Chris Eggleston Wins PASS South “THE RACE” and $75,000.00 at North Wilkesboro Speedway

Chris Eggleston Wins PASS South “THE RACE” and $75,000.00 at North Wilkesboro Speedway Colorado native takes home the big payday in North Carolina With 77 drivers making their way to North Wilkesboro Speedway (NC) April 7th – 10th to try and win the “THE RACE” Pro All Stars Series (PASS) South presented by JE Pistons and Roush Yates Performance Parts, only one driver could go home with the $75,000.00 winner’s purse. At the end of 300 laps of competition, Colorado’s Chris Eggleston crossed under the checkered flag first to win the historic event. “Holy cow! That is my initial thought,” said a happy Eggleston in victory lane. “This deal didn’t come together until two weeks ago. Crew chief Butch Miller gave me a call, said he got a sponsor, and decided to let me come on out and drive. He has never steered me wrong. I am so happy!” Johnny Clark and Jay Fogleman led the 44-car field down to take the green flag in the historic 300-lap event. Clark was able to clear Fogleman, leading the monumental first lap of the race. Meanwhile, positions shuffled all through the field as drivers worked their way around the track. At lap four, Andy Loden decided it was time to lead as he drove on the outside of Clark, taking the top spot. Augie Grill followed him to the front, working his way to the second position, putting Clark back to third. Pat Kelly rode fourth with Ryan Moore fifth. Just before lap 15, Grill decided it was his turn to lead as he drove around Loden for the first position. At lap 24, the first car off the pace was the #40 of Sterling Marlin, who ducked onto pit road for service. A couple laps later, the #112 of Grill caught the back of the pack to start lapping cars. Through the lapping of traffic, Loden went back to the lead around Grill with Kelly, Bubba Pollard and Patrick Laperle running in the top-five positions just before lap 40. At lap 48, through heavy lapped traffic, Grill went back to the front, putting Loden back to second. The first yellow of the afternoon flew at lap 52 as Joey Doiron had trouble in turns three and four, receiving damage to his right front. The top five at the yellow were Grill, Loden, Pollard, Eggleston and Kelly. All restarts in the PASS Series are double file, putting Grill and Loden side by side as the field headed back to turn one at speed. Loden came around the lead the next lap with Pollard and Kelly dropping in second and third. At lap 55, Pollard drove his #18 to the front to take the lead while many of the racers back in the pack went side by side for position. As Brian Ickler ducked onto pit road, the yellow flew for the second time as drivers stacked up in turn four. Mike Rowe received some damage, but was able to continue. The green flag flew with Pollard and Grill driving down towards turn one, but the field started stacking up behind them. After contact between a couple cars, Rebecca Kasten’s #51 machine hit the turn-one wall. Kenzie Ruston was also collected up in the incident, but was able to drive away while Kasten’s car had to be hauled off on the hook. The field headed back to turn one under speed with Pollard leading Grill, but Jody Lavender, who started 21st, was on the move, working his way to second. The caution flew again at lap 68 as Patrick Laperle went around in turn two. The entire field dove left and right, avoiding a major incident as Laperle was able to right his car and tag the end of the field. Lavender took his turn at the point on the restart, taking the lead from Pollard. The caution flew at lap 84 as John Batten and Scott Mulkern made contact down the back stretch, sending Batten into the pit entrance water barrels. Despite the heavy damage to his car, Batten was able to exit his car and was OK. Pollard got the run on the high side to take the lead as the field went back to green. Lavender and Loden fell in behind, second and third. While the field jockeyed for position behind them, the top-three drivers stayed in their positions until the lap 100 mark, ending the first segment of the race. During the eight-minute break, the teams worked on their cars and were allowed to change four tires to prep them for the second segment. At lap 100 the top-10 drivers were Pollard, Lavender, Loden, Jeff Choquette, Grill, Ross Kenseth, TJ Reaid, Ryan Blaney, Eggleston and Eric Darnell. 