ACT Late Models Shine at NH Motor Speedway
Eddie MacDonald Wins Both ACT and NASCAR Camping World East Races
Sep 28, 2009
The 29 year-old Rowley, MA stock car racer won the American Canadian Tour (ACT) Late Model Invitational 50-lap feature one day after winning the NASCAR Camping World East Series Helluva Good 125.
The American Canadian Tour Late Models were making their first appearance on the one-mile oval as a part of a three-day schedule that concluded with the Sylvania 300, the first race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup chase. Less than 24 hours after winning the Camping World East Series Helluva Good 125, MacDonald drove the his New England Mechanical Overlay sponsored No. 17 from his 19th starting spot on the 36-car grid and passed Ontario teenager Brandon Watson for the lead on lap 35.
THUNDER ROAD DRIVER EXCELS
Thunder Road regular Nick Sweet of Barre patiently advanced to finish second, two car-lengths back in the St. J Auto No. 88. Watson edged Patrick Laperle at the line by inches to place third. John Donahue, 14th at the halfway mark, rallied for fifth. Veteran Joey Laquerre, 66, spent most of the final 20 laps in the top five before a late race twitch dropped him to sixth. Positions 7-10 went to Brad Leighton, Brian Hoar, Bruce Thomas and Joey Polewarczyk Jr.
GOODYEAR TIRES PERFORM
Some skeptics considered the ACT Late Model cars, equipped with GM crate motors and 8’ Goodyear tires, to be insufficient to turn a quality race on the New Hampshire mile, but the race needed only two cautions and produced plenty of side by side racing and five lead changes. On the final restart on lap 41, Watson beat MacDonald to the punch from the outside of the front row. Watson was followed by five-time ACT champion Brian Hoar, leaving MacDonald to scramble back from third. Three laps later he was back in the lead for keeps.
The No.9 (Watson) was quick and when I lost him on the restart, I wasn’t sure I could get him back,” MacDonald said. It’s awesome to win the first ACT here. The whole field was very competitive and raced each other clean and I’m sure they’ll have ACT back. A lot of the crowd stayed for this one after the NASCAR Truck race. This rates right up there with my Oxford 250 win as a great thrill for me this season.”
Another teenager, Joey Doiron of Berwick, ME started on the outside pole, led the first 20 laps and ran in the top five for 35 laps before fading back. Thunder Road champion Jean-Paul Cyr, who started 36th after a tech inspection issue, gained 19 spots to finish 17th.
DOVER DOWNS NEXT FOR MACDONALD
MacDonald, 29, is the son of Lee USA Speedway owners Red and Judy MacDonald. “It’s been awesome,” he said. The Camping World East Series win kept him in title contention as he prepared to head for Dover International Speedway for the Series finale September 26. “Especially to win the inaugural ACT race,” MacDonald continued. "It was just huge to pull that one off. Rollie’s (co-owner and crew chief LaChance) just unbelievable with the setups. He seems to always nail it on the head.”
The next day, while everyone was watching the Sylvania 300, MacDonald and LaChance were at White Mountain Motorsports Park preparing the sister car to the Helluva Good! 125 winner for Dover.
“I thought the ACT race was a big win for racing in general,” LaChance said. There’s a lot of parity with
the ACT cars. They don’t have the horsepower to accelerate quickly. Handling was key. They were packs of cars that raced hard together and there were only two cautions. The race will get better over time. Because of Eddie’s skill and experience there, we were able to start fine-tuning the car early in the testing session. I think other teams were still working out their lines and points on the track. The weighted draw they used was the best system possible, in my opinion, for that race. Steady forward progress was what we wanted. The car was used up coming up through the field like that. We were down to canvas. If the race was a little longer, Nick Sweet would have got us.”
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