 125 for the NASCAR Camping World Series East at the "Magic Mile" in Loudon, N.H., then won the inaugural American-Canadian Tour Invitational on Saturday evening. The victories back up a pair of Camping World wins at the track in 2008 and a runner-up finish there in the series' race in June of this year.
The Rowley, Mass. driver started 19th in the 36-car field -- comprised almost entirely of drivers that had never raced at the 1.058-mile superspeedway -- and came through the pack with seemingly relative ease. One of those rookie drivers, 16 year-old Brandon Watson from Stayner, Ont., proved to be the biggest challenge for MacDonald. Watson took the lead from Bruce Thomas, Jr. on lap 33, lost it to MacDonald two laps later, then took it back on a lap 41 restart when MacDonald faltered.
MacDonald briefly dropped back to third place behind Watson and Brian Hoar, then clawed his way back to Watson, taking the lead with four laps remaining in the 50-lap race. Nick Sweet of Barre got past Watson one lap later for second place and was catching MacDonald as the checkered flag flew. Patrick Laperle of St-Denis, Qué. finished fourth after starting in 18th place, with Graniteville's John Donahue in fifth. Joey Laquerre, Brad Leighton, Hoar, Thomas, and Joey Polewarczyk, Jr. completed the top ten finishers.
"The ACT race was just unbelievable, it was great competition. Everyone ran a real clean race and it was tough," said MacDonald. "The competition was really tough. I didn't know if I was going to be able to get by the 9 (Watson), he was really quick, especially when I lost him on the restart. I had a terrible restart there. But all in all, the crew did an awesome job. Rollie LaChance (MacDonald's crew chief) just really knows what we need here to win races, I'm just so lucky to have that."
MacDonald said he was pleasantly surprised by the way the ACT drivers and cars performed in race conditions on the unfamiliar track, at speeds that ACT-type Late Model cars, engines, and equipment had never seen.
"I was wondering if there was going to be a lot of cautions with that many cars and that many rookies to this track, but everyone did an excellent job," he said. "These guys really raced clean and they ran real hard. The cars drove really good and nothing was moving all around on the cars, the bodies were really rugged and everything, so I think a lot of guys did a good job bracing up their bodies. I'm just really impressed with how those cars handle here, and the speeds that you can go with a crate engine you can buy right from Chevrolet or Ford. It's just amazing that those cars can handle this kind of speed and turn really good lap times."
MacDonald says he was never nervous about running with the inexperienced field of drivers. He raced through the pack in close proximity to Brian Hoar, who, like MacDonald, is a former NHMS track champion in the Camping World division, but said it was no different than racing against Watson, Sweet, or anyone else. "I love racing with Brian, he's a great competitor, he always will run you clean, so I had no worries about him. After a few laps of racing with the two other guys, the 9 and the 88 (Sweet), it was great. Nobody rubbed me and pushed me up out of the way. They both ran me real clean. Everyone did, though, the whole field as we were coming up through. All those guys did an excellent job."
Winning the inaugural ACT Invitational at NHMS was a big accomplishment, said MacDonald, especially in front of a grandstand that NHMS officials said had possibly the largest Saturday crowd in the history of the track, estimated at some 40,000 during the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event that ran just prior to the ACT race. "It's just awesome to be able to win the first ACT race, I'm sure there'll be more. It looked like the stands were still pretty full after the truck race, it seemed like a lot of people stuck around, so that was great for the American-Canadian Tour. This is a huge race for them to be able to come here in front of all these people. I think they'll be here often, and it's just awesome to be able to win the first one."
MacDonald ranked the ACT victory as "right up there" with his July win in the TD Banknorth 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway in July. "It's too bad the purse [at NHMS] wasn't about the same, but being the first one just makes it that much more special. [They were] the two biggest races that I wanted to win this year in the Late Model and we were able to get them."
LOUDON, N.H. -- He's been known for a while as "The Outlaw" for the way he barnstorms into whichever touring series suits him on any given weekend and winning races. But after the clinic Eddie MacDonald put on at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last weekend, maybe he should be known as the "Magic Man". MacDonald won Friday's Heluva Good! 125 for the NASCAR Camping World Series East at the "Magic Mile" in Loudon, N.H., then won the inaugural American-Canadian Tour Invitational on Saturday evening. The victories back up a pair of Camping World wins at the track in 2008 and a runner-up finish there in the series' race in June of this year.
The Rowley, Mass. driver started 19th in the 36-car field -- comprised almost entirely of drivers that had never raced at the 1.058-mile superspeedway -- and came through the pack with seemingly relative ease. One of those rookie drivers, 16 year-old Brandon Watson from Stayner, Ont., proved to be the biggest challenge for MacDonald. Watson took the lead from Bruce Thomas, Jr. on lap 33, lost it to MacDonald two laps later, then took it back on a lap 41 restart when MacDonald faltered.
MacDonald briefly dropped back to third place behind Watson and Brian Hoar, then clawed his way back to Watson, taking the lead with four laps remaining in the 50-lap race. Nick Sweet of Barre got past Watson one lap later for second place and was catching MacDonald as the checkered flag flew. Patrick Laperle of St-Denis, Qué. finished fourth after starting in 18th place, with Graniteville's John Donahue in fifth. Joey Laquerre, Brad Leighton, Hoar, Thomas, and Joey Polewarczyk, Jr. completed the top ten finishers.
"The ACT race was just unbelievable, it was great competition. Everyone ran a real clean race and it was tough," said MacDonald. "The competition was really tough. I didn't know if I was going to be able to get by the 9 (Watson), he was really quick, especially when I lost him on the restart. I had a terrible restart there. But all in all, the crew did an awesome job. Rollie LaChance (MacDonald's crew chief) just really knows what we need here to win races, I'm just so lucky to have that." MacDonald said he was pleasantly surprised by the way the ACT drivers and cars performed in race conditions on the unfamiliar track, at speeds that ACT-type Late Model cars, engines, and equipment had never seen.
"I was wondering if there was going to be a lot of cautions with that many cars and that many rookies to this track, but everyone did an excellent job," he said. "These guys really raced clean and they ran real hard. The cars drove really good and nothing was moving all around on the cars, the bodies were really rugged and everything, so I think a lot of guys did a good job bracing up their bodies. I'm just really impressed with how those cars handle here, and the speeds that you can go with a crate engine you can buy right from Chevrolet or Ford. It's just amazing that those cars can handle this kind of speed and turn really good lap times."
MacDonald says he was never nervous about running with the inexperienced field of drivers. He raced through the pack in close proximity to Brian Hoar, who, like MacDonald, is a former NHMS track champion in the Camping World division, but said it was no different than racing against Watson, Sweet, or anyone else. "I love racing with Brian, he's a great competitor, he always will run you clean, so I had no worries about him. After a few laps of racing with the two other guys, the 9 and the 88 (Sweet), it was great. Nobody rubbed me and pushed me up out of the way. They both ran me real clean. Everyone did, though, the whole field as we were coming up through. All those guys did an excellent job."