28 of the 44 drivers that started the race were still on the lead lap. Pollard and Lavender brought the field down to the green flag to begin the second segment. Pollard held the top spot, but Lavender dropped back putting Loden in second followed by Choquette, Grill and Reaid. As the leaders caught lapped traffic around lap 130, Grill, who had worked his way up to second, dropped back to third as Loden moved his way forward, trying to reel in Pollard. At the lap 150 halfway mark, Pollard still led the field with Loden second, Eggleson third, Choquette fourth and Grill fifth. Two laps later, Eggleston worked his way around Loden to take the second position. The yellow flag flew for the first time in the second segment at lap 164 for a spin on the backstretch by Justin Wakefield, who had been off the pace for several laps. Pollard and Eggleston ran first and second after the restart with Choquette dropping into the third position. A lot of contact throughout the field ended up biting a few drivers as contact between a couple cars on the front stretch at lap 180 had cars swerving to try and miss a mess. Sanborn, Garrett Evans and Laperle were just a few cars that received damage from the incident, the eighth caution of the race. On the restart, Pollard stayed on point, but Choquette worked his way into the second position around Eggleston. That position was short lived though as Eggleston took the runner-up spot back a few laps later. Just before the lap 200 end-of-segment break, while negotiating lapped traffic, Eggleston was able to work his way to the lead around Pollard. Right at the lap 200 segment break, Alex Fleming looped his car in turn two. The top 10 drivers at the break, where teams could once again bolt on four brand-new tires and make adjustments, were Eggleston, Pollard, Reaid, Choquette, Loden, Kenseth, Blaney, Ben Rowe, Fogleman and Clark. 19 drivers were on the lead lap at lap 200. The third and final segment kicked off with Eggleston and Pollard side as the field got up to speed. Pollard didn’t waste any time as he jumped out to the lead. Eggleston settled in second with Choquette, Reaid and Loden rounding out the top five. With 50 laps remaining in “THE RACE,” Pollard still led Eggleston by a couple car lengths as the two negotiated around lapped traffic. Choquette, Reaid and Loden ran in the third through fifth positions. For the next 25 laps, Pollard and Eggleston weaved in and out of lapped traffic, nose to tail. As they came up on some hard racing by a few drivers, Pollard appeared to try to turn under Clark off turn four and got sideways, allowing Eggleston to drive to the high side and take the lead at lap 276. Over the final laps in the caution-free third and final segment, Eggleston was able to pull away from Pollard, taking THE RACE win, earning himself a cool $75,000.00. “This is just so exciting,” said Eggleston. “The first segment I thought we were really good. We used it to get a feel for the car and see how it was on short runs and long runs. The restarts were killing us with the crate motor. Every time a yellow came out, all I could do is cover my shield and yell “here we go again.” In the middle session we were a tick loose on late exit and a little bit on late entry, so I dialed some front brake to help that. “I told Butch we needed to close up the stagger a little bit and hopefully nothing would change. It got a little bit tight; too tight. We probably should have left it alone with the sun going down. I felt like the track really tightened up.” With the bobble in traffic Eggleston was able to take the lead late in the race from Pollard but if the lapped traffic wasn’t a factor, he wasn’t sure he would be standing in victory lane. “I don’t know if we had enough to get around the #18. We just caught him at the right time in lapped traffic, and that is all it took.” If the race was 30 laps shorter, Pollard would have been celebrating in victory lane. However, a combination of his car’s handling and the lapped traffic cost him the victory. “We just got tight in the center of the corner,” said Pollard. “I put too much wheel in it, making me loose off. The #54 (Clark) kind of messed me up right there. He (Eggleston) was able to get by me with lapped cars. We had a pretty good race car and he did too. Congratulations to him.” Choquette started 19th in the field, and survived to take home a podium finish. “I didn’t think it would go green that whole way, that was surprising,” said Choquette. “I can’t say enough about my guys. They did an awesome job.” Reaid and Ben Rowe rounded out the top five. The PASS South presented by JE Pistons and Roush Yates Performance Products will be back in action at Hickory Motor Speedway (NC) on Saturday, April 23rd, for “The Easter Bunny 150” event, which is also a PASS National Championship race. For more information on the Pro All Stars Series and “THE RACE” at North Wilkesboro Speedway, go to www.proallstarsseries.com. Unofficial Results: “THE RACE” - Pro All Stars Series (PASS) South presented by JE Pistons and Roush Yates Performance Products - North Wilkesboro Speedway 4/10/11 with position, car number, driver, (laps completed) #08 Chris Eggleston (300)

