ST-EUSTACHE, QC – The Série ACT-Castrol Late Model stock car series will crown its fourth champion on Saturday (Sept. 20), following the 14th Annual St-Eustache 300 at Autodrome St-Eustache near Montréal. Alexandre Gingras of Val-Bélair, QC leads the standings over St-Félicien, QC driver Karl Allard by just 20 points, 590-570, entering the season finale. To date, Gingras has not won a major touring series title in his career, but would become the fourth different Série ACT-Castrol champion in the series’ four-year history if he were to hang onto his lead over Allard.
Although winless on the season, Gingras’ SkyJet #27QC Chevrolet Impala has been very consistent over the seven previous events this year. He earned a runner-up finish at Autodrome Chaudière in the Luminaire Napert 150 in August, and a third-place finish at Capital City Speedway in Ottawa one week earlier. Gingras also posted a runner-up finish in the Showdown 200 all-star invitational at Chaudière two weeks ago.
Allard, a four-time champion of the former Série ADL Tobacco in Québec, also showed muscle at Chaudière, winning the Luminaire Napert 150 and finishing third in the Coors Light 100 in June with his Larue Industrial Snow Blower & Paving Equipment #48QC Chevrolet.
Grouped tightly behind the championship contenders are Yvon Bédard, Jean-François Déry, and Claude Leclerc. The three are separated by just six points from third through fifth place. Leclerc, in fifth place, is only 64 points behind Gingras. Martin Lacombe sits in sixth place ahead of 19 year-old Patrick Hamel, who will clinch the Rookie of the Year title at Autodrome St-Eustache. Dany Ouellet, Jonathan Desbiens, and Spencer MacPherson, another 19 year-old rookie, complete the top ten drivers in order.
Special entries expected for the St-Eustache 300 include former Série ACT-Castrol Champions Sylvain Lacombe of Terrebonne, QC and Patrick Laperle of St-Denis-sur-Richelieu, QC, along with Mario Gosselin of Lake Wales, FL. Lacombe is a five-time winner of the St-Eustache 300, including the first event in 1995 as well as last year’s race. Laperle, a two-time winner at the 4/10-mile St-Eustache track, won the American-Canadian Tour U.S. event at Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine last weekend, and sits second in that series’ championship standings. ARCA Re/Max Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Gosselin, a Québec native, posted two
Série ACT-Castrol victories in one weekend at Autodrome Montmagny last month.
Qualifying for the 14th Annual St-Eustache 300 begins at 5:00pm on Saturday, Sept. 20. Autodrome St-Eustache is located on Boulevard Arthur-Sauvé in St-Eustache, QC, just outside Montréal. For more information, call (802) 244-6963 or visit www.laserieactcastrol.com or www.acttour.com.