{"id":20141,"date":"2019-04-09T10:53:09","date_gmt":"2019-04-09T14:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maineracing.com\/wp\/?p=20141"},"modified":"2019-04-09T08:54:10","modified_gmt":"2019-04-09T12:54:10","slug":"payea-ready-to-begin-drive-for-three-straight-titles-at-oxford%ef%bb%bf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/2019\/04\/payea-ready-to-begin-drive-for-three-straight-titles-at-oxford%ef%bb%bf\/","title":{"rendered":"Payea Ready to Begin Drive for Three Straight Titles at Oxford?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Payea Ready to Begin Drive for Three Straight Titles at Oxford<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Waterbury, VT<\/em> \u2013 The American-Canadian Tour (ACT) opens its 2019 point-counting season at Maine\u2019s Oxford Plains Speedway this Sunday, April 14 with the Oxford 150. And just like in 2017 and 2018, many eyes will be on Colchester, VT\u2019s Scott Payea when the field takes the green.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Payea enters the year looking to join a select group in ACT annals. The veteran has won the last two ACT Late Model Tour championships with some of the most impressive numbers in ACT history. He has won seven races in that time, including a record-tying four straight in 2017. Payea also has a streak of 26 straight top-10 finishes dating back to the 2016 campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another championship this year would put Payea in elite company. ACT has awarded nearly 60 touring series championships between the ACT Pro Stock Tour, ACT Late Model Tour, and S\u00e9rie ACT. But only four drivers have won three straight titles. Robbie Crouch and Junior Hanley both did so on the ACT Pro Stock Tour, while Brian Hoar (twice) and Jean-Paul Cyr have pulled off the feat with the ACT Late Model Tour. Despite the opportunity to make history, Payea is taking the same measured approach to the season as he always does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to approach this season just like we did the last couple years,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve spent all winter in the shop working hard, and we\u2019re going to take each race one at a time. We\u2019re going to do our homework in the shop each week and hopefully show up with the best car each race.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Payea is entering his fourth year driving for Rick Paya and RPM Racing. The Payea-Paya combo already has 10 wins with finishes of second, first, and first in points. If teams get stronger by staying together, the duo may be better than ever this season \u2013 especially since Payea says they have unprecedented stability from 2018 to 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think this is the first year we\u2019ll have the exact same crew members coming back,\u201d Payea remarked. \u201cI think that\u2019s a big positive for us. It\u2019s tough \u2013 the competition is tough every year. You have guys that are building on their programs, so we just need to stay on top of our game and really focus on what we do at the race track. We work hard in the shop all week, but at the race track, we still need to be on top of our game, because (the Tour) is so competitive that anybody can compete for the win.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team will have some tough challengers in its quest for another title. Williamstown, VT\u2019s Jimmy Hebert and Lebanon, NH\u2019s Rich Dubeau return after finishing in the top-5 in points last year. Three-time champion Wayne Helliwell Jr. is back with ACT after a two-year absence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top rookies from 2018 like Milton, VT\u2019s Dylan Payea and Graniteville, VT\u2019s Christopher Pelkey are back with a season of experience. E. Bridgewater, MA\u2019s Ryan Kuhn has joined the Tour after winning the 2018 Seekonk Speedway championship while former S\u00e9rie ACT Champion Jonathan Bouvrette of Blainville, QC leads a large Canadian field. Payea knows these drivers and many others won\u2019t give an inch on the track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAny given race, it could be any one of them that\u2019s tough,\u201d Payea said. \u201cIt\u2019ll be interesting to see who can put the full season together. Jimmy (Hebert) has shown some tremendous speed week after week, so if he can put the full season together and really challenge, he\u2019s one to look out for. And Rich (Dubeau) and his team \u2013 you\u2019ve got to love a team like that who just keeps building on their success. They had a great first outing at Richmond. I\u2019m looking for big things from him this year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, Payea will tackle a schedule with several changes. The ACT Late Model Tour returns to Epping, NH\u2019s Star Speedway and Vall\u00e9e-Jct., QC\u2019s Autodrome Chaudiere for the first time since 2013 and 2015, respectively. Second dates have been added at Connecticut\u2019s Thompson Speedway and N. Woodstock, NH\u2019s White Mountain Motorsports Park. The latter is a 250-lap, $10,000-to-win showdown that Payea finished third in last year as an open event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI like some new challenges,\u201d Payea said. \u201cI\u2019ve never raced at Star before. That\u2019ll be exciting to go experience a new track on the Tour. Another trip to Thompson will be great as well. We\u2019ve had some okay runs there, but we\u2019ll look to build on those.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The season begins for Payea and the rest of the ACT Tour at the historic Oxford oval. Payea has a win at the track but was involved in spins at both events last year. Despite those incidents, he finished in the top-10 in each event and will look for a better result this time around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just looking for a solid start,\u201d Payea concluded. \u201cHopefully we have a good car and we can run up front and compete for the win. But just having a clean, solid start will kick off the season right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first green flag of the 2019 ACT Late Model Tour season flies this Sunday, April 14 at Oxford Plains Speedway. Both ACT and the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) Super Late Models have 150-lap events and are joined by the PASS Modifieds, Honey Badger Street Stock Series, and North East Mini Stock Tour. Post time is 1:30pm. The pits open at 8:00am and the grandstands open at 10:00am. Admission is $25 for adults, $12 for kids ages 6-12, and $60 for a family of four (two adults, two kids). A practice day is scheduled for Saturday, April 13 from 12:30pm-5:00pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Payea Ready to Begin Drive for Three Straight Titles at Oxford Waterbury, VT \u2013 The American-Canadian Tour (ACT) opens its 2019 point-counting season at Maine\u2019s Oxford Plains Speedway this Sunday, April 14 with the Oxford 150. And just like in 2017 and 2018, many eyes will be on Colchester, VT\u2019s Scott Payea when the field takes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1305,878,13,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-act","category-maine-race-tracks","category-oxford-plains-speedway","category-latest-touring-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20141"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20142,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20141\/revisions\/20142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}