ACT Champion, an Outlaw, and a Young Star Enter New Smyrna
On Saturday, January 22, 2011 Brian Hoar will be crowned American Canadian Tour (ACT) Champion for a record-tying 7th time since 1992. Hoar, from Williston, VT will celebrate by driving his RPM race team Chevrolet in the inaugural New Smyrna Speedway (NSS) ACT Goodyear Speedweek Cup event to be held on Sunday, February 13 and Monday, February 14, 2011 in New Smyrna, Florida.
Rick Paya, owner of RPM Motorsports, who also has won seven titles as former owner and crew chief for Jean-Paul Cyr and now Hoar, has also entered his newest team member, ACT runner-up rookie of the year in 2010, Austin Theriault from Fort Kent, Maine in the first-ever race in Florida for ACT. The formidable RPM team will field both a Chevrolet and Ford in the event.
“We have a Ford being prepared for Brian for the coming ACT season, but with the addition of Austin to our RPM team, we are a little too busy to get Austin’s Ford done and also the new car for Brian. I actually like the idea of having both our Chevy and Ford at New Smyrna. It should give us some valuable information as we look toward the 2011 ACT campaign this season,” said Rick Paya, owner of RPM Motorsports.
Theriault is just a junior in high school and also an outstanding Maine State champion contending wrestler. With school commitments, and a Maine State wrestling Championship meet the weekend of February 12, it looked like Theriault would miss the first race of the year with his new race team. “We will get him there after his wrestling obligation, probably will have to fly him down on Sunday morning, but we don’t want him to miss this chance to race,” said Paya.
ACT also received an entry from New England’s premier ‘Outlaw’, Eddie MacDonald from Rowley, MA. MacDonald has been a successful independent running on the NASCAR K&N Series (formerly Busch East) and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. His ACT Late Model short track efforts have been nothing short of spectacular with back-to-back wins in one of the country’s most prestigious events, the Oxford 250 at the Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine. MacDonald also won the inaugural ACT Invitational at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 2009. “I just love to race, and this looked like a great way to get the 2011 season started. We get real busy with our NASCAR schedule in the spring and summer, but we try to make some of the ACT type shows during the season, and this NSS trip will give us a chance to relax and have some fun,” said MacDonald.
Entries for the first ACT Goodyear Speedweek Cup have come in from Ontario, Quebec, New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Maine. The non-point event will qualify using the northern heat style of racing, followed by a 100-lap main event on Sunday, February 13th. The field will be inverted for Monday’s 100 lap event. Both 100 lap events will pay a moderate purse, with a combined purse making up the bulk of the $33,000.00 posted purse.
Sources: ACT PR