May 3, 2012 | American Canadian Tour, Maine Racing News, NE Racing News, Touring Series News
Jamie Aube (41VT) and Austin Theriault (57ME) run side-by-side during the 14th Annual Merchants Bank 150 at Thunder Road on Sunday, April 29, 2012. (Photo by Eric LaFleche)
Barre, VT – Victory lane at the Merchants Bank 150 at Thunder Road on Sunday, April 29 was all Brian Hoar, but for weekly contenders there was more to the race than just victory lane. For weekly racers at “The Nation’s Site of Excitement” this was not a point-counting race, but a proving ground to set the stage for a summer-long battle to become the next “King of the Road.”
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May 3, 2012 | American Canadian Tour, Maine Racing News, NE Racing News, Touring Series News
Brian Hoar (37VT) and Wayne Helliwell, Jr. (27NH) fight for the win in the Merchants Bank 150 at Thunder Road on Sunday, April 29.
Waterbury, VT – Eight-time ACT Champion Brian Hoar of Williston, VT has sent a strong message for his title defense, notching wins in the first two ACT events of the season. But perhaps the stronger message has been sent not by Hoar, but by Wayne Helliwell Jr. of Dover, NH who rides second overall in the series.
Helliwell, the four-time Lee USA Champ, has finished second in each of the opening two events. In the season opener at Lee USA Speedway, he looked to have the car to beat and launched an assault on the back bumper of Hoar for the last ten laps at the track he calls home. More impressively, the Bruce Bernhardt-owned team came to Thunder Road, a track where they had typically struggled, and had the crowd on their feet with yet another late race assault of the eight-time Champion. The cheers paused momentarily with two laps to go after contact from Helliwell, hungry for his first ACT Tour win, had Hoar sideways out of turn four. A classy lift allowed Hoar to gather it back up and head to his first ever Merchants Bank 150 win.
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May 3, 2012 | American Canadian Tour, Maine Racing News, NE Racing News, Touring Series News
Excitement Builds for Inaugural VT State Championship
Phil Scott celebrates a Thunder Road feature win during the 2011 season. (Photo by Leif Tillotson)
Barre, VT – The first entry for the recently announced Vermont State Late Model Championship series has been received from Phil Scott, the Lt. Governor of Vermont from Berlin. The all-time win list leader at Barre’s Thunder Road and multi-time Champion is an early favorite to win the Vermont State Championship Series.
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May 1, 2012 | American Canadian Tour, Maine Racing News, NE Racing News, Touring Series News
BKR Development Driver 5th At Pensacola; Posts Top-10 In ACT Race
Planes, trains and automobiles. That’s what it felt like for Austin Theriault this weekend.
The 18-year-old Brad Keselowski Racing development driver hit opposite ends of the East Coast in a three-day span, posting a career-best Super Late Model finish of 5th in Florida less than 48 hours before returning to New England to post a Top-10 run in ACT Late Model Tour action at Thunder Road International Speedbowl.
“It was a long weekend, a lot of miles and a lot of racing, but I had a lot of fun, too,” Theriault said after finishing ninth Sunday in the Merchants Bank 150 at Thunder Road. “The Late Model, the Super Late Model – they both have four tires, but they really drive a lot different. At first, honestly, I don’t think I even realized how different they can be. But getting out here (at Thunder Road) and jumping into the Late Model and launching off into that first turn this weekend, it was like, ‘Whoa.’”
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Apr 29, 2012 | American Canadian Tour, Maine Racing News, NE Racing News, Touring Series News
Barre, VT – Eight-time and defending ACT Champion Brian Hoar, of Williston VT, rode a hot streak on his way to his second win in a row on the ACT Tour in the Merchants Bank 150 on Sunday, April 29 at Thunder Road. Hoar fought off former Lee USA Champion Wayne Helliwell Jr, of Dover NH, and two-time Serie ACT Castrol Champion Patrick Laperle of St. Denis, QC for his first ever Merchants Bank 150 win.
Hoar started from the second position, after a +6 plus minus out of his heat, and stole the lead from Thunder Road defending Champion Dave Pembroke on lap 21. Hoar paced the field for 19 laps only to lose the lead to seven-time ACT Champion Jean Paul Cyr on lap 40. Cyr took the lead and looked unstoppable for 79 laps, slicing and dicing through lap traffic, until lap 109 caution in which he pitted after the other leaders to take tires. Helliwell Jr, and two-time Merchants Bank 150 Champ Nick Sweet battled it out before Sweet headed down pit road on a lap 116 caution, leaving Hoar, Laperle, and Helliwell to fight for the win.
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Apr 29, 2012 | American Canadian Tour, Maine Racing News, NE Racing News, Touring Series News
14th Annual Merchants Bank 150 Weekend
Thunder Road International Speedbowl
PITS NOTES SATURDAY APRIL 28, 2012
· 109 cars attended the annual Car Show held at Thunder Road
· 46 ACT Late Models participated in practice in preparation for Sunday’s Merchants Bank 150.
· Joey Polewarcyzk Jr. of Hudson, NH had the fastest lap time of 13.069.
· Other fast times were set by defending Late Model Champion Dave Pembroke, two-time defending Merchants Bank 150 Champion Nick Sweet, Lt. Governor Phil Scott, former Rookie of the Year Cody Blake, as well as Ben Rowe, Brooks Clark, Randy Potter, and Cris Michaud in the Merchants Bank Ford Fusion.
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