American-Canadian Tour (ACT) stock car driver Patrick Laperle of Montreal earned a convincing victory in the 44th Annual Chittenden Milk Bowl at Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl in Barre, VT on Sunday. The recently crowned Champion of the Serie ACT Castrol in his native Canada took the win with a dominating nine-point spread over runner-up Ben Rowe of Turner, ME in the three-segment, cumulatively scored race.
“Man, the car was unbelievable all day long. It was fast anywhere I tried to drive it,” said the popular Frenchman. “I love Thunder Road, and I love the Milk Bowl.” The victory was Laperle’s second in the race in three years.
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Lexington, NC — This week, C&C Racing Promotions, with the consent of the Blewett Family, formally announced that the North-South Shootout (TM) will be run annually as a tribute to John Blewett III. The race now will be perpetually known as the John Blewett III Memorial North-South Shootout(TM).
It immediately became clear to the promoters of the North-South Shootout(TM) after the tragic and untimely death of Blewett at Thompson Speedway on August 16, 2007 that something meaningful needed to be done in his honor.
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Hickory, NC — Hickory Motor Speedway (NC) has been the site of many firsts when it comes to the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) South Super Late Model tour in the last two years. Hickory was the site of the first ever PASS South race in April 2006 and saw Mike Rowe take the first checkered flag. It was the site of Ryan Lawler’s first-ever PASS South victory and he has turned that success into two more series wins since then.
On Saturday, September 29th, the firsts kept rolling in and Heath Hindman could not be happier about it. While the running of the “Over the Mountain 150” at Hickory saw drivers making their first PASS South starts and others leading their first-ever laps in Super Late Model competition, it was Hindman that scored the best first of all.
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Stafford Springs, CT — Stafford Motor Speedway closed out its 2007 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series season with the Sunday half of its 35th Annual CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend. Woody Pitkat…
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Stafford Springs, CT — Donny Lia’s 2007 season has been so successful, he was able to clinch the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship with a race remaining on the schedule.…
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Brockton, MA — Perfect weather for the 4th Annual Circus of Dirt at the Brockton Fairgrounds resulted in a strong turnout of entries for the event which was sanctioned by the AMA and the New England Dirt Track Series over the weekend. When it was all over local and New England riders held their own against New York and Pennsylvania riders in nine out of eleven classes. The dry weather, too dry in fact, also resulted in several breaks in between qualifying heats and the features for the venue’s water tanker and grooming equipment to work on the track surface in an effort to keep the dust down to a minimum.
Among the winners were Jason Pacheco of Taunton who went home with the Vintage Amature winners trophy while Carver’s Asa Irish did the same thing in the Vintage Expert. Plymouth’s Brian McKenna ended the afternoon with another win in the the 250 Pro main event over Brent Laskawa of Londonderry, NH. The 250 Amateur feature saw first place go to David Berryman of Plymouth who managed to hold off Kyle O’Connor from Middleboro.
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With only two races left on the 2007 scehcule, the True Value Modified Racing Series returns to action Saturday and Sunday Oct 6, 7, at the famed Seekonk Speedway, Rte 6, Seekonk, MA., for the running of the D. Anthony Venditti Memorial Festival of Racing, and again this season, the chase to the championship is going down to the wire with only one more race remaining after this weekend’s event, at Lee, NH., to decide the title.
14 points is all that separates two time champion Kirk Alexander, Swanzey, NH., and second place point man, Les Hinckley, Windsor Locks, CT. Both drivers have been victorious at Seekonk.
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Marine, MI – Chris Perley had two bad races in a row in the last two ISMA events, but he made a quick recovery from his mini downward spiral. Friday night he took a third at Delaware Speedway. Saturday night he lapped up to the fourth place car at Berlin Raceway in dominant fashion. Starting eighth in the field, he moved into the lead by lap seven after point man Johnny Benson Jr.’s strong sprint was for naught as the rear end went in his car. Perley moved out front and never was threatened after that. His Berin Raceway win was his tenth of 2007 matching his 2006 win total. With one race remaining on the ISMA-Wirtgen schedule, there is no doubt who will be champ.
Said Perley after his second straight Berlin win, “It’s been a small string of bad luck for us. I just wanted to get the race over tonight. I just wanted to do everything I could to stay out front. I had a big mire of lap traffic there for a while. Luckily I wasn’t involved in that lap one miscue. I just wanted to say ‘Berlin it’s worth the trip!’ When Johnny Benson took the lead I felt we were pretty even. I felt that there was going to be a waiting game between him and I. He looked pretty strong. I was running pretty hard to stay with him. But, I didn’t want to tackle him at that point because I didn’t know what he had. Then he dropped out. It was a great race for me. This crew just keeps digging. We’ve had a couple wrecks in the past couple weeks and obviously the car has come back and they’re number one. I’d like to thank all the fans for hanging around and watching the show tonight. I hope it was worth it. Berlin Raceway is a great place to race.”
