Sep 26, 2013 | American Canadian Tour, Touring Series News
ACT Late Model Tour: Brian Hoar
Airborne Speedway Race Preview
THE STORY
GEORGIA, Vt. – Eight-time ACT Late Model Tour champion Brian Hoar of Williston, Vt., heads to one of the tracks that has been the best to him in his career – Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y. – for the Fall Foliage 200 on Saturday, September 28. Hoar has an ACT Late Model Tour-record 39 career victories, including a Tour-record eight alone at Airborne, where he began his racing career in the weekly divisions. Hoar won at the track already this season while running a partial ACT schedule, taking the Airborne 100 in May, and the RPM Motorsports No. 37 GossCars.com Dodge also finished second in the inaugural International 500 at the track in July.
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Sep 26, 2013 | American Canadian Tour, Touring Series News
ACT Late Model Tour: Emily Packard
Airborne Speedway Race Preview
THE STORY
EAST MONTPELIER, Vt. – Emily Packard of East Montpelier, Vt., returns to the type of track where she’s had the most success in her young career for the ACT Late Model Tour Fall Foliage 200 at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y., on Saturday, September 28. Packard has been at her best on the flat, half-mile tracks like Airborne, and she posted her first career ACT Top-10 starting spot at Airborne last season. She has produced similarly strong runs at Devil’s Bowl Speedway, another wide half-mile track, and the driver of the No. 9x Northstar Fireworks/Berlin Optical Expressions Chevrolet thinks that success should translate into this weekend. Packard finished fourth in the final Vermont State Championship Series standings, which included half of its races at Devil’s Bowl, and she’s looking to rebound from an early ending to the ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last weekend.
THE FACTS
WHO: Emily Packard, East Montpelier, Vt.
CREW CHIEF: Neal Woodward, Georgia, Vt.
TEAM: No. 9x Northstar Fireworks/Berlin Optical Expressions Chevrolet
SPONSORS: Northstar Fireworks, Fecteau Homes, Berlin Optical Expressions, Yipes! of Barre, VT Shifter Karts, GossCars.com, Be The Match, Rutland Regional Medical Center, R.G. Paving
BEST CAREER AIRBORNE SPEEDWAY FINISH: 15th (October 2012)
LAST RACE AT AIRBORNE SPEEDWAY: 32nd (July 2013)
WHAT: ACT Late Model Tour Fall Foliage 200
WHERE: Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y. (.500-mile oval)
WHEN: Saturday, September 28 – 10 a.m., practice; 1:30 p.m., qualifying; 4 p.m., race
ACT Late Model Tour
LAST RACE: September 21, ACT Invitational, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, N.H. (42nd)
DID YOU KNOW?
Emily Packard became the first woman to win a NASCAR-sanctioned Late Model event at Canaan Fair Speedway in Canaan, N.H., when she won the Twin 25s event at the track on June 1 of this season.
Emily Packard was one of 43 Late Model drivers in the region selected to participate in the fifth annual Bond Auto ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 21 – her second consecutive appearance in the event.
Emily Packard became the first woman in a decade to win a feature event at Thunder Road International Speedbowl when she won a Street Stock feature at the track last summer.
Emily Packard was voted the 2012 Vermont Motorsports Magazine Rookie of the Year, and she was also named the Vermont Sportswriters & Sportscasters Association Athlete of the Month for August 2012.
Emily Packard Motorsports crew chief Neal Woodward is a five-time ACT Late Model Tour champion crew chief whose cars set track qualifying records at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Beech Ridge Motor Speedway.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
EMILY PACKARD, Driver of the No. 9x Northstar Fireworks/Berlin Optical Expressions Chevrolet, On the racing at Airborne Speedway this weekend: “I’m definitely looking forward to it. Airborne has a lot of room. You can definitely do a lot of two-lane racing there, and there’s enough room to go three-wide, too. There’s more room, and it’s a lot deeper than a place like Thunder Road. We’ve seen over and over how three-wide can be a little risky on the smaller tracks.
“I can’t wait to go back and redeem ourselves for last time. When we were there in July (for the International 500), we got caught up in that big wreck at the start of the second segment and our day was over. It was as hard a hit as I’ve ever had, and I want to make up for that.”
On what makes Airborne Speedway unique: “Every track has its own little thing about it that makes it great. That track at Airborne is very, very different – very different. It’s like all of a sudden a big sweeping turn becomes a straightaway and you have to be ready to turn the car.
“I’ve always liked the bigger tracks, and this is another one that I’m looking forward to.”
On the second half of the season: “Everybody’s been working really hard. It’s good that we’re finally having some good finishes – aside from getting collected by someone else at Loudon last weekend – and we’ve had some luck on our side, too. That always helps.
“There are still some big races for us coming up, so I’m excited. I’m really excited about how things have gone the last few weeks. We struggled a little bit at the beginning of the season, but now we’re finally clicking and the things we’re doing with the car are working for us.”
Sep 26, 2013 | Maine Racing News, PASS
PASS North Series: Austin Theriault
Oxford Plains Speedway Race Preview
THE STORY
Austin Theriault of Fort Kent, Maine, looks to make it two in a row in PASS North Series competition when he returns to Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Maine, for the PASS Championship 150 on Saturday, September 28. Theriault won the most recent PASS North event, the Southern Maine Chrysler Dodge Jeep 300 at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway two weeks ago, and he won the season finale at Oxford Plains in 2012 for his first Super Late Model win. He returns to the seat of his family-owned AT Racing No. 57 Pelletier Ford/Daigle Oil Ford for the final PASS event of the 2013 season. Last weekend, Theriault was in his Brad Keselowski Racing No. 29 at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Fla. – an effort cut short by a mechanical failure, and he’s hoping to bounce back from that in his home state at a track where he has three consecutive Top-5 finishes in the Oxford 250.