Winning the inaugural ACT Invitational at NHMS was a big accomplishment, said MacDonald, especially in front of a grandstand that NHMS officials said had possibly the largest Saturday crowd in the history of the track, estimated at some 40,000 during the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event that ran just prior to the ACT race. "It's just awesome to be able to win the first ACT race, I'm sure there'll be more. It looked like the stands were still pretty full after the truck race, it seemed like a lot of people stuck around, so that was great for the American-Canadian Tour. This is a huge race for them to be able to come here in front of all these people. I think they'll be here often, and it's just awesome to be able to win the first one."
MacDonald ranked the ACT victory as "right up there" with his July win in the TD Banknorth 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway in July. "It's too bad the purse [at NHMS] wasn't about the same, but being the first one just makes it that much more special. [They were] the two biggest races that I wanted to win this year in the Late Model and we were able to get them."
(PHOTO: Eddie MacDonald (right) and crew chief Rollie LaChance went to victory lane twice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last weekend, including after the ACT Invitational on Saturday. Photo by Justin St. Louis/VMM)
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
The Juice: Not Another Nick Sweet Column
-by Justin St. Louis
"That guy has got stone hands," Nick Sweet laughs after being congratulated by Tony Andrews on Thursday night.
A couple of minutes later, Eric Chase offers a handshake, and Phil Scott walks over to pat Sweet on the shoulder. A member of the wrecker crew gives him a nudge on his way past. Crew members, fans, even a couple of admiring young girls -- 14 or 15 years old, at most -- give some sort of congratulatory praise to Thunder Road's newest Late Model winner.
"I'm gonna crack a cold one I think," he says. "You want one? We've probably got some in the cooler."
"No, thanks, I'm working," I'm forced to reply. But I do appreciate the offer, and even more so, the fact that it came in the middle of an interview following the biggest moment in this young racer's career.
Nick Sweet seems genuinely happy just to be racing, and winning is merely a bonus. And although he's just 24 years old, the husband and father is mature enough to keep things in perspective. Go ahead and stick a microphone in his face and try to ask him a serious question, I dare you. Invariably, he'll pause at some point during the interview to say hello to somebody, or in the middle of praising his team, he'll giggle at his own goofy, self-deprecating one-liners and speak of how he forces his crew to work harder because he's not that good behind the wheel.
Here's an example, as Sweet speaks about the dedication of his crew while picking on himself about scuffing the decals on his car every race: "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. And my dad, especially, without him this wouldn't be happening the way it is. He is just amazing. He does stuff that we shouldn't even be doing, he's so particular. He'll make sure it's right. That's what makes us so good, though, it's that kind of aspect. I'm very fortunate. I work hard on it, but he just puts that extra effort in, it makes it so much more. I go down, and I'm good at doing vinyl. I'm getting fantastic at that. I'm great at fixing the body panels, but when it comes to suspension, my dad is just right on it."
Another example, speaking about how his team is a tight-knit group: "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? Wait, is Kristin (Sweet's wife) going to read this? You're like a family basically, that's how we are. We lose as a team, we win as a team, and you really find out who your real friends are when you're down."
Or this one, speaking about his chances for the 2009 Thunder Road championship after clinching his first career win: "All I care about is finishing. I'd like to come back and get a top five, that'd really be something, but we'll see. It's fun to think you're racing for it, but I just want to keep winning races now. I've been hungry for them, and maybe sometimes too hungry. Sometimes I get a little impatient and I run out of talent, it just happens."
It's refreshing to have a racer as fast as Nick Sweet understand that there's more to this game than just showing up, driving fast, saying the right things, and getting home in time for supper. His car is usually one of the last Late Models loaded up after the races. He sticks around and signs autographs and talks to fans until the lights are shut off. He encourages kids to sit in his race car. He's still a fan. In fact, his paint schemes have recently been designed in tribute to his childhood heroes. ("I'm hoping they'll think I'm Jeff Taylor and they'll cheer for me," Sweet joked at Oxford Plains Speedway last month, referencing the numbers he designed for his car in the same style of the multi-time OPS champion.)
I mused in this column space about six weeks ago that it was just a matter of time before Sweet broke into victory lane. Truth is, he was already a winner.
***
I got a rather pointed email from a friend and colleague of mine following last week's editorial on Vermont native Kevin Lepage struggling mercilessly in NASCAR's upper levels. "Unbelievably harsh treatment," it was called.
Folks, let's get one thing straight: I don't dislike Kevin Lepage at all. At my "real" job, we've got 52 television sets, and I make sure that at least one of them is tuned into Nationwide Series practice and qualifying every week. I hope for a miraculous run at the top of the speed charts every time, and it simply never comes. In fact, last week he didn't make the show at Michigan.
Look, I grew up cheering for the guy. When Lepage moved south, my parents bought me the die-cast cars and we followed his every move. When he came back home to Thunder Road to race the Milk Bowl in 1994 and a Thursday show in 1998, I foamed at the mouth to get inside the gates and watch him race. I served his mother lunch one time when I was working at Friendly's as a teenager, and I told people about it for years. As a Vermonter, I'm proud of what Kevin Lepage has achieved.
That doesn't mean I can't be disappointed with what he's doing now.
I have a friend that has been a big Atlanta Braves fan since we were kids. Huge John Smoltz fan. Do you think he doesn't have the right to be disappointed in what Smoltz is going through this year?
I want nothing but the best for Kevin Lepage, and I do understand that he has bills to pay. In this day and age, a driver past his prime "marketing years" (which start to end at age 22 these days), needs to take advantage of every opportunity he or she can get to stay in the racing business, and that's what Lepage is doing. I get that.
But I have a hunch that if he found something else to do to make ends meet -- Crew chief? Team manager? Official? Sponsor representative? Television analyst? -- and came back to moonlight as a driver in his short track roots, he'd be celebrated as a winner again. Sure, it's not the Sprint Cup Series, but who cares? It's racing, it's winning, and it's what he should be doing. He deserves to win. He's worked too hard for too long to run 37th or 42nd or not qualify.
That's all I was saying.
***
If you like wild crashes, you owe it to yourself to look at this Modified wreck produced by Cody Sargent at Albany-Saratoga. That's levitation, homes.
***
I don't care a hoot about football or Brett Favre, but this right here is awesome. You go get 'em, Rockford.
***
I had never had a good experience at Riverside Speedway. Ever.
The first time I went as a kid, it rained, it was cold, and my dad's friend crashed in the race. The second time I went, as a racer about eight years later, I got disqualified for a stupid bent wheel. The third time (the only other time I competed there), I did well in a race, but I got walled by every single Riverside regular that I raced against, and I got pulled over on the way home for doing six miles per hour over the speed limit while towing a trailer on a downhill slope. The next four or five times, it either rained, or there were fights or wrecks or just plain bad races. The last time I went in 2007, the program moved along so slowly that I got up and left before the show ended, despite paying $30 to get in.
The stretch of Route 2 from East Montpelier to Lancaster, N.H. isn't bad during the daylight, but that same stretch headed home in the opposite direction at night is THE WORST drive in America, and I feel that way when I'm on it coming home from Oxford, too, every time. And by the way, that's kinda the only way to get to Riverside and back for me.
I hadn't been there in two years, and I wasn't necessarily looking forward to going back. But Sunday, for the first time in my life, I was glad I went. I saw one helluva race, and Wayne Helliwell's story that day was as dramatic, compelling, and super-human as any I've seen in short track racing. The fact that it was so ungodly hot that the asphalt fell apart, I had to remind myself, was not the fault of Riverside itself, that's just the way it was. That could have happened anywhere.