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Teenage American-Canadian Tour (ACT) stock car racing sensation Joey “Pole” Polewarczyk, Jr. of Hudson, NH lived up to his nickname at Thunder Road International Speedbowl on Saturday afternoon, setting fast time in Booth Bros./H.P. Hood time trial qualifying for the 44th Chittenden Milk Bowl. With a best lap of 12.967 seconds around the high-banked ¼-mile oval, Polewarczyk earned $1,000 and the pole starting position for Sunday’s three-segment, cumulatively scored race for the second straight year.
Polewarczyk will be joined on the front row of Chittenden Milk Bowl Segment I by former ACT Late Model Tour Champion Dave Whitcomb of Essex Jct., VT, who was locked into the starting lineup based on his best lap 13.092 seconds. White Mountain Motorsports Park Track Champion Quinny Welch of Lancaster, NH was locked into the third starting position with a lap time of 13.124 seconds.
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Stafford Springs, CT — Stafford Motor Speedway kicked of its 35th Annual CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend on Saturday, September 29th with qualifying for the Whelen Modified Tour, qualifying for its…
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Stafford Springs, CT — Challenger Todd Szegedy (No. 2 Wisk/Snuggle Ford) and points leader Donny Lia (No. 4 Dodge) will start on the front row for Sunday’s Carquest Fall Final…
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Thompson, CT — It is a racing weekend like no other. Thompson International Speedway’s World Series of Speedway Racing brings together just about every type of racecar to be found in the northeast for a three-day racing extravaganza that includes over five hundred racecars and fourteen different divisions. It all happens the weekend of October 12th, 13th, and 14th.
The 34th annual World Series of Speedway Racing, presented by Whelen Engineering and XTRAMART, is the largest and most diversified racing weekend held anywhere in the country. Race teams and race fans from over a dozen states and two Canadian provinces make their annual pilgrimage to this incredible event which is as much a huge party as it is a non-stop race weekend.
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Delaware, Ont. — It’s been three years since Dave McKnight has won an ISMA-Wirtgen feature. It may have seemed even longer to the veteran driver. To say that he’s has been having his ups and downs would be an understatement. The 2001 ISMA champion, who had six feature wins that season, has struggled to get back on a consistent track. It was definitely a morale-booster for the Brampton, Ontario resident as he stood in victory lane hearing the applause from the large Canadian crowd on hand Friday night at Delaware Speedway. Still sore from a bone-jarring crash at Oxford Plains over a month ago McKnight relished the moment nonetheless. He took the lead from fellow Canadian Ryan Litt on lap 32, and was challenged by archrival Chris Perley for a couple laps before Litt came back to challenge again. But it was McKnight’s night as he pulled away from the Litt-Perley duo to cross under the checker with a comfortable margin of victory.
Said a sore and tired McKnight in victory lane, “What can I say? After the crash at Oxford, and at the beginning of the year tangle with Chris and then getting three seconds, it’s been quite a season. I’m still hurting from Oxford. I’ve got a cracked sternum. It hurts like hell. The guys on the team did a great job putting the car back together after last month. It’s just awesome to get back to victory lane. I know that everybody has been working at it and we needed this win big time. It’s late in the season but a W is a W. The battle with Ryan was great. He’s an up and comer. I know the Litt family from way back and I’m happy for them. Ryan did a great job tonight. He kept it tight. He made me work the outside. He didn’t give me an inch. That team definitely had a shot at the win.
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Growing up, Jeremy Frankoski’s dad insisted he play different sports. The Newark Valley, NY athlete played baseball, some football and actually captained his high school hockey team.
“All I wanted to do was race,” says Frankoski, the Northeastern Midget Association’s leading rookie heading into Seekonk Speedway’s Oct 6-7 DAV Memorial. “My father was worried as I grew up my passion would change so I played other sports.”
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Daytona Beach, FL — Donny Lia needs to finish ninth or better Sunday at Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway’s Carquest Fall Final to be in position to win his first NASCAR…
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Naples, ME — As the race season winds down, so are the chances to see the drivers of the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) North Super Late Models before they pack it in for a winter of bench racing. There are just two PASS North events just to run in 2007 and the next one will be a Saturday night shootout at All-Star Speedway in Epping, New Hampshire on October 6th.
“We’re looking forward to going back to All-Star Speedway,” said PASS President Tom Mayberry. “[Track owner] Bobby McArthur has done a great job making improvements for the fans and competitors at the track and there was plenty of action when we went there early in the Summer. The racing is always fantastic on the tight quarter-mile. It is also a track where they feature weekly Pro Stock racing, so we should pick up some of the guys who know the track well for this race. It will be a good show.”
