photo by RPM 360
By: Dick Casey
Eddie MacDonald dominated the field in a late race charge to post a second place finish in the American Canadian Tour’s fifth race of the season at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl in Connecticut on Saturday, May 21. The Rowley, Mass. veteran, driving the EXIT Realty/Hancock Electric Chevy through lapped traffic chased winner Joey Polewarczyk over the final ten laps of the 100 lap feature to just fall short at the checkered flag. The finish was costly as the Freddie Paterson owned Chevy crashed heavily into the front stretch wall.
“We were very happy with the second place run but the car took a big hit and will need some serious repairs before we race again at Devil’s Bowl,” said Eddie Mac surveying the damage. “I guess the 1vt lost an axle and put down a lot of oil on the track and when I drove off four on the final lap the car just hit the oil and sent it straight into the wall. It was a hard hit but I’m alright but I can’t say the same for the car. But we will get it fixed and be ready for the next race.”
The #17ma posted the fastest time of the day in the second practice and drew the pole position in the second heat in qualifying for the first leg of the Southern New England Tripleheader to include Thompson and Seekonk. Eddie Mac won the heat easily to receive a plus one rating placing him ninth in the 30 car field for the event.
The scheduled 100 lap feature changed the strategy of a number of the top contenders as most ACT races are 150 laps with many drivers comfortable saving tires for the final thirty laps. In this race, most chose to get after it right from the green with Eddie Mac saying during a lap 12 caution,, “I am shocked at how hard these guys are going. It’s like a 100 lap shootout and everyone is going early. The car is handling good so I will pick my spots to pass. I can run on the outside so that will help a lot.”
On lap 40 Eddie Mac drove in fifth place and into fourth just past the halfway flag on lap 54 while passing cars on the outside. Joey Pole was able to pull away while the top five cars were forced to deal with stubborn lapped traffic despite the passing flag shown them. To add to the difficulty, an engine laid down a tremendous amount of oil on the track on lap 74 forcing a long delay. With rain looming in the area track officials finally cleared the mess before returning the cars to action for the final 26 laps.
Eddie Mac raced the #37 of Scott Payea hard for multiple laps before finally completing the pass on lap 86 for second place. “The Outlaw” then set his sights on the #97 trying to close a half a straightaway lead. By lap 95 Eddie Mac cut the lead to two car lengths and to one with two laps remaining. However, that is a close as he could get with Eddie Mac saying, “Joey was fast and ran a great race and didn’t have to race anyone hard so he was able to conserve and just had too big a lead once I got into second place. My car was good and fast and I think I could have got by him in five more laps. That was my thinking just before I crashed. We will take second and I believe this finish will put us in the point’s lead. This takes the sting out of crashing just a little bit. We have a lot to do to get ready for Devil’s Bowl (Saturday, June 4) but we will be ready.”
“Rollie and I owe huge thanks to our crew that works so hard on this car every race, Tom Rice, Rob Drandson, and Ryan LaChance,” said Eddie Mac. “Rollie’s wife Laura helps with the spotting and does so many other things for this team and is greatly appreciated. Of course, thanks to Derek Beatrice from EXIT Realty and Kenny and Scott Thompson from Hancock Electric as well as, Stilo, HMS Motorsports, and Schroth Racing for their help. Our K&N team owner Rob Grimm supports our Late Model efforts and we can’t say enough about our team owners Sheila and Freddie Peterson. Bobby Wood is an integral member of our team and helps in many ways. Rollie and I are fortunate to be associated with such great people. We may be banged up right now but we will be there competing for the win at Devil’s Bowl.”