I probably won't be back to Riverside this year, just because that's the way the schedule works out. But Sunday went a long way for me. Kudos to the staff and competitors.
***
I'll be honest, I reported Sunday's event at Devil's Bowl exactly as it was prepared in the track's official press release. And then I got a message from a guy that's been there all season, letting me know that, um, said press release might be a bit misleading.
This is the opening line from the release: "Ken Tremont Jr. hasn't officially won the track championship at Devil's Bowl Speedway yet, but the fat lady is definitely warming up backstage."
Well, that's foreshadowing, no? Continue reading...
"Tremont held off Todd Stone Sunday night to register his sixth win of the season in the 30-lap 358-modified feature on Judith L. Richards Memorial Night at Devil's Bowl. ... Frank Hoard Sr. set the pace for the first 11 laps of the modified feature, but Tremont had the Rifenburgh Construction small block humming and only needed seven laps to get from his eighth starting position to second.
Tremont used a restart on lap 11 to get the lead, and the rest of the field could do nothing more than watch his rear bumper for the rest of the feature. Stone, who started just behind Tremont, moved into second on lap 14, but had to be content with the No. 2 spot, and knows his reign as track champion is just about over."
Kinda paints the picture that it's all but over, right? Not so.
Turns out Todd Stone is, in fact, third in points at Devil's Bowl this year and his reign may be over soon. But it's not likely that he'll go away quietly. And neither will Tim LaDuc.
Depsite six wins, Tremont has only an 11-point edge over LaDuc and just 13 points on Stone with three events remaining, including the double-points season finale. With each position offering just two points more than the next (read: If Stone wins this Sunday, LaDuc is second, and Tremont is eighth, Stone and LaDuc would be tied for the lead with Tremont one point back in third, it's THAT close), it's far from over. If Tremont had a 70-point lead, then it might be time to warm up the bus, but that's not the case.
And I'll tell you right now that if I was a media guy working for a track, I'd hype the living crap out of a point battle like that -- a la Airborne Speedway with Martin Roy and Patrick Dupree, or the now-finished ACT Tiger Sportsman Series, which ended in a tie -- not calling it a day like Devil's Bowl.
***
Speaking of Airborne, Kenny Schrader is the one professional racer I have really wanted to see all season long on a short track, and Saturday's Modified race ought to be a good show.
***
AROUND THE REGION:
Time to take a look at the top Vermonters from the past weekend...
ACT Tiger Sportsman Series: Shawn Duquette of Morrisonville, N.Y. won his first ACT championship on Thursday at Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl in Barre after winning a tie-breaker with St. Albans driver Jason Bonnett. Bonnett finished sixth in the ACE Hardware 100 with Duquette 20th after a mid-race crash, but due to his victories at Airborne and Canaan Fair earlier in the season, Duquette was awarded the tie-breaker over the winless Bonnett. Shawn Fleury of Middlesex won the ACE Hardware 100 over Bradford's Derrick O'Donnell, Jimmy Hebert of Williamstown, North Wolcott's Brendan Moodie, Scott Coburn of Barre, and Bonnett.
Airborne Speedway (Plattsburgh, N.Y.): Aaron Bartemy of Sheldon took his second Modified win of the season on Saturday night, while Milton's Bill Sawyer was fifth in the Sportsman feature. Milton's Rob Gordon was the runner-up in the Renegade feature for the second week in a row, with Swanton's Kevin Boutin fourth, Mike Terry of Grand Isle fifth, Lance Rabtoy of Fairfax eighth, and Swanton's Dave Rabtoy tenth. Billy Jenkins of Milton was sixth in the Mini-Modified feature.
Albany-Saratoga Speedway (Malta, N.Y.): Dave Camara of Fair Haven took his first win of the season in the 358 Modified class on Friday night, while Todd Stone of Middlebury finished sixth. Rob Langevin of Londonderry was fourth in the Sportsman division. Fred Little of Salisbury finished foruth in the Pro Street Stock feature with Benson's Jeff Washburn seventh and Ed Thompson of Fair Haven eighth.
Bear Ridge Speedway (Bradford): Chris Donnelly of Piermont, N.H. took his fourth Sportsman Modified win of the season on Saturday night, with Thetford Center's Wayne Stearns second, Gary Siemons of Orford, N.H. third, Ryan Avery of Thornton, N.H. fourth, and Mike Dunn fifth. Kevin Chaffee of East Orange was sixth with East Thetford's Jason Gray ninth. Rookie Jason Horniak of Bradford held off Topsham's Josh Harrington to win the Sportsman Coupe feature over Billy Simmons of Bradford, Melvin Pierson of Topsham, and Bryan King of Corinth. Dan Eastman of Thetford Center won his ninth Limited Late Model feature of the year over Bradford's Jeremy Hodge, Shane Race of South Strafford, Will Hull of East Montpelier, and T.C. Forward of Lyme, N.H. St. Johnsbury's Steve Bell notched his first Fast Four win over Wilder's Andy Johnson, Ryan Dutton of Bradford, Kevin Harran of St. Johnsbury, and John Dunham of West Lebanon, N.H. First-time Hornet winner Mike Chapin of Chelsea snapped a six-race win streak for Bradford's Tom Placey, who finished second. Bobby Bell of St. Johnsbury was third over Chelsea's Mike Ryan and Mike Santaw of Lyme, N.H.
Canaan Dirt Speedway (Canaan, N.H.): Thetford Center's Dave Lacasse was the Modified runner-up with Hartland's Ed Tobin sixth. Will Hull of East Montpelier was the Street Stock runner-up, with Dan Eastman of Thetford Center third. Josh Sunn of White River Junction was the Fast Four winner with Ryan Dutton of Bradford third and Wilder's Andy Johnson seventh. Lacey Hanson of Orwell finished second in the Granite State Mini Sprint 500cc race.
Canaan Fair Speedway (Canaan, N.H.): Kris Lyman of West Hartford was eighth in the Pro Stock feature Saturday with South Royalton's Kevin Menard tenth, while Bradford's Arnie Stylges finished third in the Super Street race. Jamie Hodgdon of Ascutney won the Pure Stock feature with Rory Merritt of North Springfield tenth. Chris Lyman of Hartland won the Outlaw Mini Stock race over White River Junction drivers Bobby Prior and Josh Sunn and Chris McKinstry of Thetford. Ascutney's Tyler Lescord won the Bandit race over Mike Parker of Bradford.
Devil's Bowl Speedway (West Haven): Kenny Tremont, Jr. of West Sand Lake, N.Y. took his sixth 358 Modified win of 2009 on Sunday over Middlebury's Todd Stone, Vince Quenneville, Jr. of Brandon, Tim LaDuc of Orwell, and Ron Proctor of Charlton, N.Y. Brian Whittemore of Florence was sixth with Whiting's Jimmy Ryan eighth and Gardner Stone of Middlebury ninth. Seth Howe of South Londonderry won the 50-lap Budget Sportsman race over Indian Lake, N.Y.'s Paul Dunham, Jr., Jack Swinton of Hudson Falls, N.Y., Manchester's Frank Hoard, III, and Derrick McGrew of Ballston Spa, N.Y. Fred Little of Salisbury won the Pro Street Stock feature over Carl Vladyka of Fair Haven, Cale Kneer of Troy, N.Y., Hampton, N.Y.'s Justin Perry, and Pat McLaughlin of Johnsonville, N.Y. Brandon's Mike Clark won his third Limited feature of the season with Hydeville's Bill Duprey fourth, and Nathan Woodworth of Essex Junction beat Rutland's Kayla Bryant in the Mini Stock/Duke Stock race.
