MacDONALD TWO FOR TWO IN A.C.T. AT NEW SMYRNA SPEEDWAY WORLD SERIES - PREECE &
EDDY TAKE MOD WINS
What a difference a day makes as the American-Canadian Tour Late Model feature
was anything but “clean and green” on night number four of the 48th annual
World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway. However, the
result would be the same as Eddie MacDonald of Rowley, MA scored his second
consecutive win.
The 100-lap Race #1 of the American Racer Challenge Cup would not mirror the
previous night when the entire distance was run under green flag conditions
with MacDonald leading every lap. Monday’s event would see eight caution
flags and seven lead changes among three drivers before MacDonald would again
emerge victorious.
Three heat races set the field for the nightcap with those heat victories
going to Alex Labbe of St-Albert, QC, Wayne Helliwell, Jr. of Dover, NH and
Tiverton, RI driver Ray Parent. The plus/minus system from the heats was used
to determine the feature line-up placing Patrick Laperle of St-Denis, QC on
the pole flanked by Joey Polewarczyk, Jr. of Hudson, NH. MacDonald started
from third spot with Rowland Robinson, Jr. of Steuben, ME in fourth starting
position.
Laperle got the jump on the start as he led an early four car breakaway that
included Polewarczyk, MacDonald and Aaron Fellows. By lap ten Laperle began
to pull away as several other cars moved in to form a nine car “freight train”
battling for second through tenth spots. On lap 14 MacDonald and Fellows
passed Polewarczyk as Polewarczyk’s car began to fall back into the field and
out of the top ten. MacDonald and Fellows began to close on Laperle as
Polewarczyk was fading fast, victim of a deflating tire that caused him to
spin in turn two on lap 26 to bring out the first caution of ACT competition
for the week. Polewarczyk pitted for new rubber while Alex Labbe also came
down pit road as his crew jacked up the back of his car trying to correct a
problem at the rear of the machine. Both were back on track for the restart.
As the field took the green Robinson slapped the front stretch wall hard to
keep the caution flag out. He took his damaged machine to the pits and out of
the event. MacDonald turned up the juice and passed Laperle for the lead on
the restart but one lap later a big wreck took place as several cars toward
the back of the field got tangled up going into turn one. When the dust
cleared the cars of Polewarczyk, Labbe, Jeff Rocco, Brad Babb, Brandon Atkins
and Tom Carey, Jr. all had some kind of damage. Both Polewarczyk and Rocco
were forced out of action.
A great side-by-side battle ensued between MacDonald and Laperle for several
laps after the restart before MacDonald broke free on lap 32. One lap later
Fellows edged past Laperle and began to reel in MacDonald. Lap 36 saw caution
fly again as Carey spun in turn four,
Fellows kept the pressure on MacDonald and passed him for the lead just before
the half-way mark. At lap 50 it was Fellows out front followed by MacDonald,
Laperle, Josh Demers, Keith Rocco, Nick Sweet, Helliwell, Travis Stearns (up
from 20th starting spot and Brandon White. Fellows began to check out at this
point opening up the biggest lead of the race while Demers passed Laperle for
third on the 61st lap.
Helliwell was now on the charge passing both Keith Rocco and Sweet to move
into fifth on lap 63. He then dusted off Laperle for fourth on lap 65 and got
by Demers for third on lap 76. By now Fellows was easily in charge with
MacDonald a solid second place. On lap 86, Keith Rocco, Stearns and Laperle
tried going into turn one three wide. Laperle’s car was pushed up into the
“marbles” and his machine slid hard into the wall putting him out of the
race.
Following the restart all heck broke loose on the back stretch. Edward
LeClerc, Jr. was tapped into a spin. As he slid backwards into turn three,
LeClerc’s car was hit head-on by Ray Parent. Also getting a piece of the
action were Babb, Donald Theetge and Jean-Pierre Ouimet. All were able to
continue except Babb and Ouimet. One lap later, Brandon White spun in turn
four to bring out the yellow flag again.
On the restart MacDonald got a second wind and he zoomed by Fellows into the
lead. Lap 89 saw Fellows spinning around courtesy of Stearns and both were
sent to the back of the pack for what would be the final restart of the
event.
MacDonald had some token pressure from Helliwell but he held on for the win as
Helliwell backed up his opening night third place finish with a second on this
night. Labbe had the drive of the night coming back from his earlier pit stop
and involvement in the lap 28 turn one incident to get the final spot on the
podium. Nick Sweet claimed fourth while Josh Demers was fifth. Pete Yetman
had a great drive for sixth coming back from a bad heat race crash the day
before. Completing the top ten were Donald Theetge, Travis Stearns, a
disappointed Aaron Fellows (who led the most laps) and Brandon White.
Chuck Hossfeld of Buffalo, NY again set quick time for the Tour-Type Modifieds
at 17.229 seconds with fellow New Yorker Ryan Preece second with a lap of
17.296. Preece had the outside pole for the 35-lap feature and he took off
like a rocket when the green flag flew and was never headed in this one as the
entire event ran without a caution.
While Preece was racing in a different county, eventually winning by 1.6
seconds, Justin Bonsignore, driving a different car that he had the previous
two races, held off Hossfeld for second. J. R. Bertuccio was fourth and Jimmy
Zacharias fifth. Sixth through tenth were Kevin Goodale, Eric Goodale,
Spencer Davis, Cole Powell and Al Ermmarino.
