Merchants Bank Weekend Kick Off

The 12th annual Merchants Bank weekend at Thunder Road kicked off this morning (Saturday, May 1) with over 110 racecars lining the street in downtown Barre. Thousands of fans turned out for the first glimpse of the cars that teams worked so hard to put together over the winter. The 2009 Bond Auto Tiger Sportsmen Championship team of Jimmy Hebert won the 2010 Pit Stop Contest. After the car show the drivers paraded through Barre and up Quarry Hill to the “Nation’s Site of Excitement” for practice.

ACT 2010 POST SEASON AWARDS TOP $100,000

 

The American Canadian Tour (ACT) will celebrate twenty-five years of sanctioning and managing stock car races in 2010, and the quarter century old sanctioning body will award its race teams with over $100,000.00 in post-season awards. This will mark the first season the various point funds have topped the century mark.

 

“Our Late Model program has grown significantly over the past decade. ACT has tried to maintain the balance between keeping this division cost-effective, whether it is weekly racing or Tour racing. Most of our Tour competitors, and those weekly racers that have supported the ACT Late Model rules formula, are primarily focused on winning championships, which is the way it should be. It is still great that we can reward the teams with some financial awards at the end of a long season of racing,” said Darla Hartt, Vice President of the American Canadian Tour.

 

Both the US and the Castrol Tours will pay the Champions a bonus of $10,000 this season. Total awards will be over $80,000 for the two touring series. The “King of the Road” will receive $5,000, and there will be over $20,000 in point fund money awarded to the Thunder Road competitors.

FORD BLUE OVAL CHALLENGE WINNERS SHARE BUMPS UP TO $5000

 

The American Canadian Tour (ACT) announced today that the highly anticipated Ford Blue Oval Challenge winner’s share of the overall point fund has been increased from $3,000 up to $5,000 to win.  A lucrative Ford contingency program was announced late last fall for the teams on both the ACT US and Castrol programs. Also, all Ford teams running at approved affiliate ACT tracks will be eligible to receive bonus money in the Blue Oval Challenge Cup portion of the overall program. Mike Delahanty, the Program Manager-Sportsman Circle Track Racing for the Ford Racing Technology Division of Ford Racing, announced last February the program for ACT Ford competitors. It is one of the richest contingency programs in the history of ACT with over $35,000 up for grabs among the region’s Ford crate teams.

 

“I know all the Ford teams that are associated with ACT are very appreciative of the support Ford Racing has given those teams that are supporting them,” said ACT President Tom Curley. “We have at least 10 teams that will be receiving points for this program in the 2010 season in both Tour racing and weekly racing. The jump from $3,000 to win the inaugural Blue Oval Challenge Cup to $5,000 certainly speaks to Ford’s commitment to short track racing in our region,” finished Curley.

Albany-Saratoga Postpones Sunday’s ACT Event

Albany-Saratoga Speedway postpones the Sunday, April 25^th Albany-Saratoga 100 due to impending rain in the forecast. It was scheduled to be the 2010 ACT Late Model Tour season opener. The event will be rescheduled at a date to be announced.

The 12^th Annual Merchants Bank 150 at Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre, VT becomes the 2010 ACT Late Model Tour season opener. It will also be the first event of the season for the Bond Auto Tiger Sportsmen, Allen Lumber Street Stocks and the Junkyard Warriors. Merchants Bank weekend kicks off with the downtown Barre car show from 9am to 12 noon on Saturday, May 1. The car show ends with the over 100 racecars parading up Quarry Hill to the track. The 12^th Annual Merchants Bank 150 will be on Sunday, May 2 with a post time at 1pm.

ACT NEWCOMERS GIVE A NEW LOOK TO 2010 TOUR

 

Fans at the opening events on the 2010 American Canadian Tour (ACT) will see a host of veteran returning drivers, along with lots of new teams—the most diverse group the popular regional Tour has seen since it started touring in 1996.

 

Five former ACT regulars from the past rejoin the 2010 Tour -- Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, and Ontario are each sending teams who could have an immediate impact on the 2010 Tour season.

 

Seven-time Champion Jean-Paul Cyr from Milton, VT will drive for former racer, and now car owner, Gary Caron. “I am anxious to get things started this season. Winning the Thunder Road (TR) title last year was a huge goal, and I really enjoyed the weekly racing at TR, but I missed the longer distance races. The Tour has changed a lot since my last Championship run in 2007. I like the challenge of racing with guys like Brian (Hoar), Brent(Dragon), Joey Pole and Randy Potter. I am excited about working with Gary and Kyle Caron,” said Cyr.

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 4/10^th mile speedway. There will also be teams from Ontario, Quebec, and New York.