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Born in Madison, N.J., Nicky raced cars from 1946 to 1956, earning the ARDC Midget Racing championship title in 1950 and becoming the first NASCAR Midget champion in 1953. He retired from driving in 1956 at the request of his wife Bette and started flagging the next day at Victory Speedway in Middletown, NY as a way to stay involved in racing.
He became the official flagman (starter) for numerous professional racing organizations including ARDC, ATQMRA, USAC (east coast events) and on occasion URC as well as individual tracks such as Pocono Int’l Raceway. He eventually became the first Chief Starter for the international Championship Auto Racing Teams Indy Car Series, serving in that position from 1979-1992. In 1993, he was the honorary starter for the Indianapolis 500, which marked his last Indy car race in an official capacity. In the ensuing years, he often traveled to races where Drew and Nokie competed as well as to the NASCAR races at Pocono which is owned by his good friends Doc and Rose Mattioli, and to Nazareth Raceway when it hosted the Indy cars.
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We have all heard the excuse about having good intentions. We want to do the right thing. We have every intention of doing the right thing. We just, for some reason, don’t follow through. When we set out to do what is right it will take courage to accomplish the task. How are we doing in following through on our intentions? Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I have heard it said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Do you know why that is true? It is true because we don’t follow through. Somewhere along the line our actions create a different result than our intentions.
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Seekonk, MA —Seekonk Speedway 62nd annual season comes to a spectacular conclusion the weekend of October 6-7, with over 650 laps of green flag racing, 10 different divisions, and in excess of $47,000 in purse money and another $5,700 in lap money bonuses on the line for the D. Anthony Venditti Memorial Festival of Racing. The annual event honors the memory of the late speedway founder who constructed the 1/3-mile Bay State oval in 1946 and served as its President until his passing in 1991. Highlighting the card will be a $14,700 100-lap open competition Pro Stock race with $3,000 going to the victor, $275 to qualify, and an additional $2,500 up for grabs in lap money awards. The True Value Modified Racing Series, Northeastern Midget Association, and Pro Four Modified Series will also be in action, along with open competition events for Late Models, Street Stocks, Sport Trucks/Four Cylinders, Pure Stocks, and 600 and 750 restrictor-plate SYRA Mini Cups.
The weekend begins with an open practice for all divisions on Friday, October 5. The pit area will open at 9 AM, with practice rounds running non-stop from 11 AM to 5 PM. Pit admission is $20. The speedway will then host an employee appreciation barbecue for the Route 6 facility’s staff under the turn four tent, beginning at 6 PM.
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Waterford, CT — The 2007 Wild n’ Wacky Wednesday X-Car championship is not enough for Brad Voglesong. He insists on bringing down the 2007 curtain down at the Speedbowl with some derring do.
You are no doubt familiar with motorcycle daredevils jumping over school buses. Well, our boy Brad is turning it all around. Yep, “Backwards” Brad will be using a school bus (actually a Mini Bus) to jump over motorcycles at the season-ending Big Y World Class Market Smacktoberfest Sunday, Oct. 21.
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Brockton, MA — The half-mile dirt track at the Brockton Fairgrounds will be the scene of some fierce flat track motorcycle racing this Saturday. The 4th Annual Circus of Dirt is presented by Monty’s Cycle Shop and Bettencourt Honda/Suzuki of W. Bridgewater. Riders from all over the New England States as well as New York will turnout for the 4th Annual Circus of dirt at the famed venue. Adam Carpinello of Greenbush, NY, an outstanding rider on the AMA Hot Shoe Series, will lead other Empire State riders into Brockton to take on the local contingent of New England Dirt Track Series. Adam managed to finish tenth overall in the AMA Hot Shoe Series 450 Class in just his first season. Previously in 2005 he raced in the AMA Pro Sport Series in selected events. Prior to that Adam spent 13 years in competition with the Electric City Riders Club in eastern NY State.
Carpinello along with Justin Velicky of Amsterdam, NY comprise a duo of NY riders who are expected to mount a serious challenge to the 450 and Open Pro riders from New England. One of them will be James Poole of So. Berwick, ME, a first year Expert who has been consistent since the 2007 NEDTS season began back in the spring. He’s expected to be the rider to beat in that class going into Brockton’s Circus of Dirt. Brian McKenna of Plymouth is a local rider who is expected to really be up for this event as he’ll be performing in front of a hometown crowd in both the 450 and Open Pro classes. Some 110 riders in eleven classes will entertain the fans when qualifying begins at 12:30 p.m. with the main events scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. followed by the Monster Truck Thrill Show.
