ACT Releases Partial 2010 Schedule
The American Canadian Tour (ACT) has announced the majority of its 2010 US Tour schedule. The confirmed schedule shows a total of 13 events, which will take place at nine (9) different racing facilities. There are two additional events that are expected to be announced within the month, according to Darla Hartt, Vice President and Director of Administration.
“The ACT Tour has enjoyed tremendous support in the Northeast and throughout the provinces of Quebec and Ontario over the past five years. We had many opportunities to book additional events as we continue to enjoy growth with our Late Model business model, but we feel at this time it is in the best interest of our affiliate tracks and race teams to continue to concentrate in helping our weekly affiliate tracks and marketing areas that best serve our various sponsors and team needs. We continue to study the possibility of how we might be able to accommodate an expanded schedule in the future as the popularity of regional Late Model racing continues to develop,” said Tom Curley, President of ACT. “We have reserved two dates for events that we are very hopeful will be a part of the 2010 campaign. We plan to release those dates before the end of this month, but wanted our present and interested race teams to have the benefit of the completed schedule to date,” concluded Curley.
There have been two new tracks added to the 2010 schedule. An April event will be staged at the historic Albany Saratoga Speedway in Malta, NY in the greater Albany region. The popular former paved speedway will undergo improvements and a repaving project. The ACT will be the initial asphalt tour to be a part of the opening event of this major change by the CVRA (Champlain Valley Racing Association) organization.
A return to the 5/8th Riverside Speedway (formerly Autodrome Ste-Croix) will take place in August. The event will be the ‘$40,000 CAN-AM Confrontation by the Seaway’ a $40,000.00 combination event with the Série ACT Castrol division of the American Canadian Tour. Jean Bergeron, owner and manager of the new Riverside complex, has agreed to major renovations in the pits, pit road alterations, and improvements and repaving of the full 5/8th mile track. “This opportunity to race on what will become one of the premiere short track facilities in Canada will be a great opportunity for the competitors in both our series. Speeds of up to 130 mph with the long straight-aways will continue to provide our veteran and younger teams with a different and important kind of racing experience,” continued Curley.
The US Tour season will open at the Lee USA Speedway in mid-April with the annual Governor’s Cup event and will continue through the final event, the 48th annual Milk Bowl at Thunder Road to be held the first weekend of October 2010. Return mid-summer trips to Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Maine, and the Twin State Speedway in Claremont, New Hampshire, along with the long supporting tracks Oxford Plains Speedway, White Mountain Motorsport Park, Airborne Speedway in New York and Thunder Road in Barre, Vermont will round out the 13 event 2010 schedule.
There will be additional ‘special events’ available to the teams of the ACT Late Model divisions on both sides of the border. The largest event of the race season, the TD Bank 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway will be held for Late Model teams on the weekend of July 18th. Thunder Road will present the Memorial Day Classic on May 30th and the Vermont Governor’s Cup in June. The third annual $5,000 to win Showdown at Chaudiere, which is contested by the best of the ACT teams in the US and on the Castrol Série, will again take place in August in Valle Junction, Que.
“For 2010 ACT feature events, we have requested that the features be started no later than 8:30 pm. We continue to try and accommodate the fans and teams of ACT racing in our efforts to make the tours friendlier to compete in and to attend. We are anxious to complete the US schedule and expect to have the final two dates in place within a couple of weeks,” concluded Curley.
2010 ACT SCHEDULE
# DATE DAY TRACK LAPS
1 APR 18 SUN Lee USA 150
2 APR 25 SUN Albany-Saratoga 100
3 MAY 02 SUN Thunder Road 150
4 MAY 08 SAT Airborne 100
5 MAY 16 SUN Oxford 150
6 JUN 19 SAT Oxford 150
7 JUN 26 SAT White Mnt 150
Jul 18 Sun Oxford 250
8 JUL 24 SAT Beech Ridge 150
9 JUL 30 SAT Twin State 100
10 AUG 14 SAT Riverside (COMBO) 200
Aug 28 Sat Chaudiere (SHOWDOWN) 200
11 SEP 05 SUN Thunder Road 200
12 SEP 12 SUN Airborne 300
13 OCT 02/03 SA/SU Thunder Road 150
Sources: ACT PR