Packard excited for ACT race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
EAST MONTPELIER, Vt. – After a couple poor experiences at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the 17 year old East Montpelier native looks forward to redeeming herself. Emily Packard loves racing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and is hoping for a good run on Saturday in her 9x Northstar Fireworks/Packard Fuels car in the Bond Auto Parts ACT Invitational.
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Includes Full Bond ACT Invitational Roster
Waterbury, VT – The starting field for the 6th annual Bond Auto ACT Invitational at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) on Saturday, September 20, 2014 has been set. The sixth edition of the event will have the American Canadian Tour (ACT) introducing fans to a promising future for regional Late Model short track stock car racing. Veteran champions and former NHMS winners Eddie MacDonald, Rowley, MA; Joey Polewarczyk, Jr. (Pole), Hudson, NH; Ray Parent, Tiverton, RI; and Brian Hoar, Williston, VT have all won events at the “Magic Mile”. This year there are lots of young emerging stars who will challenge the veterans.
Top ten point chasers who are looking to make a statement at the Bond Auto ACT Invitational include two Vermont drivers, Jimmy Hebert, Williamstown and 18 year-old Emily Packard, E. Montpelier. Hebert already has two ACT wins with an opening event at Lee USA Speedway in 2013 and a win at the 7/8ths mile Sanair Speedway, outside Montreal, Quebec. He was also second-fastest of the thirty-five (35) cars participating in the recent test and tune session at NHMS. Packard may have more laps in 2014 than any other competitor in the field entering the Invitational. She has raced a full schedule on the ACT US and is currently 5th in points, less than 10 points out of second place. She also has maintained full-time weekly schedules at both Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl in Barre, VT and Devil’s Bowl Speedway in West Haven, VT.
Waterbury, VT – The starting field for the 6th annual Bond Auto ACT Invitational at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 20 has been established. A field of 43 teams will compete in the 50-mile event that pays a minimum of seventy-five hundred dollars ($7,500) to win and one thousand dollars ($1,000) for 43rd. Teams have been chosen from throughout the Northeastern United States and the Province of Quebec, Canada to take part in one of the American Canadian Tour’s (ACT) most anticipated events of each year.
Previous Bond Auto ACT Invitationals have been won by some of the most notable names throughout the short tracks of the Northeast. Eddie MacDonald from Rowley, MA has three (3) Invitational wins; Joey Polewarczyk, Jr. (Pole) from Hudson, NH, and Ray Parent from Tiverton, RI each has won an Invitational. Using the unique ACT handicap system, every Invitational winner has come from a starting position no better than 19th-28th to take the wins.
Photo by Alan Ward
Nick Sweet Wins Coca-Cola Labor Day Classic 200
Barre, VT – Derrick O’Donnell of North Haverhill, NH claimed his second straight Thunder Late Model “King of the Road” title at the conclusion of the 36th annual Coca-Cola Labor Day Classic 200 at Thunder Road on Monday, September 1. Second place point man Nick Sweet of Barre did all he could to snatch the title away from O’Donnell by claiming his second career Labor Day Classic victory, but O’Donnell’s seventh consecutive podium finish in second was enough to earn him the title.
The event originally scheduled for Sunday, August 31 was pushed back to Labor Day Monday due to rain. When the feature event finally went green, the defending track champion and point leader took the green flag 18th on the 32 car field, while Sweet started 14th and trailed in the standings by 16 points. At the start of the event, Sweet rocketed to the front of the field and settled in to the third spot by lap 41. O’Donnell patiently worked his way through the field and ran just inside the top ten through the first 140 laps
Emily Packard
EAST MONTPELIER, Vt – First time out at the Riverside Speedway in Ste-Croix Quebec with the American Canadian Tour, and things did not go how the 17 year old East Montpelier, VT driver had hoped. Emily Packard and the 9x Northstar Fireworks/Packard Fuels team spent the three practices working on the handling of the car to make Packard more comfortable getting around the track. “It was definitely a track that took some getting used to,” said Packard, “and it took me some time adapt to it, but we eventually go the car to my liking.”
When the heat races rolled off, Packard started ninth in the third heat, and struggled to gain any ground on her competitors. When the heat race ended, Packard had moved up to seventh place which meant that she would need to run one of the two consolation races to try to get in the feature. Starting in fourth in the second consolation race Packard continued to fight her race car and the track, and finished the race in fifth place.
photo by Alan Ward
Billado, Bousquet, Martin Take Tiger Triple 50 Wins
Barre, VT – Shawn Fleury of Middlesex battled by John Donahue on the final restart with three laps to go in the 50 lap Thunder Road Late Model feature during the Jet Service event on Sunday, August 24. Following the second and final caution of the event on lap 47, Fleury started to the outside of Donahue and the duo swapped paint all the way around the highbanked quarter-mile during a wild finish over the final three laps. On the final lap, Fleury got the advantage in the high lane and claimed his second win of the season.
Donahue settled for second ahead of current point leader Derrick O’Donnell completing the podium. Jason Corliss and Trampas Demers earned top five finishes. Nick Sweet, Joey Laquerre, rookie Eric Badore, Brooks Clark and rookie Josh Demers completed the top ten.