ALBANY-SARATOGA SPEEDWAY TO OPEN THE ACT SEASON

 

The rain postponement at the Lee USA Speedway has opened the door for the first race of the 2010 American Canadian Tour (ACT) season to be held next weekend (April 25) at the Albany Saratoga Speedway located in Malta, New York. The recently paved 4/10-mile speed plant will be the ultimate ‘neutral’ track for the ACT teams. The track changed to asphalt for the 2010 season, after over 35 years as a dirt race track. This will be the first appearance ever for ACT Late Model race teams.

 

“This should be pretty interesting. There are only a couple of teams that have been to Albany-Saratoga testing this Spring, so just about nobody has any real edge going into the first race of the season,” said ACT Director of Competition, Dean Gallison. “With the new asphalt, the experience of these teams as far as set up goes will be more critical than ever. It should be a great show”, concluded Gallison.

DONAHUE JOINS THE FORD BLUE OVAL CHALLENGE TEAM

 

John Donahue from Graniteville, VT is the latest to join what has become a potent Ford Blue Oval Challenge Team for the 2010 campaign on the American Canadian Tour (ACT). Donahue was the hottest driver during the final half of the 2009 campaign. He is a favorite to contend for the title in 2010.

 

“I have always been a Ford man, and it was driving me crazy hearing about all the good

teams that have gone to a Ford motor program for the coming season,” said team owner Kendall Roberts, from Barre, VT. “Just look at the top teams that are running Fords this year--- Michaud, Pole (Joey Polewarczyk), that guy that won the Lee championship (Wayne Helliwell, Jr.), we raced against him at Groveton and he is a very good racer. I just had to get on the bandwagon. We plan to give Ford and our National Guard Ford Fusion the ACT title in a FORD”, concluded Roberts.  Joey Laquerre, from East Montpelier, Vermont and Glen Luce, from Turner, ME are also part of the Ford program. Both are veteran drivers with multiple championships and wins.

ACT II INVITATIONAL AT NHMS JUMPS TO 43 STARTERS IN 2010

 

Officials of the American Canadian Tour (ACT) and the New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) announced today that the starting field for the second edition of the ACT Invitational will be increased from 36 teams last year to 43 teams in 2010. The event is part of a mega triple-header to be held on Saturday, September 18, 2010 at the region’s most notable speedway. The Invitational will join NASCAR’s Whelen Modified Tour and the Camping World Truck Series to provide the fans with the most exciting triple-header of the year.

 

“The great success we had with the inaugural ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last year has given us the confidence to invite several more teams to make up the starting field for this year’s race”, said Tom Curley, President of the American Canadian Tour. “We will soon be announcing another great promotion for all the fans that attend weekly affiliate ACT tracks, and all ACT touring events during the upcoming season,” concluded Curley.

 

The race has been extended to 60 miles for the 2010 version. There will be a mandatory caution flag between lap 28 and 38, if there is no racing caution that occurs during that time frame. Teams will be allowed to pit for adjustments and tires if they choose to pit, but it will not be mandatory. “This format really sounds like a lot of fun. I think it will certainly add some strategy to the race and make for some tough decisions about whether to pit or not,” said Brent Dragon, one of the top contenders for the ACT title in 2010.

CENTRE FOR SPEED IN SHEDIAC TO INTRODUCE ACT LATE MODELS IN 2011

 

The Center for Speed (CFS) in Shediac, New Brunswick announced today that the 2011 season will offer some changes in the type of race divisions that will be offered to Maritime stock car racing teams. The introduction of the American Canadian Tour (ACT) Late Model division as a premiere weekly division has generated enthusiasm among many of the top tier CENTRE racers.

 

“The time is right for our race facility and race teams to join forces with what has become the most successful form of weekly and touring racing in the Northeastern United States and in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. We are happy and excited to be the first organization in the Maritimes to introduce this very successful type of Late Model racing to our region,” said Tim Wile, the General Manager of the CENTRE of Speed.

The ACT program has expanded over the past decade to include a dozen weekly tracks and two major touring divisions throughout New England, Quebec, and Ontario. ACT Late Model programs are supported at Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine, home of the famous “Oxford 250”; New Hampshire tracks:  White Mountain, Twin State, Lee USA, Canaan Speedway; Seekonk Speedway in Massachusetts, and Waterford Speedbowl in Connecticut. Thunder Road Speedbowl in Vermont is the home of the ACT Late Model division, and Capital City in Ottawa, along with Kawartha Speedway in Ontario, also are affiliate tracks of the ACT program. The American Canadian Tour in the United States and the ACT Castrol Series in Quebec and Ontario are two of the most successful traveling tours in the Northeast.