#18 Bubba Pollard (300)

#129 Jeff Choquette (300)

#51 T.J. Reaid (300)

#4n Ben Rowe (300)

#29 Andy Loden (300)

#10 Ryan Blaney (300)

#25 Ross Kenseth (300)

#61 Mario Gosslin (299)

#112 Augie Grill (299)

#91l Patrick Laperle (299)

#53 Pat Kelly (299)

#83 Cale Gale (299)

#4 Jay Fogleman (299)

#54 Johnny Clark (299)

#115 Jody Lavender (299)

#24n Mike Rowe (299)

#1n Stephen Nasse (298)

#7 Erik Darnell (298)

#05 Alex Fleming (298)

#74 Ryan Moore (298)

#8 Cassius Clark (298)

#20 Steven Legendre (297)

#62 Brandon Ward (297)

#75 Gary Smith (296)

#23 Jimmy Weller (296)

#98 Justin Wakefield (296)

#29s Trevor Sanborn (296)

#47 Trey Mitchell (296)

#26 Preston Peltier (295)

#84 Scott Mulkern (294)

#17a Scott Alexander (279)

#91 Heath Hindman (251)

#1 Randy Turner (245)

#47s Corey Williams (179)

#64 Garrett Evans (178)

#10b Geoff Bodine (84)

#29 Kenzie Ruston (83)

#48 John Batten (82)

#2 Gray Gaulding (68)

#51k Rebecca Kasten (63)

#66 Brian Ickler (61)

#73 Joey Doiron (50)

#40 Sterling Marlin (25)

Brent Dragon Hopes To Add To ACT History Books In 2011

CRAZY EIGHTS: Brian Hoar Sets Sights On Record 8^th Title

7-Time ACT Champion Making Room For One More Trophy

WILLISTON, Vt. – Brian Hoar's name is stamped all over the ACT Late Model Tour record book, from front cover to rear with nary a page that doesn't have his name somewhere.

His 28 victories are the most in ACT history. No one else has won five races in a season, a feat Hoar accomplished during his 1999 title run. His seven series championships tie him with Jean-Paul Cyr for the most by a driver.

But that doesn't mean he doesn't have some unfinished business. Win the 2011 ACT Late Model Tour championship and Hoar and RPM Motorsports will stand alone with an unprecedented eighth series title.

“Jimmie Johnson has done it a few years in a row, so maybe we can too, who knows?” Hoar said referencing the five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion. “Last year was just a phenomenal year, and the potential is obviously there to do it again. We're all feeling like we're going to be contenders.”

Where most of the sport's teams and drivers could easily become complacent after winning seven championships – including the last two back-to-back – the chance to once again make history only serves as motivation for the No. 37 GossCars.com Dodge team. Rick Paya, the car owner and crew chief, said these are the things that keep him going.

“That's why I stay in racing is because of challenges like this,” said Paya, who won five of his championships with Cyr behind the wheel. “If not for them, I probably wouldn't be doing it anymore. I'm focused 100 percent on winning the championship with Brian this year. We're going after it hard.”

The team's success is unparalleled in New England's Late Model ranks. A RPM Motorsports entry has won an amazing seven of the last eight ACT championships. Hoar, who joined RPM for the 2009 season, said there's no one thing that makes RPM so good – only that it's a myriad of things.

“There is no secret. It's a hundred things – that's what it comes down to” said Hoar, who has five of his 28 career wins in an RPM ride. “It's chemistry. It's having the right people in the right positions.

“The biggest challenge we had (when I joined the team) was just communication. But we both had some confidence in what we were doing. But the biggest thing of all is that Rick and his guys are just really, really good with the race cars. It's just amazing how good the car is when we unload.”

They'll test that theory when the 2011 season opens next weekend at Lee USA Speedway, one of the few tracks left on the circuit where Hoar has never won. But like it seems he does every weekend, Hoar has complete faith that the No. 37 will be capable of winning even before it ever gets to the race track.

“We've all got the equipment – but everybody does now,” Hoar said. “No matter what we do, it's all chemistry. Rick puts ungodly amount of hours into his race cars. Rick is the main man. He is amazing... He knows what's going on with every inch of that race car.”