Tim Moore of Pinellas Park set fast time for the Florida/IMCA Modifieds with a
lap of 18.871 seconds topping the 18.901 lap set by New Smyrna’s Jerry “The
Hammer” Symons. The top eight were inverted for the start of the 35-lap main
event placing Beaverton, MI driver Travis Eddy on the pole. The initial start
was aborted when Eddy was spun by Alan Bruns on the opening lap. At that time
the field was brought down pit road to check for a car that might be leaking
as fluid had been spotted on the track. All cars were OK though but Symons’
crew removed the hood on his car and made some adjustments. Because of that,
Symons had to start the race from the back of the field.
Eddy got a good jump on the restart and took the lead. A rough World Series
continued for local favorite Tank Tucker as he slowed and pitted during the
third lap. He would return to the fray on lap nine but was now out of
contention for the win. Symons dropped out on lap seven as the defending
World Series and track champion also continued a frustrating week.
Doug Moff of Ft. Myers was now on the charge and he blasted to the front on
lap five and set sail. He had the race well in hand when he suddenly pulled
on pit road with mechanical issues on lap 15. Eddy re-claimed the point and
held off a determined Kevyn Terry for the win.
Eddy was ecstatic in victory lane where his father Mike had been so many times
in World Series competition during his career. “We’re a little under-powered
here this week,” said Eddy. “I just can’t believe we actually got a win and I
really want to thank my whole family for making this possible,” he said.
Meanwhile, Terry said he had the faster car. “I definitely was faster but he
(Eddy) was running a really good line out there. I could have got up there
and nudged him a bit but I don’t race that way. I want to win here so bad…
we’ll get one pretty soon,” said Terry.
Moore came up to third at the finish but was too far back to catch the leaders
without benefit of a caution. Bruns came home fourth with Robert Deal fifth.
OFFICIAL RESULTS - NEW SMYRNA SPEEDWAY WORLD SERIES NIGHT 4 - 2/16/15:
AMERICAN-CANADIAN TOUR LATE MODELS (100 Laps):
- Eddie MacDonald, Rowley, MA #17 MA
- Wayne Helliwell, Jr., Dover, NH #27 NH
- Alex Labbe, St-Albert, QC #48 QC
- Nick Sweet, Barre, VT #40 VT
- Josh Demers, Montpelier, VT #10 VT
- Pete Yetman, Peru, MA #21 MA
- Donald Theetge, Boischatel, QC #80 QC
- Travis Stearns, Auburn, ME #16 ME
- Aaron Fellows, Croydon, HN #29 NH
- Brandon White, Kahnawake, QC #96 QC
- Ray Parent, Tiverton, RI #17 RI
- Emily Packard, East Montpelier, VT #9 VT
- Keith Rocco, Berlin, CT #1 CT
- Brandon Atkins, Au Sable Forks, NY #4 NY
- Tom Carey, Jr., New Salem, MA #10 MA
- Edward LeClerc, Jr., Taunton, MA #14 MA
- Patrick Laperle, St-Denis, QC #91 QC
- Brad Babb, Windham, ME #15 ME
- Jean-Pierre Ouimet, Terrebone, QC #07 QC
- Jeff Rocco, Wallingford, CT #68 CT
- Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., Hudson, NH #97 NH
- Rowland Robinson, Jr., Steuben, ME #28 ME
- Dylan Smith, Concord, NC #40 NC
- Daniel Descoste, St-Joseph, QC #2 QC
- Kyle Welch, Newport, NH #9 NH
Lap leaders: Patrick Laperle 1-26, Eddie MacDonald 27-28, Laperle 29,
MacDonald 30, Laperle 31, MacDonald 32-47, Aaron Fellows 48-87, MacDonald
88-100
TOUR-TYPE MODIFIEDS (35 Laps):
- Ryan Preece, Calverton, NY #6
- Justin Bonsignone, West Islip, NY #51
- Chuck Hossfeld, Buffalo, NY #22
- J. R. Bertuccio, Statesville, NC #2
- Jimmy Zacharias, Candor, NY #71
- Kevin Goodale, Wading River, NY #58
- Eric Goodale, Wading River, NY #158
- Spencer Davis, Dawsonville, GA #79
- Cole Powell, Mt, Brydges, ON #73
- Al Ermmarino, Brookhaven, NY #3
- Dylan Kopec, Palmer, MA #179
- Danny Watts, Riverhead, NY #82
- Kirk Totten, Lockport, NY
- Paul Hartwig, Jr., Lakewood, NJ #73H
- Mike Bolona, Mooresville, NC #21
Lap leader: Ryan Preece 1-35
FLORIDA/IMCA-TYPE MODIFIEDS (35 Laps)
- Travis Eddy, Beaverton, MI #78
- Kevyn Terry, Citra, FL #13
- Tim Moore, Pinellas Park, FL #57
- Alan Bruns, Clermont, FL #4B
- Robert Deal, Titusville, FL #15D
- Matt Wheeler, New Smyrna Beach, FL #96
- Matt Bosowski, Hudson, NH #9NH
- Tank Tucker, New Smyrna Beach, FL #15T
- Doug Moff, Ft. Myers, FL #46
- Jerry Symons, New Smyrna Beach, FL #66
- Ricky Anderson, Wildwood, FL #13X
DNS - Camron Ray, Homosassa, FL #9R
DNS - Dan Burden, North Canton, OH #34
Lap Leaders: Travis Eddy 1-4, Doug Moff 5-14, Eddy 15-35