Monadnock Speedway (Winchester, N.H.): Dana Shepard of Putney finished 11th in the Super Stock race on Saturday, with Joe Rogers of Ludlow tenth in the Mini Stocks. Vernon's Heath Renaud beat Dick Houle of West Brattleboro to win the 4-cylinder Enduro.
PASS North Super Late Models: Seekonk (Mass.) Speedway ace Tom Scully, Jr. beat the PASS stars at his home track on Saturday night for his first win on the series. Maine racers Ben Rowe and Johnny Clark completed the podium, with Danville rookie Steven Legendre 17th.
Riverside Speedway (Groveton, N.H.): Howard Switser of West Burke finished fourth in Sunday's "Clash of the Titans 150" Late Model event, behind Wayne Helliwell, Jr., Quinny Welch, and Randy Potter. Rick Utley, Jr. of Wheelock won Saturday's Street Stock feature over Concord's Brett Rowell. Johanna Christman of Cabot won the Angel event on Saturday.
Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl (Barre): Nick Sweet of Barre posted his first career Late Model win on Thursday over Shelburne's Jamie Fisher, Cris Michaud of Northfield, Phil Scott of Montpelier, and point leader Jean-Paul Cyr of Milton. Shawn Fleury of Middlesex won the ACE Hardware 100 for the ACT Tiger Sportsman Tri-State Series. Garry Bashaw of Lincoln was a first-time Street Stock winner over Elmore's David Whitcomb, rookie Tucker Williams of Hyde Park, Michael Moore of East Haven, and Williamstown's Mike MacAskill, while Donny Yates of North Montpelier was the Junkyard Warrior winner over Barre's Kevin Dodge, Kevin Streeter of Waitsfield, Lance Donald of Williamstown, and Bryan Nykiel of Berlin. On Friday, Rich Lowrey of Charlotte won his second Late Model event of the season over Dave Whitcomb of Essex Junction, Fisher, Waitsfield's Grant Folsom, and Michaud. Bobby Therrien of Hinesburg took his first Tiger Sportsman win of the year over Marshfield's Matt Potter, Derrick O'Donnell of Bradford, Cody Blake of Barre, and Joe Steffen of Essex Junction. M.C. Ingram of Essex Junction won the Street Stock race over Williams, Moore, Greg Adams, Jr. of Hardwick, and Hancock's Danny Doyle, while Yates took his second Warrior win in 24 hours over Cabot's Ken Christman, Kevin Wheatley of Williamstown, Streeter, and Donald.
True Value Modified Racing Series: Rowan Pennink of Huntington Valley, Penn. notched his first career win at Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl on Saturday, followed by Connecticut driver Chris Pasteryak and Kenny Horton. Dwight Jarvis of Ascutney was 21st.
Twin State Speedway (Claremont, N.H.): Guy Caron of Lempster, N.H. won the three-segment Late Model feature on Friday over Chris Bergerson and Marc Palmisano. Joey Jarvis of Ascutney was the Modified runner-up. Chris Wilk of Mendon beat Russ Davis of Cavendish to win the Super Street feature. Josh Lovely of Barre was third in the Strictly Stocks. Rob Leitch of Cavendish won the Wildcat feature, which was run in counter-clockwise direction, over Ludlow's Rob Olney, III and James Brow of Brattleboro.
White Mountain Motorsports Park (North Woodstock, N.H.): Bernie Lantagne of McIndoe Falls finished sixth Saturday's Late Model feature, with Stacy Cahoon and son Tyler Cahoon of St. Johnsbury ninth and tenth, respectively. Stevie Parker of Lyndonville was the Strictly Stock runner-up with Milton's Gordie Stone seventh, and Concord driver Rubin Call was third in the Strictly Stock Mini feature.
***
WEEKEND SCHEDULE:
Thursday, Aug. 20
Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre -- 6:30pm (Kids Poster Contest)
Friday, Aug. 21
Albany-Saratoga Speedway, Malta, N.Y. -- 6:45pm (Empire Lightning Sprints)
Canaan Dirt Speedway, Canaan, N.H. -- 7:00pm (SCoNE 360 Sprint Cars)
Twin State Speedway, Claremont, N.H. -- 7:30pm (All-Star Race Trucks, Demolition Derby)
Saturday, Aug. 22
Bear Ridge Speedway, Bradford -- 6:00pm (Hornet Queens)
Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y. -- 6:00pm (Special guest NASCAR driver Ken Schrader, plus SpeedSTR Midgets)
Canaan Fair Speedway, Canaan, N.H. -- 6:00pm (New England Champ Kart Series)
Monadnock Speedway, Winchester, N.H. -- 6:00pm (All-Star Race Trucks)
Riverside Speedway, Groveton, N.H. -- 6:00pm (Late Model Triple Crown 100)
White Mountain Motorsports Park, North Woodstock, N.H. -- 6:00pm (Regular Event)
Sunday, Aug. 23
Devil's Bowl Speedway, West Haven -- 6:45pm (Veterans Night)
Canaan Fair Speedway, Canaan, N.H. -- 2:00pm (PASS North Super Late Models)
TOURING SERIES:
PASS North Super Late Models: Sun., Aug. 23 -- Canaan Fair Speedway, Canaan, N.H. (2:00pm)
SCoNE 360 Sprint Cars: Fri., Aug. 21 -- Canaan Dirt Speedway, Canaan, N.H. (7:00pm)
Série ACT-Castrol: Sat., Aug. 22 -- Riverside Speedway, Ste-Croix, Qué. (5:00pm)
True Value Modified Racing Series: Sat.. Aug. 22 -- Seekonk Speedway, Seekonk, Mass. (6:00pm)
"That guy has got stone hands," Nick Sweet laughs after being congratulated by Tony Andrews on Thursday night.A couple of minutes later, Eric Chase offers a handshake, and Phil Scott walks over to pat Sweet on the shoulder. A member of the wrecker crew gives him a nudge on his way past. Crew members, fans, even a couple of admiring young girls -- 14 or 15 years old, at most -- give some sort of congratulatory praise to Thunder Road's newest Late Model winner.
"I'm gonna crack a cold one I think," he says. "You want one? We've probably got some in the cooler."
"No, thanks, I'm working," I'm forced to reply. But I do appreciate the offer, and even more so, the fact that it came in the middle of an interview following the biggest moment in this young racer's career.
Nick Sweet seems genuinely happy just to be racing, and winning is merely a bonus. And although he's just 24 years old, the husband and father is mature enough to keep things in perspective. Go ahead and stick a microphone in his face and try to ask him a serious question, I dare you. Invariably, he'll pause at some point during the interview to say hello to somebody, or in the middle of praising his team, he'll giggle at his own goofy, self-deprecating one-liners and speak of how he forces his crew to work harder because he's not that good behind the wheel.
