The Série ACT Castrol stock car championship weekend at Autodrome St-Eustache near Montréal has been trimmed from a two-day affair to a one-day stand-alone race on Saturday, Sept. 20.  The 14th Annual St-Eustache 300 will be the eighth and final championship event for the Série ACT Castrol Late Models, and will offer a bonus purse for any American-based teams that participate.

The field of 22 all-star Late Model stock car drivers has been set for the first-ever Coors Light 200 “Showdown at Chaudière” at Vallée-Jonction, QC’s Autodrome Chaudière on Saturday, Sept. 6 at 6:30pm.  The $5,000-to-win, non-points invitational race will feature the best 11 drivers from the U.S.-based American-Canadian Tour Late Model series and the top 11 drivers from Canada’s Série ACT-Castrol.

Fronting “Team Canada” will be Série ACT-Castrol point leader Alexandre Gingras of Val-Bélair, QC.  Gingras was a main event winner at Autodrome Chaudière in 2007, and was the runner-up at the track’s Luminaire Napert 150 last month.  Leading “Team USA” will be Scott Payea of Milton, VT, the ACT Late Model Tour point leader.  Payea has multiple victories on American tracks at Thunder Road and White Mountain Motorsports Park, both very similar to Autodrome Chaudière.

Karl Allard of St-Félicien, QC won the Luminaire Napert 150 in August and ranks second in Série ACT-Castrol standings for Team Canada.  Ironically, a Canadian driver, Montréal’s Patrick Laperle, ranks second in the ACT Late Model Tour and will represent the USA in the Coors Light 200.  In six previous starts while running with the Castrol cars, Laperle has three top-five finishes at Chaudière.

Brad Leighton blazed a new trail to victory lane at the 30th Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200 stock car race for the American-Canadian Tour Late Model Championship cars on Sunday afternoon.  The Center Harbor, NH driver’s 200-lap trip to the winner’s circle included two 90-mph, fully-airborne flights off the top of Thunder Road’s treacherous Turn 2 embankment, and four visits to pit road for flat right-front tires.  On top of that, Leighton drove his Irving Oil/Subway/Coca-Cola #55NH Ford Fusion out of a lap-172 three-way slide with front-runners Eric Williams and Patrick Laperle before scoring the win by two car-lengths.

“You talk about overcoming a lot of stuff, these guys on my crew changed everything on this car.  Four flat tires, sway bars, bent rims, and that was all during the race!” said an exhausted Leighton.  “It’s been five years since I’ve won a race, and I can’t think of a better place to get a win than right here in front of these Thunder Road fans.  This place is awesome.”

Leighton, a former champion of the former ACT Pro Stock Tour, added to his resume with his first win on the current ACT Late Model Tour.  Including bonuses, Leighton pocketed over $9,600 for his efforts.  He won the 2000 Bond Auto Labor Day Classic behind the wheel of a NASCAR Busch North Series (now Camping World East Series) car during his most recent championship season.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. of Akron, OH has posted a “team” bonus for the Coors Light 200 “Showdown at Chaudière” all-star Late Model stock car event at Autodrome Chaudière in Vallée-Jonction, QC on Saturday, Sept. 6.  The race will feature the top 11 drivers from the U.S.-based American-Canadian Tour (ACT) and the top 11 drivers from the Québec/Ontario-based Série ACT Castrol.

The 11-man team that outperforms the other will be awarded the Goodyear bonus: a free set of four ACT-legal race tires for each driver on the team.  The total value of the award package is over $5,000, in addition to the $26,000+ purse already posted, which will pay $5,000 to the race winner and a healthy $1,000 to the last-place (22nd) finisher.

“Goodyear has shown its commitment and support for ACT-style Late Model racing in the U.S. and Canada for many years, and this bonus is just an affirmation of their devotion to a successful racing program,” said Tom Curley, President of ACT.  “We’re expecting our U.S. and Canadian stars to put on quite a show, and the Goodyear bonus will only add to their drive.”  A score will be kept for each driver in the Coors Light 200 Showdown; the winner will be given one point, the second-place finisher two points, etc.  The team with the lower overall score at the end of the event will be the winner.  In the event of a tie, the team with the race-winning driver will win the Goodyear bonus.