ACTion News Wednesday, August 22, 2007
-by Justin St. Louis

The American-Canadian Tour (ACT) treated a packed White Mountain Motorsports Park grandstand to an exciting
Kancamaugus 100 on Saturday night, and Milton, VTs Scott Payea became the first repeat winner of the season in
nine races.  Payea started fifth in the race and was running in third place on lap 34 when he found himself
avoiding the spinning car of leader Jean-Paul Cyr.  Cyr and second-place driver Joey Polewarczyk had made contact,
and Cyrs spin brought out the yellow flag.

When both drivers were sent to the rear, Payea restarted the race at the point.  He led for 26 laps before Turner,
ME veteran Ben Rowe chased him down.  Rowe, who earlier won a spirited duel with Rocket Roger Brown for second
place, tried both the inside and outside lanes to pass Payea, and eventually got underneath the youngster on lap
61 to take over.  Payea returned the favor after a lap 81 restart, though, taking the high groove around Rowe.  As
the two leaned on each other as Payea passed, Rowes right-front tire was cut and he retired from the race on lap
84.

Payea then survived the final restart on lap 91 to take his second ACT Late Model Tour win of 2007 and the second
of his brief-but-stellar career.  The former NAPA Tiger Sportsman and Allen Lumber Street Stock competitor made
his Late Model debut in a handful of weekly events at White Mountain in 2004, and the win was extra-special for
his family team.

This is where I started racing my Late Model, he said, this is where I learned how to race these cars.  To get
a win here, and to have won at Thunder Road earlier this season, it means a lot to this team.  To beat Ben Rowe on
the outside is that much better, hes one of the best there is.

The 29-car field at White Mountain Motorsports Park was star-studded to say the least.  In addition to the regular
suspects like Cyr, Payea, Randy Potter, Brown, and Brian Hoar, big shots Robbie Crouch, Bobby Dragon, Brad
Leighton, and Rowe also joined the show.  Crouch made his first-ever ACT Late Model Tour start a good one,
finishing in seventh place while fighting with a loose race car.  Leighton finished 11th after starting 20th,
Dragon was 17th.

***

Alexandre Gingras became the first three-time Série ACT Castrol winner in the PRO-FAB 100 at Québecs Autodrome
Chaudière on Friday night.  In front of another, more northerly full house, Gingras edged Patrick Laperle by less
than a car length for the victory, but the man of the night was The Bullet Yvon Bédard of St-Nicolas, QC.

Bédard is a veteran of nearly 30 years, and has been a long-time ACT supporter.  Since his first ACT event in
1983, the affable Bédard has proven that nobody is willing to try harder to get the most of their equipment, even
if that means the race ends early from a crash or a broken part.  On Friday, the driver known for tossing
chocolate chip cookies into the grandstands, courtesy of the Boulangerie St-Methode bakery, raced his way toward
the front of the field, but was sent to the rear for spinning another car.  After admitting his mistake (and how
many drivers are willing to do that?), Bédard took his penalty and made the most of it.  In fact, he made his way
through the pack and into the lead!  Gingras and Laperle passed The Bullet to take the top two positions, but
Bédard found himself with his best career Série ACT Castrol finish in third place.  His previous best the only
other Top 5 finish of his Série ACT Castrol career since the series began in 2005 was a fourth-place run at
Autordrome St-Eustache two years ago.

For the record, Bédard was the 1995 Québec QASCAR Sportsman champion and won a title the following season on the
short-lived Série Pro-Car PROLAB in Québec.

***

Phil Scott took his first win of the Thunder Road campaign in a wild VT ACE Hardware Dealers show at Thunder Road
last Thursday.  The Sailing Senator rode the outside rail from 17th starting position to pass leader Marcel Gravel
on the final corner of the 50-lap race, taking the 21st weekly feature win of his career.

David Chagnon looked sure to be carrying his first career checkers in the early going, but a lap 40 caution
bunched the field.  Chagnon had checked out on Gravel and Dwayne Lanphear, and led by as much as a full
straightaway before the yellow flag.  After the restart, though, it all went downhill for Chagnon.  Gravel took
the lead, then Chagnon was involved in a wreck with two laps to go.  It wasnt the result hed hoped for, but the
Colchester, VT underdog knew he had a good night.

It was disappointing to finish the way we did, said Chagnon, but we finally figured the car out.  Weve been
chasing the setup all year, and we finally got it right on Thursday.  That win would have been nice, but well try
again another time, I guess.

Point leader Jamie Hurricane Fisher had a scare that brought out the lap 40 caution.  A part on the right-front
corner of Fishers car broke in Turn 2, and he spun off the track.  After pitting for quick repairs, however, the
Shelburne, VT veteran drove from 22nd over the final 10 circuits to finish an incredible eighth.

Title contenders Dave Pembroke and Cris Michaud made up ground in qualifying, with each earning points in the heat
races and semi-feature.  Entering this Thursdays Kinney Drugs event the final Thursday night race of the
season Fisher, Pembroke, and Michaud are separated by a scant seven points at the top of the chart.  The three-
way battle is the closest in Thunder Road history with two championship races remaining (dont forget the
Fisher/Federated Auto Parts make-up race on Tuesday, August 28!).

***

Did you know?
-Yvon The Bullet Bédard, started 114 ACT Pro Stock Tour events from 1983-1995.  His best career finish was
like in the Série ACT Castrol a third-place run, at Autodrome de Val-Bélair in the Super Molson 200 way back
in 1987.  The winner that day was Robbie Crouch.

-In addition to Phil Scotts VT ACE Hardware Dealers victory, a pair of Late Model drivers scored their best
Thunder Road finishes of the season Doug Murphy in 12th and Reno Gervais in 17th.  Joining them were NAPA
Sportsman racers David Finck (1st), Chris Gendreau (3rd), and Alex Perkins (5th), Allen Lumber Street Stockers
Lloyd Blakely (1st), Josh LaCourse (6th), Markus Farnham (10th), and Scott Maynard (20th), and Power Shift
Junkyard Warriors Del Jarvis (3rd), Bryan Nykiel (18th), and Travis Hull (21st).

-By crossing the finish line in fifth place at the ACT Late Model Tour Kancamaugus 100 at White Mountain on
Saturday night, John Donahue became the 22nd driver to earn a top-five finish on the Tour in 2007.  his previous
best finish this season was 10th place at Airborne Speedway in May.

Hey, kids, its time for Thunder Roads annual Poster Contest on Thursday at Kinney Drugs night!  Trophies will be
awarded in three age groups 6 & under, 7-9, and 10-12.  Artwork must be hand-drawn and may be made using paper,
posterboard, construction paper, crayons, markers, pens, pencils, chalk, charcoal, paint you name it!

Come have some fun with us on Thursday and help begin to close out the summer season, general admission is just $9
for adults, $3 for kids, and only $18 for a family of any two adults and two children.  Gates open at 4:30pm,
racing starts at 6:30pm.  Dont forget the Fisher/Federated Auto Parts event on Tuesady, August 28, and ACTion
Super Series 29th Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200 on Sunday, Sept. 2!