Here's an example, as Sweet speaks about the dedication of his crew while picking on himself about scuffing the decals on his car every race: "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. And my dad, especially, without him this wouldn't be happening the way it is. He is just amazing. He does stuff that we shouldn't even be doing, he's so particular. He'll make sure it's right. That's what makes us so good, though, it's that kind of aspect. I'm very fortunate. I work hard on it, but he just puts that extra effort in, it makes it so much more. I go down, and I'm good at doing vinyl. I'm getting fantastic at that. I'm great at fixing the body panels, but when it comes to suspension, my dad is just right on it."
Another example, speaking about how his team is a tight-knit group: "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? Wait, is Kristin (Sweet's wife) going to read this? You're like a family basically, that's how we are. We lose as a team, we win as a team, and you really find out who your real friends are when you're down."
Or this one, speaking about his chances for the 2009 Thunder Road championship after clinching his first career win: "All I care about is finishing. I'd like to come back and get a top five, that'd really be something, but we'll see. It's fun to think you're racing for it, but I just want to keep winning races now. I've been hungry for them, and maybe sometimes too hungry. Sometimes I get a little impatient and I run out of talent, it just happens."
It's refreshing to have a racer as fast as Nick Sweet understand that there's more to this game than just showing up, driving fast, saying the right things, and getting home in time for supper. His car is usually one of the last Late Models loaded up after the races. He sticks around and signs autographs and talks to fans until the lights are shut off. He encourages kids to sit in his race car. He's still a fan. In fact, his paint schemes have recently been designed in tribute to his childhood heroes. ("I'm hoping they'll think I'm Jeff Taylor and they'll cheer for me," Sweet joked at Oxford Plains Speedway last month, referencing the numbers he designed for his car in the same style of the multi-time OPS champion.)
I mused in this column space about six weeks ago that it was just a matter of time before Sweet broke into victory lane. Truth is, he was already a winner.
***
I got a rather pointed email from a friend and colleague of mine following last week's editorial on Vermont native Kevin Lepage struggling mercilessly in NASCAR's upper levels. "Unbelievably harsh treatment," it was called.
Folks, let's get one thing straight: I don't dislike Kevin Lepage at all. At my "real" job, we've got 52 television sets, and I make sure that at least one of them is tuned into Nationwide Series practice and qualifying every week. I hope for a miraculous run at the top of the speed charts every time, and it simply never comes. In fact, last week he didn't make the show at Michigan.
Look, I grew up cheering for the guy. When Lepage moved south, my parents bought me the die-cast cars and we followed his every move. When he came back home to Thunder Road to race the Milk Bowl in 1994 and a Thursday show in 1998, I foamed at the mouth to get inside the gates and watch him race. I served his mother lunch one time when I was working at Friendly's as a teenager, and I told people about it for years. As a Vermonter, I'm proud of what Kevin Lepage has achieved.
That doesn't mean I can't be disappointed with what he's doing now.
I have a friend that has been a big Atlanta Braves fan since we were kids. Huge John Smoltz fan. Do you think he doesn't have the right to be disappointed in what Smoltz is going through this year?
I want nothing but the best for Kevin Lepage, and I do understand that he has bills to pay. In this day and age, a driver past his prime "marketing years" (which start to end at age 22 these days), needs to take advantage of every opportunity he or she can get to stay in the racing business, and that's what Lepage is doing. I get that.
But I have a hunch that if he found something else to do to make ends meet -- Crew chief? Team manager? Official? Sponsor representative? Television analyst? -- and came back to moonlight as a driver in his short track roots, he'd be celebrated as a winner again. Sure, it's not the Sprint Cup Series, but who cares? It's racing, it's winning, and it's what he should be doing. He deserves to win. He's worked too hard for too long to run 37th or 42nd or not qualify.
That's all I was saying.
***
If you like wild crashes, you owe it to yourself to look at this Modified wreck produced by Cody Sargent at Albany-Saratoga. That's levitation, homes.
***
I don't care a hoot about football or Brett Favre, but this right here is awesome. You go get 'em, Rockford.
***
I had never had a good experience at Riverside Speedway. Ever.
The first time I went as a kid, it rained, it was cold, and my dad's friend crashed in the race. The second time I went, as a racer about eight years later, I got disqualified for a stupid bent wheel. The third time (the only other time I competed there), I did well in a race, but I got walled by every single Riverside regular that I raced against, and I got pulled over on the way home for doing six miles per hour over the speed limit while towing a trailer on a downhill slope. The next four or five times, it either rained, or there were fights or wrecks or just plain bad races. The last time I went in 2007, the program moved along so slowly that I got up and left before the show ended, despite paying $30 to get in.
The stretch of Route 2 from East Montpelier to Lancaster, N.H. isn't bad during the daylight, but that same stretch headed home in the opposite direction at night is THE WORST drive in America, and I feel that way when I'm on it coming home from Oxford, too, every time. And by the way, that's kinda the only way to get to Riverside and back for me.
I hadn't been there in two years, and I wasn't necessarily looking forward to going back. But Sunday, for the first time in my life, I was glad I went. I saw one helluva race, and Wayne Helliwell's story that day was as dramatic, compelling, and super-human as any I've seen in short track racing. The fact that it was so ungodly hot that the asphalt fell apart, I had to remind myself, was not the fault of Riverside itself, that's just the way it was. That could have happened anywhere.
I probably won't be back to Riverside this year, just because that's the way the schedule works out. But Sunday went a long way for me. Kudos to the staff and competitors.
***
I'll be honest, I reported Sunday's event at Devil's Bowl exactly as it was prepared in the track's official press release. And then I got a message from a guy that's been there all season, letting me know that, um, said press release might be a bit misleading.
This is the opening line from the release: "Ken Tremont Jr. hasn't officially won the track championship at Devil's Bowl Speedway yet, but the fat lady is definitely warming up backstage."
Well, that's foreshadowing, no? Continue reading...
"Tremont held off Todd Stone Sunday night to register his sixth win of the season in the 30-lap 358-modified feature on Judith L. Richards Memorial Night at Devil's Bowl. ... Frank Hoard Sr. set the pace for the first 11 laps of the modified feature, but Tremont had the Rifenburgh Construction small block humming and only needed seven laps to get from his eighth starting position to second.
Tremont used a restart on lap 11 to get the lead, and the rest of the field could do nothing more than watch his rear bumper for the rest of the feature. Stone, who started just behind Tremont, moved into second on lap 14, but had to be content with the No. 2 spot, and knows his reign as track champion is just about over."
Kinda paints the picture that it's all but over, right? Not so.
Turns out Todd Stone is, in fact, third in points at Devil's Bowl this year and his reign may be over soon. But it's not likely that he'll go away quietly. And neither will Tim LaDuc.
Depsite six wins, Tremont has only an 11-point edge over LaDuc and just 13 points on Stone with three events remaining, including the double-points season finale. With each position offering just two points more than the next (read: If Stone wins this Sunday, LaDuc is second, and Tremont is eighth, Stone and LaDuc would be tied for the lead with Tremont one point back in third, it's THAT close), it's far from over. If Tremont had a 70-point lead, then it might be time to warm up the bus, but that's not the case.
