Lacombe Gunning for Fourth Consecutive St-Eustache 300 Win, Title Contenders Seek First
ST-EUSTACHE, QC – American Late Model stock car driver Dave Pembroke of Middlesex, VT will return to the Canadian Série ACT-Castrol for the 2008 championship finale on Saturday, Sept. 20, as the season culminates with the 14th Annual St-Eustache 300 at Autodrome St-Eustache near Montréal. Pembroke tested the Série ACT-Castrol waters at Capital City Speedway in Ottawa, ON last year, finishing second, and will take home part of a bonus purse posted for U.S.-based drivers, plus the nearly $30,000 total race purse.
“My team and I always love racing in Canada because the fans are so passionate about stock car racing up there,” said Pembroke. “We ran very well against the Castrol drivers last year at Ottawa, and I think we’ll have a good chance at St-Eustache in the 300. I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
Pembroke won the “King of the Road” Track Championship at Vermont’s Thunder Road in 2007, and is also a former winner of the Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl, the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic 100, and the Merchants Bank 150, all marquee events on the U.S.-based American-Canadian Tour. He’ll pilot the Vermont State Employees Credit Union/Cabot/Tech Group #44VT Chevrolet in the St-Eustache 300.
Pembroke’s chief competition will come in the form of Sylvain Lacombe of Terrebonne, QC, who has won the last three St-Eustache 300s and five overall. Lacombe was the 2005 Série ACT-Castrol Champion and has a series-record six victories at the 4/10-mile oval. Lacombe has raced part-time with the Série ACT-Castrol in 2008, while his brother, Martin, sits sixth in championship standings with one victory.
Alexandre Gingras of Val-Bélair, QC leads Karl Allard of St-Félicien, QC by just 20 points entering the Série ACT-Castrol finale. Both drivers are seeking their first Castrol championship as well as their first victories at Autodrome St-Eustache. Gingras was just a dozen laps away from victory at the track in 2007 before a hard crash sent his car barrel-rolling down the frontstretch. Allard finished fourth at St-Eustache in May.
Patrick Laperle of St-Denis-sur-Richelieu, QC won the 2008 Série ACT-Castrol season opener at Autodrome St-Eustache in May. His cousin, Jacques, won the 1999 St-Eustache 300 and is a three-time Autodrome St-Eustache Track Champion. Both are expected to compete on Saturday, along with ARCA and NASCAR driver Mario Gosselin, originally of Beauce, QC and now living in Lake Wales, FL, a two-time Série ACT-Castrol winner in 2008; top rookie drivers Patrick Hamel of St-Édouard-de-Lotbinière, QC and Ontarians Spencer MacPherson and Jonathan Urlin; veterans Yvon Bédard and Claude Leclerc; and top drivers Jean-François Déry and Dany Ouellet.
Qualifying action 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 minutes outside the city of Montréal. For more information, call (802) 244-6963 or visit www.laserieactcastrol.com or www.acttour.com.
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