But Hoar knows a few tricks, too, and Paya is effusive in his praise of the accomplished driver.

“I'm behind Brian, and he's behind me on everything that we decide,” Paya said. “He'll drive anything that I give him. That's the part I like. If I send him out in a race on new tires, or if I send him out to practice on old tires, it doesn't matter – he drives that thing and he gives me 110 percent.”

Not everything will be old and familiar for Hoar in the RPM pits this season. For the first time, he'll have a full-time teammate when second-year driver Austin Theriault of Fort Kent, Maine, joins the team to drive the No. 57 Varney Insurance Ford.

The team had a trial run of sorts when they competed together in the inaugural ACT Goodyear Speedweeks Cup at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway in February. Hoar won one of the two 100-lap races and narrowly missed out on the overall championship.

“It was a bit chaotic at first, but we totally expected that,” Hoar said of New Smyrna. “Shoot, we know the race hauler, our toolbox, everything – but it was much more chaotic for (Theriault) than it was for us. They were working with a brand new car, new toolbox, new hauler, everything.

“It was a great opportunity working with them, and it was a great start for the team... It's going to take us a few races to get things going, but they're going to be learning and we're going to have a great team.”

A great team, and sights set on Championship No. 8.

ACT Lee USA Opener Chance For Cyr And Dragon To Get Back In The Hunt

ACT Lee USA Opener Chance For Cyr And Dragon To Get Back In The Hunt

Waterbury, VT – After what was by anyone’s standards a disappointing 2010 season for long-time American Canadian Tour (ACT) veterans Jean-Paul Cyr and Brent Dragon, both from Milton, VT, both expect the opening event of the season at Lee USA Speedway on Sunday, April 17, 2011 to be a chance to get things turned into a positive change of direction.

Cyr is a seven-time ACT Champion and saw his long-standing championship record tied by Brian Hoar from Williston, VT in 2010. Cyr returned to ACT racing after taking a year to compete at Thunder Road Speedbowl in Barre, VT in 2009. He won the King of the Road title that season. He had a slow start coming back to the ACT at the beginning of 2010, and by his own admission was really never a contender.

“It was a very frustrating year of racing last season. We got off to a tough start and I made the decision to go back to owning my own team after a few races. I appreciated the support from various owners over the past seasons, which allowed me to do some pretty neat things like race in the Baja 500 and 1000 motorcycle races, but I am also pretty competitive and felt I might have lost a little of the competitive edge on the Tour,” said Cyr.

“We have put together a very good team and have worked all winter changing things around on the new car we purchased a year ago. I hope the changes will give me a chance to win some races this year, and with some luck, maybe even get back to the championship. It is not going to be easy, but I am excited again and anxious to get started,” concluded Cyr.

Neighbor and good friend Brent Dragon has also made significant changes to his program during the off-season. Dragon decided to cut back so that he could be better prepared for the events he decided to enter in 2011.

“I just reached a point where competing for wins on the Tour had become so difficult over the past few years, I just didn’t have the time or team to feel that we were always 100% capable of racing up front. That was a lousy feeling, so I decided to cut back to about half the schedule in hopes that I could compete better in fewer events by being better prepared,” said Dragon.

In a surprise announcement two weeks ago, Dragon and the Avery race team announced a kind of merger of the two teams. The White Mountain Motorsport Park (WMMP) owners completed a deal to field their ACT Late Model car with Brent Dragon as driver for the other half of the events that make up the ACT schedule in 2011 that Dragon would have missed.

“This is really a great deal for us,” said Dragon.

“Donnie, David and Teri Avery are very busy operating WMMP during the peak of the season, but they also love to be involved with some of the ACT races, so this is a win-win for both of our race teams. We can split up the preparation time. I have driven the Avery’s Distance race car, which is very similar to my car, so that should work out well. We are looking to be competitive and have a lot of fun with this arrangement.”

Dragon will drive the Avery car, formerly driven by Ben Rowe of Turner, ME, at the Lee USA New Hampshire Governor’s Cup traditional opener on Sunday, April 17, 2011. Over 40 Late Model teams from throughout New England, New York, and Quebec are expected to attempt qualifying for one of the 30 starting spots.