Average car count at American-Canadian Tour Late Model stock car
events in 2008: 51. In both races completed thus
far, fields of 52 and 50 cars showed up to qualify at Lee USA Speedway
and Oxford Plains Speedway, respectively,
for starting grids of 30 and 33 cars. Simply amazing.
And those 50-some cars aren't clunkers, either – maybe you've heard of
young gun Joey Polewarczyk or Oxford star
Ricky Rolfe? Brent Dragon, J.R. Baril, Scott Payea, anyone? Maybe
Eddie MacDonald, Patrick Laperle, Ben Rowe,
Brad Leighton, or some guy named Jean-Paul Cyr? It's a good time to
be a Late Model fan in New England,
especially if you like variety and close action.
Another pretty cool number: 6. Six, as in the number of yellow flags
over a combined period of 250 laps on two
mean race tracks. Not only is the action close, it's clean and
professional. That's not to say there aren't some
jabs traded – John Donahue's already been backwards more times than he
probably wanted to be this year – but the
drivers have put on some good, hard-nosed racing without cheating the
fans or each other out of a good run.
Cyr, Dragon, MacDonald, and young Ryan Nolin's drives up the outside
lane in the New England Dodge Dealers 150 at
Oxford last Saturday were incredibly exciting, and Cyr's seven-lap
duel for the win with Rolfe was the perfect
capper to a race full of passing and battles for position.
Yes, it is a good time to be a Late Model fan.
***
This week, the thunder rolls through the Green Mountains again, as
"The Nation's Site of Excitement," Barre, VT's
Thunder Road, fires up its 49th season. The 10th Annual Merchants
Bank 150 will be the lid-lifter for the 1/4-
mile bullring, as well as the third round of the ACT Late Model Tour.
The Merchants Bank 150 weekend is fun all the way around, with the
annual car show, pit stop contest, and parade
from downtown Barre City up to the race track, followed by practice on
Saturday, May 3, then the "Class Day"
opening ceremonies and green flag action on Sunday, May 4. It all
starts at 9:00am on Saturday, 1:00pm on Sunday.
***
A practice session was held for all four Thunder Road divisions last
Thursday afternoon, and was looked upon as a
success by most of the teams in attendance. Very unofficially,
Donahue, multi-time champions Phil Scott and
Robbie Crouch, and rookie Matt White turned in the fastest Late Model
practice times. Also turning some good laps
were Trampas Demers, David Chagnon, rookie Tony Andrews, defending
"King of the Road" Dave Pembroke, and Shawn
Fleury.
The NAPA Tiger Sportsman class had a big turnout, led (again,
unofficially… our stopwatch didn't get everyone, and
wasn't running during every practice) by Shawn Sicard and Tommy
Therrien. Others with very good times were Brian
Delphia, Craig Bushey, rookie Bobby Therrien, and youngster Derrick O'Donnell.
The Allen Lumber Street Stocks are going to have a fun time catching
Tommy Thunder and Ron Gabaree this year,
based on what we saw. Thunder (his real last name is Smith, but
nobody cares about that) and Gabaree were visibly
the fastest two on the track in the early rounds, no matter what lane
they chose. By the end of the day, though,
Justin Gordon and "Dancin'" David Allen had basically closed the gap.
The Power Shift Online Junkyard Warriors weren't really led by anyone,
but there were plenty of folks having fun
out there, including Neal Foster, Mike Gay, Dale Bickford, and Chad Brown.
***
Did you know…?
-Of the 47 drivers to have started an ACT Late Model Tour race so far
in 2008, only one driver has finished a race
where he started. Ricky Rolfe won last weekend's New England Dodge
Dealers 150 from the pole position, but not
without a fight from Jean-Paul Cyr. Everyone else in both races
either improved or fell from their starting
position.
-Cris Michaud, Brent Dragon, Patrick Laperle, and Eddie MacDonald each
have a pair Top 10 finishes to their credit
already. MacDonald is the only driver to have finished each race
inside the Top 5. He was second at Lee USA and
fourth at Oxford Plains.
-Lee USA winner Joey Polewarczyk had as bad a day at Oxford as his was
good at Lee. But, despite finishing 18th
at OPS, he still retains the point lead by just one point over
Michaud. Oxford winner Rolfe sits tied with fellow
Maine racer Dale Verrill in 23rd place, the result of not having run
the Lee USA opener.
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