And I'll tell you right now that if I was a media guy working for a track, I'd hype the living crap out of a point battle like that -- a la Airborne Speedway with Martin Roy and Patrick Dupree, or the now-finished ACT Tiger Sportsman Series, which ended in a tie -- not calling it a day like Devil's Bowl.
***
Speaking of Airborne, Kenny Schrader is the one professional racer I have really wanted to see all season long on a short track, and Saturday's Modified race ought to be a good show.
***
AROUND THE REGION:
Time to take a look at the top Vermonters from the past weekend...
ACT Tiger Sportsman Series: Shawn Duquette of Morrisonville, N.Y. won his first ACT championship on Thursday at Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl in Barre after winning a tie-breaker with St. Albans driver Jason Bonnett. Bonnett finished sixth in the ACE Hardware 100 with Duquette 20th after a mid-race crash, but due to his victories at Airborne and Canaan Fair earlier in the season, Duquette was awarded the tie-breaker over the winless Bonnett. Shawn Fleury of Middlesex won the ACE Hardware 100 over Bradford's Derrick O'Donnell, Jimmy Hebert of Williamstown, North Wolcott's Brendan Moodie, Scott Coburn of Barre, and Bonnett.
Airborne Speedway (Plattsburgh, N.Y.): Aaron Bartemy of Sheldon took his second Modified win of the season on Saturday night, while Milton's Bill Sawyer was fifth in the Sportsman feature. Milton's Rob Gordon was the runner-up in the Renegade feature for the second week in a row, with Swanton's Kevin Boutin fourth, Mike Terry of Grand Isle fifth, Lance Rabtoy of Fairfax eighth, and Swanton's Dave Rabtoy tenth. Billy Jenkins of Milton was sixth in the Mini-Modified feature.
Albany-Saratoga Speedway (Malta, N.Y.): Dave Camara of Fair Haven took his first win of the season in the 358 Modified class on Friday night, while Todd Stone of Middlebury finished sixth. Rob Langevin of Londonderry was fourth in the Sportsman division. Fred Little of Salisbury finished foruth in the Pro Street Stock feature with Benson's Jeff Washburn seventh and Ed Thompson of Fair Haven eighth.
Bear Ridge Speedway (Bradford): Chris Donnelly of Piermont, N.H. took his fourth Sportsman Modified win of the season on Saturday night, with Thetford Center's Wayne Stearns second, Gary Siemons of Orford, N.H. third, Ryan Avery of Thornton, N.H. fourth, and Mike Dunn fifth. Kevin Chaffee of East Orange was sixth with East Thetford's Jason Gray ninth. Rookie Jason Horniak of Bradford held off Topsham's Josh Harrington to win the Sportsman Coupe feature over Billy Simmons of Bradford, Melvin Pierson of Topsham, and Bryan King of Corinth. Dan Eastman of Thetford Center won his ninth Limited Late Model feature of the year over Bradford's Jeremy Hodge, Shane Race of South Strafford, Will Hull of East Montpelier, and T.C. Forward of Lyme, N.H. St. Johnsbury's Steve Bell notched his first Fast Four win over Wilder's Andy Johnson, Ryan Dutton of Bradford, Kevin Harran of St. Johnsbury, and John Dunham of West Lebanon, N.H. First-time Hornet winner Mike Chapin of Chelsea snapped a six-race win streak for Bradford's Tom Placey, who finished second. Bobby Bell of St. Johnsbury was third over Chelsea's Mike Ryan and Mike Santaw of Lyme, N.H.
Canaan Dirt Speedway (Canaan, N.H.): Thetford Center's Dave Lacasse was the Modified runner-up with Hartland's Ed Tobin sixth. Will Hull of East Montpelier was the Street Stock runner-up, with Dan Eastman of Thetford Center third. Josh Sunn of White River Junction was the Fast Four winner with Ryan Dutton of Bradford third and Wilder's Andy Johnson seventh. Lacey Hanson of Orwell finished second in the Granite State Mini Sprint 500cc race.
Canaan Fair Speedway (Canaan, N.H.): Kris Lyman of West Hartford was eighth in the Pro Stock feature Saturday with South Royalton's Kevin Menard tenth, while Bradford's Arnie Stylges finished third in the Super Street race. Jamie Hodgdon of Ascutney won the Pure Stock feature with Rory Merritt of North Springfield tenth. Chris Lyman of Hartland won the Outlaw Mini Stock race over White River Junction drivers Bobby Prior and Josh Sunn and Chris McKinstry of Thetford. Ascutney's Tyler Lescord won the Bandit race over Mike Parker of Bradford.
Devil's Bowl Speedway (West Haven): Kenny Tremont, Jr. of West Sand Lake, N.Y. took his sixth 358 Modified win of 2009 on Sunday over Middlebury's Todd Stone, Vince Quenneville, Jr. of Brandon, Tim LaDuc of Orwell, and Ron Proctor of Charlton, N.Y. Brian Whittemore of Florence was sixth with Whiting's Jimmy Ryan eighth and Gardner Stone of Middlebury ninth. Seth Howe of South Londonderry won the 50-lap Budget Sportsman race over Indian Lake, N.Y.'s Paul Dunham, Jr., Jack Swinton of Hudson Falls, N.Y., Manchester's Frank Hoard, III, and Derrick McGrew of Ballston Spa, N.Y. Fred Little of Salisbury won the Pro Street Stock feature over Carl Vladyka of Fair Haven, Cale Kneer of Troy, N.Y., Hampton, N.Y.'s Justin Perry, and Pat McLaughlin of Johnsonville, N.Y. Brandon's Mike Clark won his third Limited feature of the season with Hydeville's Bill Duprey fourth, and Nathan Woodworth of Essex Junction beat Rutland's Kayla Bryant in the Mini Stock/Duke Stock race.
Monadnock Speedway (Winchester, N.H.): Dana Shepard of Putney finished 11th in the Super Stock race on Saturday, with Joe Rogers of Ludlow tenth in the Mini Stocks. Vernon's Heath Renaud beat Dick Houle of West Brattleboro to win the 4-cylinder Enduro.
PASS North Super Late Models: Seekonk (Mass.) Speedway ace Tom Scully, Jr. beat the PASS stars at his home track on Saturday night for his first win on the series. Maine racers Ben Rowe and Johnny Clark completed the podium, with Danville rookie Steven Legendre 17th.
Riverside Speedway (Groveton, N.H.): Howard Switser of West Burke finished fourth in Sunday's "Clash of the Titans 150" Late Model event, behind Wayne Helliwell, Jr., Quinny Welch, and Randy Potter. Rick Utley, Jr. of Wheelock won Saturday's Street Stock feature over Concord's Brett Rowell. Johanna Christman of Cabot won the Angel event on Saturday.
Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl (Barre): Nick Sweet of Barre posted his first career Late Model win on Thursday over Shelburne's Jamie Fisher, Cris Michaud of Northfield, Phil Scott of Montpelier, and point leader Jean-Paul Cyr of Milton. Shawn Fleury of Middlesex won the ACE Hardware 100 for the ACT Tiger Sportsman Tri-State Series. Garry Bashaw of Lincoln was a first-time Street Stock winner over Elmore's David Whitcomb, rookie Tucker Williams of Hyde Park, Michael Moore of East Haven, and Williamstown's Mike MacAskill, while Donny Yates of North Montpelier was the Junkyard Warrior winner over Barre's Kevin Dodge, Kevin Streeter of Waitsfield, Lance Donald of Williamstown, and Bryan Nykiel of Berlin. On Friday, Rich Lowrey of Charlotte won his second Late Model event of the season over Dave Whitcomb of Essex Junction, Fisher, Waitsfield's Grant Folsom, and Michaud. Bobby Therrien of Hinesburg took his first Tiger Sportsman win of the year over Marshfield's Matt Potter, Derrick O'Donnell of Bradford, Cody Blake of Barre, and Joe Steffen of Essex Junction. M.C. Ingram of Essex Junction won the Street Stock race over Williams, Moore, Greg Adams, Jr. of Hardwick, and Hancock's Danny Doyle, while Yates took his second Warrior win in 24 hours over Cabot's Ken Christman, Kevin Wheatley of Williamstown, Streeter, and Donald.
True Value Modified Racing Series: Rowan Pennink of Huntington Valley, Penn. notched his first career win at Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl on Saturday, followed by Connecticut driver Chris Pasteryak and Kenny Horton. Dwight Jarvis of Ascutney was 21st.
Twin State Speedway (Claremont, N.H.): Guy Caron of Lempster, N.H. won the three-segment Late Model feature on Friday over Chris Bergerson and Marc Palmisano. Joey Jarvis of Ascutney was the Modified runner-up. Chris Wilk of Mendon beat Russ Davis of Cavendish to win the Super Street feature. Josh Lovely of Barre was third in the Strictly Stocks. Rob Leitch of Cavendish won the Wildcat feature, which was run in counter-clockwise direction, over Ludlow's Rob Olney, III and James Brow of Brattleboro.
White Mountain Motorsports Park (North Woodstock, N.H.): Bernie Lantagne of McIndoe Falls finished sixth Saturday's Late Model feature, with Stacy Cahoon and son Tyler Cahoon of St. Johnsbury ninth and tenth, respectively. Stevie Parker of Lyndonville was the Strictly Stock runner-up with Milton's Gordie Stone seventh, and Concord driver Rubin Call was third in the Strictly Stock Mini feature.
***
WEEKEND SCHEDULE:
Thursday, Aug. 20
Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre -- 6:30pm (Kids Poster Contest)
Friday, Aug. 21
Albany-Saratoga Speedway, Malta, N.Y. -- 6:45pm (Empire Lightning Sprints)
Canaan Dirt Speedway, Canaan, N.H. -- 7:00pm (SCoNE 360 Sprint Cars)
Twin State Speedway, Claremont, N.H. -- 7:30pm (All-Star Race Trucks, Demolition Derby)
Saturday, Aug. 22
Bear Ridge Speedway, Bradford -- 6:00pm (Hornet Queens)
Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y. -- 6:00pm (Special guest NASCAR driver Ken Schrader, plus SpeedSTR Midgets)
Canaan Fair Speedway, Canaan, N.H. -- 6:00pm (New England Champ Kart Series)
Monadnock Speedway, Winchester, N.H. -- 6:00pm (All-Star Race Trucks)
Riverside Speedway, Groveton, N.H. -- 6:00pm (Late Model Triple Crown 100)
White Mountain Motorsports Park, North Woodstock, N.H. -- 6:00pm (Regular Event)
Sunday, Aug. 23
Devil's Bowl Speedway, West Haven -- 6:45pm (Veterans Night)
Canaan Fair Speedway, Canaan, N.H. -- 2:00pm (PASS North Super Late Models)
TOURING SERIES:
PASS North Super Late Models: Sun., Aug. 23 -- Canaan Fair Speedway, Canaan, N.H. (2:00pm)
SCoNE 360 Sprint Cars: Fri., Aug. 21 -- Canaan Dirt Speedway, Canaan, N.H. (7:00pm)
Série ACT-Castrol: Sat., Aug. 22 -- Riverside Speedway, Ste-Croix, Qué. (5:00pm)
True Value Modified Racing Series: Sat.. Aug. 22 -- Seekonk Speedway, Seekonk, Mass. (6:00pm)
Friday, August 14, 2009
Sweet Breaks Through in Late Models
Pembroke's crash hurts title chances
BARRE -- A long list of first-time feature winners at Thunder Road in 2009 got one name longer on Thursday night. Hometown sophomore Nick Sweet drove from 12th starting position to knock off his first career Late Model victory, becoming the fourth first-time winner in the division this season and the tenth consecutive non-repeat winner at the track.
Mike Bailey of South Barre led the majority of the first 30 laps, only letting Eric Chase nose ahead on three circuits after a lap 8 restart. Bailey was drilled in the right-side door on lap 29 by the lapped car of Matt White, however, and gave way to Sweet's Saint J Auto Pontiac one lap later. Sweet led the final 20 laps virtually uncontested, but was forced to outrace former track champions Jamie Fisher, Phil Scott, Cris Michaud, Reno Gervais, and point leader Jean-Paul Cyr to take the win, as a final restart of lap 40 bunched the field.
Fisher held on for his second runner-up finish in a row, with Michaud third, Scott fourth, and Cyr fifth. Bailey limped home in 20th place.
Sweet suffered engine problems last week and his team was still trying to solve the issue as of Thursday afternoon. "I can't say enough about the guys, they worked their butts off this week," said Sweet. "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.
"We lose as a team, we win as a team, and you really find out who your real friends are when you're down. I mean, look at us, we were down tonight. This is what happens in racing. You're at your lowest point in the season, you don't think it can get any worse, all of sudden you're like, 'I'm so sick of it, I can't wait for it to be over,' and then you win a race. And look at us now, I've got a grin on my face, I'm on the ninth cloud, and we're going to come back tomorrow."
The caution flag that flew on lap 40 was for championship contender Dave Pembroke of Middlesex, who was shoved off the track by White in Turn 2 and slid down the embankment before slamming into a dirt retaining wall. Pembroke's crew attempted to make repairs and sent their driver back to the track, but after driving down pit road, Pembroke parked the Vt. State Employees Credit Union Chevrolet before with heavy suspension damage. Pembroke entered the event second in points, just 11 markers behind Cyr. To make matters infinitely worse for Pembroke, top-five race finishers Scott, Michaud, Sweet, and Fisher are also tightly grouped in order behind Pembroke in the point standings, and the next green flag is set to fly at 6:00pm on Friday -- approximately 20 hours after Pembroke's crash, therefore severely limiting time for repairs.
Pembroke offered no comment on the incident, but his team plans to work throughout the day on Friday in order to race.
Shawn Duquette of Morrisonville, N.Y. clinched the ACT Tiger Sportsman Tri-State Series championship in a tie-breaker with Jason Bonnett despite crashing in the division's ACE Hardware 100. Shawn Fleury of Middlesex won the race after a late pass of Bradford's Derrick O'Donnell. Click here for the Tiger Sportsman event story.
