Vallee-Jct., QC – As has happened several times at Autodrome Chaudiere, the Série ACT Castrol Frameco 150 final laps on Saturday, August 6 came down to the rivalry between Boischatel, Quebec’s Donald Theetge and St-Denis, Quebec’s Patrick Laperle. With three restarts in the final four laps, including a green, white, checkered to decide the win, the finish had all the makings of another fireworks filled chapter in the bitter rivalry.
Over the first, half of the 150 lap event, it appeared the front of the field was not the place to be. Early leader, Dany Trepanier led all but two of the first 64 laps and held off Laperle, Karl Allard and Theetge for over 20 laps. Then on lap 64, while navigating his way into turn one, contact with a lap car sent him spinning, bringing out the sixth caution and handing the lead to Laperle. Just eight laps later, Laperle and Allard got together battling for the lead, sending Allard spinning and putting both drivers to the rear of the field.
This time Theetge was the beneficiary and took over the lead with 72 laps complete. He would lead through lap 123 before an unanticipated lane change by a lapped car caused him to check up to avoid a wreck. This allowed Laperle, who had worked his way through the field back to second, to get under Theetge and take back the lead. It appeared Laperle was going to cruise to the win unchallenged until a caution on lap 146.
Laperle and Theetge took the gloves off on the restart with Laperle getting the edge. Another caution setup a green, white, checkered finish. On the first attempt at returning to green, contact between Karl Allard and Daniel Descoste, running third and fourth respectively, sent Allard hard into the front stretch wall, ending both driver’s nights.
The second and final attempt again saw Theetge and Laperle swapping paint over the final two laps. Coming out of turn four for the white flag, both drivers were sideways and Theetge just barely led at the line. The final lap saw the same with Theetge taking the win by .013 seconds.
Theetge had to be flown into Autodrome Chaudiere just before the heat races rolled onto the track as he was at qualifying for a road course event at Trois-Rivieres, Quebec that will be held on Sunday.
The win was Theetge’s second for the season. He was already on the ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway list with Brian Hoar, Nick Sweet, Laperle, Daniel Descoste, Jeff White, John Donahue, Patrick Hamel, Alex Labbe, Kyle Busch and Jeff Taylor.
The Série ACT Castrol will continue their 2011 season this Friday, August 12 with qualifying for the ACT All-Star Challenge at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. ACT will have 100 laps of qualifying between three heat races and two last chance races. Forty-four drivers will earn a spot in the starting grid for Saturday, August 13’s two-segment, 80 miles total feature.
ACT Castrol Frameco 150 Unofficial Results
Série ACT Castrol – Saturday, August 6, 2011
Autodrome Chaudiere – Vallee-Jct., QC
Pos (Start) Driver, Hometown, Laps Completed
1. (7) Donald Theetge, Boischatel, QC, 150 Laps
2. (14) Patrick Laperle, St-Denis-sur-Richelieu, QC, 150 Laps
3. (10) David Michaud, Ste-Anne-des-Plaines, QC, 150 Laps
4. (2) Patrick Cliche, St-Jean-Chrysostome, QC, 150 Laps
5. (16) Claude Leclerc, Lanoraie, QC, 150 Laps
6. (1) Dany Trepanier, St-Edouard, QC, 150 Laps
7. (11) Tony Cote, Beauceville, QC, 150 Laps
8. (9) Patrick Hamel, St-Edouard, QC, 150 Laps
9. (3) Marc-Andre Cliche, Vallee-Jonction, QC, 150 Laps
10. (8) Steve Lesage, Pont-Rouge, QC, 149 Laps
11. (12) Karl Allard, Quebec, QC, 148 Laps
12. (21) Daniel Descoste, St-Joseph-du-Lac, QC, 148 Laps
13. (22) Alex Labbe, Saint-Albert, QC, 148 Laps
14. (23) #Yannick Tremblay, Chicoutimi, QC, 148 Laps
15. (17) Jacques Poulin, East Broughton, QC, 147 Laps
16. (6) Eric LeHoux, Saint-Elzear, QC, 124 Laps
17. (15) Eric Giguere, St-Georges, QC, 112 Laps
18. (20) Marco Savoie, St-Lambert, QC, 106 Laps
19. (18) Daniel Bergeron, Mirabel, QC, 72 Laps
20. (5) Jonathan Desbiens, Levis, QC, 64 Laps
21. (4) Jonathan Bouvrette, Blainville, QC, 50 Laps
22. (19) Gaetan Lauzier, St-Pacome, QC, 41 Laps
23. (13) Steven Boissonneault, Lyster, QC, 35 Laps
Time of Race: 1:22:30
Margin of Victory: .013 seconds
Cautions: 14 (Laps 7, 29, 31, 39, 41, 64, 70, 72, 75, 113, 120, 146, 148, 148)
Leaders: Patrick Cliche, 1; Dany Trepanier, 2-29; Marc-Andre Cliche, 30; Trepanier, 31-64; Patrick Laperle, 65-71; Karl Allard, 72; Donald Theetge, 73-123; Laperle, 124-148; Theetge, 149-150