photo by RPM 360
By: Dick Casey
The American Canadian Tour’s Coastal 100 at the Scarborough, Maine track produced an exciting feature from the drop of the green flag to the checkers one hundred laps later with Eddie Mac posting a second place finish in the EXIT Realty/Hancock Electric Chevy. The finish closed the gap in the point’s championship with the Rowley, Mass. veteran driver in third place only four points behind Scott Payea and twenty points behind leader Nick Sweet.
Eddie Mac started on the pole with former track champion Brad Babb starting outside pole, who returned to the track after serving a two race penalty for rough driving involving Eddie Mac at Seekonk. This time the duo battled door-to-door and nose to tail for the entire feature without incident. Eddie Mac led the most laps in the race to gain points to help close the championship gap. However, a lapped car pushed up the track on lap 61 with Eddie Mac on the outside allowing Babb to dive under to take the lead.
The Freddie owned Chevy posted the fastest time in the third practice and finished second in the first heat from the fifth starting position to receive the pole position. However the fast time was the result of new tires as the team continued to deal with a tight condition with Eddie Mac saying, “We were fast in that third practice but the new tires were the reason. The car was a little tight from the first practice on and we never got it to where we wanted it. During the race it was tight early and after losing the lead it just got way too tight. I tried to push it to challenge for the lead but the handling really got worse. I hate to lose the lead but it was a great race and we gained a lot of points in the process. With only three races to go our work is cut out for us to win the championship but today really helped.”
Eddie Mac lost the lead for two laps on the lap 25 restart after the caution but quickly regained the top spot and held it until the lap 61 run in with the #10 car with Eddie Mac saying, “We were able to pass a lot of lapped cars because they stayed on the bottom of the track but the #10 car was all over the place and just rode me up the track allowing the #15 to make the move underneath. I don’t know what would have happened if the #10 didn’t run me up the track. Brad’s car really turned well from the center off and my car just got too tight. With ten to go I got to his bumper but that was it. We had a nice clean run and the car is in one piece so that is definitely a plus. Now we can focus our attention to getting the car ready for Oxford.”
“I have to thank Sheila and Freddie Peterson for all the support this year,” said Eddie Mac. “Our crew is fantastic with Tom Rice, Rob Drandson, and Ryan LaChance doing all the pit work. The entire LaChance family was working today with Rollie’s wife Laura and daughter Rachel spotting and timing. Bobby Wood is a big supporter of this team. Derek Beatrice from EXIT Realty was with us today and has been a great sponsor this year. Kenny Thompson from Hancock Electric couldn’t be with us today as his family surprised him with a party on his birthday. I am sorry we didn’t get the win he wanted but we all wish him well on his 75th.”
The ACT will return to Oxford Plains Speedway for their 100 lap event as part of the Oxford 250 race weekend. The ACT cars will open the show on Saturday August 27 with the winner guaranteed a spot on Sunday in the 250.