Garry Bashaw of Lincoln earned his first career Street Stock win in the nightcap feature. Bashaw began racing in 2000 and had never won a main event. The win came in the first Street Stock/Junkyard Warrior combined 'A' feature run at Thunder Road since July 5. David Whitcomb of Elmore finished second over Tucker Williams, Michael Moore, and Mike MacAskill. Donny Yates of North Montpelier was the top-finishing Warrior driver in 21st place, taking his fourth win of the season in the division. Kevin Dodge of Barre was second, with Waitsfield's Kevin Streeter third. Street Stock driver Scott Maynard of South Burlington walked away from a multi-time rollover off Turn 2 that destroyed his car. MacAskill won the 'reserve' feature to qualify for the main event.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS -- ACE Hardware Night
Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre, Vt.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Pos.-Driver-Hometown (# - denotes rookie)
ACT Late Model (50 laps)
1. Nick Sweet, Barre
2. Jamie Fisher, Shelburne
3. Cris Michaud, Northfield
4. Phil Scott, Montpelier
5. Jean-Paul Cyr, Milton
6. Craig Bushey, Cambridge
7. Eric Chase, Milton
8. Pete Fecteau, Morrisville
9. Reno Gervais, Island Pond
10. Jerry Lesage, Winooski
NAPA Tiger Sportsman (100 laps)
1. Shawn Fleury, Middlesex
2. Derrick O'Donnell, Bradford
3. Jimmy Hebert, Williamstown
4. Brendan Moodie, North Wolcott
5. Scott Coburn, Barre
6. Jason Bonnett, St. Albans
7. David Finck, Barre
8. Joey Laquerre, East Montpelier
9. Ray Stearns, East Corinth
10. Josh Demers, Middlesex
Allen Lumber Street Stock/Power Shift Online Junkyard Warrior 'A' Feature (25 laps)
1. Garry Bashaw, Lincoln (SS winner)
2. David Whitcomb, Elmore (SS)
3. #Tucker Williams, Hyde Park (SS)
4. Michael Moore, East Haven (SS)
5. Mike MacAskill, Williamstown (SS)
21. Donny Yates, North Montpelier (JW winner)
Street Stock/Warrior 'Reserve' Feature (25 laps)
1. Mike MacAskill, Williamstown (SS)
2. Tommy Smith, Williamstown (SS)
3. Gary Mullen, Tunbridge (SS)
4. Mike Martin, Craftsbury Common (SS)
5. #Danny Doyle, Hancock (SS)
BARRE -- A long list of first-time feature winners at Thunder Road in 2009 got one name longer on Thursday night. Hometown sophomore Nick Sweet drove from 12th starting position to knock off his first career Late Model victory, becoming the fourth first-time winner in the division this season and the tenth consecutive non-repeat winner at the track.Mike Bailey of South Barre led the majority of the first 30 laps, only letting Eric Chase nose ahead on three circuits after a lap 8 restart. Bailey was drilled in the right-side door on lap 29 by the lapped car of Matt White, however, and gave way to Sweet's Saint J Auto Pontiac one lap later. Sweet led the final 20 laps virtually uncontested, but was forced to outrace former track champions Jamie Fisher, Phil Scott, Cris Michaud, Reno Gervais, and point leader Jean-Paul Cyr to take the win, as a final restart of lap 40 bunched the field.
Fisher held on for his second runner-up finish in a row, with Michaud third, Scott fourth, and Cyr fifth. Bailey limped home in 20th place.
Sweet suffered engine problems last week and his team was still trying to solve the issue as of Thursday afternoon. "I can't say enough about the guys, they worked their butts off this week," said Sweet. "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.
"We lose as a team, we win as a team, and you really find out who your real friends are when you're down. I mean, look at us, we were down tonight. This is what happens in racing. You're at your lowest point in the season, you don't think it can get any worse, all of sudden you're like, 'I'm so sick of it, I can't wait for it to be over,' and then you win a race. And look at us now, I've got a grin on my face, I'm on the ninth cloud, and we're going to come back tomorrow."
The caution flag that flew on lap 40 was for championship contender Dave Pembroke of Middlesex, who was shoved off the track by White in Turn 2 and slid down the embankment before slamming into a dirt retaining wall. Pembroke's crew attempted to make repairs and sent their driver back to the track, but after driving down pit road, Pembroke parked the Vt. State Employees Credit Union Chevrolet before with heavy suspension damage. Pembroke entered the event second in points, just 11 markers behind Cyr. To make matters infinitely worse for Pembroke, top-five race finishers Scott, Michaud, Sweet, and Fisher are also tightly grouped in order behind Pembroke in the point standings, and the next green flag is set to fly at 6:00pm on Friday -- approximately 20 hours after Pembroke's crash, therefore severely limiting time for repairs.
Pembroke offered no comment on the incident, but his team plans to work throughout the day on Friday in order to race.
Shawn Duquette of Morrisonville, N.Y. clinched the ACT Tiger Sportsman Tri-State Series championship in a tie-breaker with Jason Bonnett despite crashing in the division's ACE Hardware 100. Shawn Fleury of Middlesex won the race after a late pass of Bradford's Derrick O'Donnell. Click here for the Tiger Sportsman event story.
Garry Bashaw of Lincoln earned his first career Street Stock win in the nightcap feature. Bashaw began racing in 2000 and had never won a main event. The win came in the first Street Stock/Junkyard Warrior combined 'A' feature run at Thunder Road since July 5. David Whitcomb of Elmore finished second over Tucker Williams, Michael Moore, and Mike MacAskill. Donny Yates of North Montpelier was the top-finishing Warrior driver in 21st place, taking his fourth win of the season in the division. Kevin Dodge of Barre was second, with Waitsfield's Kevin Streeter third. Street Stock driver Scott Maynard of South Burlington walked away from a multi-time rollover off Turn 2 that destroyed his car. MacAskill won the 'reserve' feature to qualify for the main event.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS -- ACE Hardware Night
Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre, Vt.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Pos.-Driver-Hometown (# - denotes rookie)
ACT Late Model (50 laps)
1. Nick Sweet, Barre
2. Jamie Fisher, Shelburne
3. Cris Michaud, Northfield
4. Phil Scott, Montpelier
5. Jean-Paul Cyr, Milton
6. Craig Bushey, Cambridge
7. Eric Chase, Milton
8. Pete Fecteau, Morrisville
9. Reno Gervais, Island Pond
10. Jerry Lesage, Winooski
NAPA Tiger Sportsman (100 laps)
1. Shawn Fleury, Middlesex
2. Derrick O'Donnell, Bradford
3. Jimmy Hebert, Williamstown
4. Brendan Moodie, North Wolcott
5. Scott Coburn, Barre
6. Jason Bonnett, St. Albans
7. David Finck, Barre
8. Joey Laquerre, East Montpelier
9. Ray Stearns, East Corinth
10. Josh Demers, Middlesex
Allen Lumber Street Stock/Power Shift Online Junkyard Warrior 'A' Feature (25 laps)
1. Garry Bashaw, Lincoln (SS winner)
2. David Whitcomb, Elmore (SS)
3. #Tucker Williams, Hyde Park (SS)
4. Michael Moore, East Haven (SS)
5. Mike MacAskill, Williamstown (SS)
21. Donny Yates, North Montpelier (JW winner)
Street Stock/Warrior 'Reserve' Feature (25 laps)
1. Mike MacAskill, Williamstown (SS)
2. Tommy Smith, Williamstown (SS)
3. Gary Mullen, Tunbridge (SS)
4. Mike Martin, Craftsbury Common (SS)
5. #Danny Doyle, Hancock (SS)
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