Bonus Money on the Table for Bond Auto New Champions at NHMS
Waterbury, VT – American-Canadian Tour (ACT) Late Model drivers from seven U.S. states and the Canadian province of Quebec will vie for pride, glory, and a guaranteed $7,500 first-place prize when they visit New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) for the 7th Annual Bond Auto ACT Invitational on Saturday, September 26. But a little extra will be on the table for members of the Bond Auto New Champions program.
As part of their sponsorship of both the 50-lap Invitational and the New Champions, Bond Auto Parts has posted $2,500 in awards for New Champions–eligible drivers participating in the Invitational on the 1.058-mile oval. The top-five finishing New Champions drivers who have competed in at least five ACT-sanctioned events this season prior to the Invitational will each receive a $500 bonus.
“We really appreciate Bond Auto doing this for teams like ours,” Barre Town, VT’s Mike Ziter said. “Money’s a good motivation. We’re going with realistic goals – there’s a lot of tough competition that’s been there before. But if we show up and feel comfortable to where we can fight for that bonus, then we will.”
The competition for the Bond Auto New Champions awards includes some of the top runners from both the ACT U.S. Tour and Série ACT. Two-time 2015 winner Brad Babb of Windham, ME and New Champions point leader Jonathan Bouvrette of Blainville, QC will be among the favorites to collect the bonus.
Newport, NH’s Kyle Welch and Steuben, ME’s Rowland Robinson Jr. will each be competing in their third Invitational and aim to put that experience to good use. Série ACT winner Martin Goulet Jr., top ACT U.S. Tour rookie Rich Dubeau, and former ACT Rookie of the Year Brandon Atkins are also among those eligible for the bonus.
ACT Tour sophomore Ziter is one of a number of drivers making their competitive debut on the “Magic Mile”. Ziter was among those who participated in the annual Test & Tune Session at NHMS on August 26 in preparation for the Invitational.
“The first time out the track looked so big – and it’s very fast,” Ziter said. “But once you get past the big and the fast part of it, you just get down to trying to go fast without worrying about too much else. We just want to bring the car home in one piece and have fun. Our team is really excited – it’s big for us.”
Dubeau and Goulet will also participate in their first Invitational, as will 2015 Claremont Speedway Champion Bucky Demers, multi-time White Mountain Motorsports Park winners Alby Ovitt and Ryan Olsen, and former Canaan Fair Speedway Champion Scott MacMichael. Jean-Pierre Ouimet will now make his NHMS debut after Gaetan Gaudreault was forced to withdraw due to a crash in the Série ACT event at St-Eustache this past Sunday.
The 7th Annual Bond Auto ACT Invitational at Loudon’s New Hampshire Motor Speedway is Saturday, September 26. Forty-three of the top ACT Late Model drivers from the Northeast United States and Canada will run 50 green-flag laps as part of a tripleheader that includes the Camping World Truck Series and Whelen Modified Tour. The Invitational is scheduled to take the green flag at 5:00pm.
For more information contact the ACT offices at 802.244.6963,media@acttour.com, or visit www.acttour.com or www.nhms.com.
Sources: Michael Stridsberg/ACT PR