THE FACTS
WHO: Austin Theriault, Fort Kent, Maine
TEAM: AT Racing No. 57 Pelletier Ford Ford Fusion
BEST CAREER OXFORD PLAINS SPEEDWAY FINISH: 1st (October 2012)
LAST RACE AT OXFORD PLAINS: 4th (July 2013)
WHAT: PASS North Series Championship 150
WHERE: Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford, Maine (.375-mile oval)
WHEN: Friday, September 27 – 12 noon, practice; Saturday, September 28 – 9 a.m., practice; 1 p.m., qualifying; 4 p.m., race
PASS North Series
LAST RACE: September 15, Southern Maine Chrysler Dodge Jeep 300, Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Scarborough, Maine (1st)
DID YOU KNOW?
Austin Theriault has PASS South Series wins this season at Dillon Motor Speedway in Dillon, S.C., and Southern National Motorsports Park in Kenly, N.C., while driving for Brad Keselowski Racing.
Austin Theriault has four career PASS-sanctioned victories, including a win two weeks ago in the longest race on the schedule – the Southern Maine Chrysler Dodge Jeep 300 – and the PASS North Series season finale at Oxford Plains Speedway in October of 2012.
Austin Theriault has never finished worse than ninth in a PASS North Series race in his career.
Austin Theriault finished fourth in this summer’s TD Bank Oxford 250, his third consecutive Top-5 finish in the event.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
AUSTIN THERIAULT, Driver of the AT Racing No. 57 Pelletier Ford/Daigle Oil Ford Fusion, On any ‘home track’ advantage he might have at Oxford Plains Speedway: “I think we honestly do feel like we have a little bit of an advantage because we’ve had far more races at Oxford than a lot of the PASS guys have. They’ve only been running at Oxford a couple of years, where we’ve had a lot of ACT (Late Model Tour) races at the track. I feel like from a driver’s standpoint, I have more laps at Oxford. I can’t tell you how much or how little it helps, but the more seat time you have, the better things usually go.
“For us, it’s about having more seat time, more time on the track, knowing what to expect from the track as the day goes on. It’s a lot of basic stuff like that, but I think it helps us.”
On running select races in Maine this season: “It comes down to the fact that I think we can compete for wins up here. It’s also nice to not forget where you came from and support the people who supported you for a bunch of years. That’s why I’m racing up north – to support Crazy Horse Racing and all the people who have played a part in my career and made it possible for me to get where I am now.”
On racing at Oxford Plains Speedway: “It’s very unique. You don’t find tracks like these down South. Beech Ridge and Oxford are one of a kind, and I’ve learned a lot racing those tracks. I give them a lot of credit for where I’m at now and how I drive a race car.
“That’s why I enjoy coming to (Oxford), in particular. I don’t find the pressure is on at all. Obviously, we want to perform, and we’re plenty capable of doing that.”
UP NEXT
Austin Theriault heads to one of the most historic races of the year, the Winchester 400 at Winchester Speedway in Winchester, Ind, on Oct. 13… Theriault made his first appearance on the lightning-fast half-mile last season, running with the leaders for most of the event before a mechanical failure took him out of contention.
Sep 26, 2013 | American Canadian Tour, NHMS, Touring Series News
ACT Late Model Tour: Taylor Martin
New Hampshire Motor Speedway Race Report
LOUDON, N.H. – Taylor Martin of Windham, N.H., finished 26th in the fifth annual Bond Auto ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H., on Saturday, September 21. Martin, who was making just her second career Late Model start, started 30th by virtue of the ACT Late Model Tour’s unique handicapping system for the starting grid in the event. She avoided a multi-car accident on the frontstretch in the early laps of the 50-lap race, and she later avoided disaster when a car directly in front of her began spraying oil on the track. Martin’s day got off to an auspicious start with an overheating problem in practice, but that was quickly repaired and the No. 20 Matt Brown Truck Repair Ford returned to the track during the session. Martin capped off her history-making day, in which she became the first driver to compete in two Invitational events on the same day at NHMS, by finishing third in the Granite State Legends Car Series Gifford’s Ice Cream 25 on the mini-oval.
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Sep 26, 2013 | American Canadian Tour, Touring Series News
Waterbury, VT – The American Canadian Tour rolls into Airborne Speedway this Saturday, September 28 for the Fall Foliage 200 season finale. The 2013 ACT Championship battle has been narrowed down to three contenders. Defending ACT Champion Wayne Helliwell, Jr. leads the way over Joey Polewarczyk, Jr. and Jimmy Hebert, who are both eager to take home their first championship title.
Helliwell and his E-Keys 4 Cars Ford claimed the 2012 ACT Championship with a win in the Fall Foliage 200 last season. This year he has to fend off Hudson, NH’s Polewarczyk, who claimed the biggest win of 2013 in the ACT International 500 at Airborne back in July. Breakout star, Hebert is also in the mix with two ACT wins of his own already this year.
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Sep 25, 2013 | Maine Race Tracks, Oxford Plains Speedway, PASS
NAPLES, ME (September 24) – After a hard fought season battling fellow competitors and pesky weather, the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) will crown its first champions of the year this weekend at Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine. It will be the final weekend of racing for New England’s premier short trackers as the championships will be decided for the PASS North Super Late Models, PASS Modifieds and PASS Sportsman. The points are extremely tight heading to Oxford, particularly in the Super Late Model and Modified divisions.
The PASS North Super Late Model championship is down to three drivers realistically, points leader Cassius Clark, Joey Doiron, and DJ Shaw. Defending PASS North champion and 2013 TD Bank 250 winner Travis Benjamin sits fourth in points, still with a mathematical shot at another championship as well.
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ACT Late Model Tour: Brian Hoar
