ACT Teams Scramble to Get Ready for Opener
The American Canadian Tour (ACT) teams are looking forward to opening the season at the newly paved Albany-Saratoga Speedway in Malta, NY on Sunday, April 25. Many are a little bit anxious, having never seen the new track before. There was plenty of excitement when the announcement came last fall about the track going back to asphalt after over 30 years as a dirt CVRA (Champlain Valley Racing Association) track under the Richards family.
“This is not how we expected to make the first trip to the Malta track,” said Joey (Pole) Polewarczyk, Jr., the young racing star from Hudson, NH. “We would have liked to have gotten the Governor’s Cup race in at Lee USA Speedway, but Mother Nature was against us. Lee is definitely where I think I have some kind of advantage, (Pole won the race in 2008 and finished runner-up in 2009), but really, Albany-Saratoga is a place where nobody is going to have an advantage, and that is kind of cool,” concluded Pole.
The reports are that only the Burlington, VT-based SD Ireland team of Jamie Fisher, and Twin State regular Aaron Fellows from Claremont, NH have been able to get to the New York track this spring to test and tune. Most race teams like going to a new race facility, and a strong field of traveling teams from Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts are expected to start the season at the 4/10th mile speedway. There will also be teams from Ontario, Quebec, and New York.
The 2010 ACT has a large mix of veteran teams and new teams to begin the season. With no ‘weekly teams’ like at the Malta track, that is probably a little advantage for the experienced veteran teams. “I am not sure that having fewer
teams because the ACT Late Model package is not a part of the Albany track will make that much difference. I think the Saturday practice will be very important and most ACT teams will have a pretty good idea of what it will take to have a successful day on Sunday,” said veteran Maine racer Glen Luce. “We are really excited to see how our new car and new Ford program will compete, and probably going to a neutral track is not a bad thing for us,” said Brian Craig, crew chief for Luce.
Fans will also get to see the dirt asphalt Modified division stars from Plattsburgh, New York’s Airborne Speedway join the weekly dirt modified drivers from Albany-Saratoga, who will begin their asphalt racing with the first of six “series” events to be held throughout the year at Albany-Saratoga, Airborne Speedway, and Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Fair Haven, VT.
There will be a test and tune session for ACT teams on Saturday afternoon, April 24th at Albany-Saratoga. On Sunday, April 25th, a full card of qualifying will be capped off with the 100-lap main event. Gates open on Sunday at 11:00 and post time is 1:00. Admission is only $18.00 for adults and kids are free.
Sources: ACT PR