OXFORD, ME – Outlaw stock car racer Eddie MacDonald of Rowley, MA made his first American-Canadian Tour (ACT) main event start of the season a good one on Saturday night at Maine’s Oxford Plains Speedway, taking his first career ACT Late Model Tour win in an exciting caution-free Time Warner Cable 100 that was completed in under 29 minutes.<\/p>\n
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MacDonald made a daring inside move underneath recent TD Banknorth 250 Champion “Rocket” Roger Brown of Lancaster, NH to take the lead with ten circuits remaining, then held off a fast-closing Ricky Rolfe in heavy lapped traffic for the victory. “We’re glad to finally get a win with this car,” MacDonald said in victory lane. “It’s been real fast every time out, and my crew did an awesome job getting the car ready tonight.”<\/p>\n
MacDonald, expecting the yellow flag to fly early in the race, was biding his time before making a move on race leader Brown. “It was nice to have no yellow flags, but I was taking it easy at the beginning thinking that there was going to be a yellow,” he said. “I looked up at the scoreboard once and it said lap 67, and I said ‘Wow, I better get on it.’ Luckily the lapped cars slowed the leaders down so I could catch them.” MacDonald, 27, has been picking and choosing his race events in 2007, and was making just his second ACT Late Model Tour appearance of the year. His first attempt, which also came at Oxford Plains Speedway in April, found him missing out on a qualified starting position. Since then, he has been a part-time competitor in weekly events at OPS with multiple top-five finishes, and took a main event win on the NASCAR Busch East Series at Stafford Springs, CT earlier in the year. His win in the Time Warner Cable 100 makes MacDonald the eighth different ACT Late Model Tour feature winner in eight races this season.<\/p>\n
Rolfe, of Albany, ME, is a weekly competitor at Oxford Plains and was an ACT Late Model Tour feature winner in 2002. On lap 91, he passed Brown for second place and made a charge at MacDonald with eight laps remaining, but was unable to complete the outside-lane pass. He settled for second place as OPS Late Model point leader Travis Adams of Canton, ME nipped Brown at the finish line by less than two feet for third place. Six-time ACT Late Model Tour Champion and current point leader Jean-PauL Cyr of Milton, VT finished fifth. Scott Payea of Milton, VT started the race on the pole position after earning a “+8” in ACT’s unique “plus\/minus” qualifying heat race handicapping system, and led the first 71 laps before giving way to Brown. As the handle faded on Payea’s racer, he fell back to finish in sixth place. Unofficially, Brian Hoar of Williston, VT, Glen Luce of Turner, ME, hometown driver Dennis Spencer, Jr., and Shelburne, VT’s Jamie Fisher rounded out the top ten finishers in order. 46 drivers attempted to qualify for 33 starting positions.<\/p>\n