Donahue Files First Full Season Entry for 2010 ACT Tour/Allard First to File Full Season for the Series ACT Castrol
The Kendall Roberts-owned Vermont National Guard team of veteran driver John Donahue filed the first full season entry for the American Canadian Tour (ACT) 2010 season. There was plenty of excitement following the recent 2009 Banquet of Champions, and ACT headquarters received the Donahue entry 24 hours after the entry forms were sent this week.
“We are very excited about taking a run for the title this year,” said car owner Kendall Roberts. “We really came together as a team around TD Bank 250 time last season when Dale Shaw started giving us a hand, and John and the team have been very busy getting things freshened for the 2010 season. Everyone is excited about our new car, and we still get charged up about weekly racing at Thunder Road. We will be ready as soon as spring gets here,” concluded Roberts. The Donahue team is only one of three teams that ran the entire ACT US Tour and a full weekly schedule at Thunder Road in 2009. Jamie Fisher of Shelburne, VT and Eric Chase of Milton, VT were the other drivers to tackle both schedules in 2009, and are expected to do the same in 2010.
The National Guard team took advantage of the ‘big shows’ last year to make a racing statement to the Late Model teams in the region. An impressive third place at Oxford, Maine during the TD Bank 250 started the march to the front for the Graniteville, VT team. Donahue thinks of the Oxford oval as kind of his second ‘home track’. Several years ago he raced weekly at the famous speed plant. The next two months were highlighted with outstanding ACT Tour finishes — a 4th at Waterford, CT, 2nd at Twin State in Claremont, NH, and a 2nd at the Bond Labor Day Classic 200 at Thunder Road in Barre, VT finished the summer season. A solid run to 5th in the first ACT Invitational on the mile at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September turned many heads. Closing the season a week later on the ¼ mile high banks of Thunder Road by capturing the $10,000 to win 47th annual Chittenden Milk Bowl was the highlight of the season for the National Guard team.
Karl Allard from Ste. Felicien, QC, driver for the Quebec City-based Larue Industries Racing team has filed the first full season entry for the Série ACT Castrol. In 2010 the popular series will run at five different tracks throughout the Province of Quebec.
Allard, a world class snowmobile racer, is a perennial challenger for the ACT title. A former ADL Series Champion in Quebec, Allard is one of the most respected drivers on both sides of the border. “We really want to win an ACT title one of these years, and I think 2010 just might be our year,” said Allard. He has qualified for every ACT Castrol event over the past three years and has completed the most laps of any driver. Allard finished 5th, 2nd and 3rd during the past three ACT Castrol Series campaigns. The Larue team often competes in the US, including the Oxford 250 and had a solid top five run going at New Hampshire Motor Speedway during the first ACT Invitational last September. He finished 12th in the all star field.
“We have announced very good schedules for our competitors on both sides of the border for 2010,” said the ACT Media Director and Statistician, Nick Bigelow. “It is great to see these early entrants. It is a sure sign that there is going to be some enthusiasm for both our tours, and it also means that spring and a new racing season is just around the corner.”
The ACT Tour will open on April 18th with the traditional Governor’s Cup 150 at the Lee USA Speedway in Lee, NH. The ACT Castrol Series opens outside Montreal at the Autodrome St. Eustache on May 22nd.
Sources: ACT PR