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Stafford Springs, CT — Following post race technical inspection from the September 21, 2007 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series feature events at Stafford Motor Speedway, the following change has been made…
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Anthony C. Archiere Sr., 65, of Danbury, devoted husband of Gertrude A. (Carter) Archiere, died at Danbury Hospital on Sunday, September 23, 2007. He was born in Danbury on February 12, 1942, son of the late Pasquale and Dorothy (Sousa) Archiere. He was a lifetime member of the Danbury community.
Mr. Archiere worked as a driver for the City of Danbury Highway Department for five years. Prior to that he owned and operated Archiere Trucking. He was an avid racecar driver and drove #53 at the Danbury Racearina in the 1970’s. He loved the outdoors, camping in upstate New York, and was a Dallas Cowboys football fan. He also enjoyed weekends dirt racing in Lebanon Valley, N.Y.
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Waterford, CT — Sunday’s 100 lap finale at Waterford Speedbowl (CT) looked promising for Tim Jordan. With a day of testing on Friday, a second place qualifying run in his heat race on Saturday and a ninth place start on Sunday, it looked as if he could capture his sixth win of the season.
Unfortunately, while running second with only three laps to go all chances of a win diminished and he was just hoping to keep his car in one piece.
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Waterford, CT — Grabbing the lead four laps in, Randy Cabral survived two yellows and a red to score a dominating Northeastern Midget Association victory Sunday at Waterford Speedbowl’s Town Fair Tire Finale. It was the second win of the season for Cabral, both at the Speedbowl.
Starting fourth, Cabral tucked the Bertrand #47 inside pole sitter John Zych Jr. coming out of two. Only the yellows and red slowed Cabral en route to his 12th career NEMA win, five of them at the Speedbowl.
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Naples, ME — For the second time in his career, Mike Rowe has become the big winner of the PASS 400 weekend at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, Maine. Rowe won the headlining race of the weekend, a 300-lap Super Late Model feature, during the inaugural event in 2005 and he repeated that fete again Sunday, by holding off Alan Wilson and Derek Ramstrom for the victory.
Rowe was just one of many drivers who led laps during the race. The list of people who spent time out front of the field included D.J. Shaw, Kelly Moore, Steve Berry, Cassius Clark, Travis Benjamin and Ben Rowe.
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Waterford, CT — Dennis Gada lost his bid to become a 7-time SK Modified titlist, but went out a winner in Sunday’s 100-lap Town Fair Tire Finale feature at the Waterford Speedbowl.
Other feature winners were Bruce Thomas Jr. (Late Model), Al Stone III (Sportsman), Ken Cassidy Jr. (Mini Stocks), and, Randy Cabral, (Northeastern Midget Association), Cassidy clinched the championship.
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Thompson, CT — The two week wait was worth it for Ronnie Silk of Norwalk, CT, who earned his first career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win at Thompson International Speedway during the running of part two of Modified Mania II. Louie Mechalides of Tynsboro, MA, turned in a dominating performance to win the 75-lapper for the True Value Modified Racing Series.
Ronnie Silk scored a popular win in the Whelen Modified Tour 150 at Thompson in front of a crowded house. In the opening stages of the event current point leader Donnie Lia and Ron Yuhas, Jr. ran at the head of the field.
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Thompson, CT — Louie Mechalides of Tyngsboro Mass. earned his second True Value Modified Racing Series victory of the season in Modified Mania II at the Thompson International Speedway. Mechalides and Tommy Cravenho of Raynham, Mass. waged a torrid battle for the lead over the closing laps with Mechalides finishing just .15 seconds ahead of Cravenho. It was his 4th career series win.
Mechalides, who started fifth in the Maclellan Metal Finishing Pontiac, took over the top spot for the first time from Andy Seuss on lap 12. Seuss and Mechalides traded the point until Mechalides took over the lead for good on lap 22. Seuss pressured Mechalides until lap 27 when his day ended in a Turn –2 accident. Chris Pasteryak of Lisbon, Conn., Jimmy Kuhn of West Bridgewater, Mass. and Cravenho took turns pressuring Mechalides to the finish.
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Dover, DE — The 2007 NASCAR Busch East Series, Grand National Division season ended on a high note for newcomer Maxime Dumarey of Gent, Belgium. Dumarey, driving the #16 BODYCOACH.NET Chevrolet, posted his second career top-10 finish at the series’ most challenging track – Dover International Speedway.
“I’m very proud of this team,” said Dumarey. “They worked really hard and put a great car under me. We scraped the wall in practice and the guys worked on this car until the garage closed Thursday night, and then were back here first thing Friday morning. It’s pretty exciting to come out of here with a top-10, but it proves that we’re become contenders. I think we’ve come a long way since our first race together at South Boston.”
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