ACT Veteran Champions will be Challenged at New Smyrna Speedway
Veterans of the American Canadian Tour (ACT) will find plenty of eager young and veteran talent to challenge them at the inaugural Goodyear Speedweeks Cup event to be held at the New Smyrna Speedway during the upcoming World Series of Asphalt Stock Car racing this month.
Past American Canadian Tour Champions, Brian Hoar from Williston, VT, Karl Allard, Ste Felicien, QC, Donald Theetge, Quebec City, QC and Patrick Laperle from Ste-Denis sur Richeleau, west of Montreal, have all won multiple championships during their successful careers.
Hoar is a seven time and defending ACT Champion. He has been winning races at all levels of competition for nearly 20 years. After winning five ACT Late Model championships between 1993 and 2000, he moved over to the former NASCAR Busch East division. He became a top competitor, won Rookie of the year in 2001, a Busch East race at Thunder Road Speedbowl in ’03, and the yearly track championship at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 2006.
“The New Smyrna events are going to be great for our team. First we want to have some fun. We also want to try and get some momentum heading into the coming season. I think this will be the ultimate ‘neutral track’ for all our teams. I guess Joey (Polewarczyk), Patrick (Laperle) and Eric Chase are the only guys to have been there. I might have to follow Joey around for a few laps, but we are kind of tired of finishing behind him after his great run last September. Hopefully we can turn that around in a few days,” said Hoar.
Theetge and Allard are two of the most successful short track ‘long track’ (tracks ½ mile or longer) stars in the ACT organization. Laperle is the only driver to win both the ACT US title and the ACT Serie Castrol title. Laperle has also competed, won, and nearly won the overall title in the crate division at New Smyrna Speedway’s 10 days of short track racing two years ago.
Joey Pole, from Hudson, NH is currently the leader of the pack among ACT’s 21 year-old and under group of talent. He won five races in the last half of the 2010 season, with two career highlights: in September, the ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and the 48th annual Milk Bowl at Thunder Road in Barre, VT. Among others, Pole will be joined by Série Castrol Rookie of the Year Alex Labbe from Ste-Albert, QC, and U.S. Rookie-of-the-Year runner-up Austin Theriault from Fort Kent, ME.
Long-time ACT followers will be surprised to see Mike Bruno from Rutland, VT returning to ACT after a number of years off racing on the former Busch East Series, the Dirt Modifieds in New York and Vermont, and more recently Dirt Asphalt Modifieds.
2010 Lee USA Speedway track champion, Wayne Helliwell, Jr. and Twin State Speedway, Claremont, NH champ Aaron Fellows have joined the field for the Goodyear Speedweeks Cup.
Twenty-eight teams from New England, New York, Quebec and Ontario will head south for the unique ACT twin 100-lap format event. Sunday, February 13th and Monday February 14th will start the 2011 stock car season for those teams. Northern style qualifying and double file restarts will be in effect. On Monday the best will have to come from the rear following results from Sunday.
The traditional New Smyrna Speedway World Series opens Friday, February 11 and continues until Saturday, February 19, 2011. The ACT events, February 13 and 14 will post at 7:30 each night.
Sources: ACT PR