Sweet and Hamel Take ACT Top Rookie Honors

For Immediate Release                                           
    ACT-100908-1

    WATERBURY, VT Two freshman Late Model stock car drivers have earned 2008 Rookie of the Year titles in
the premier touring divisions of the American-Canadian Tour, as Barre, VTs Nick Sweet and Patrick Hamel of St-
Édouard-de-Lotbinière, QC earned their laurels on the ACT Late Model Tour and the Série ACT-Castrol, respectively.
    Sweet, 23, graduated to the ACT Late Model Tour from the NAPA Tiger Sportsman division at Thunder Road in
his hometown of Barre, VT.  After winning the Sportsman championship in 2007, Sweet and his family team began
competing on the 12-race ACT Late Model Tour in the northeastern U.S. and Canada.
    Sweet experienced some growing pains in the first three events, posting 30th-place finishes at Lee USA
(NH) Speedway and Thunder Road, and failing to qualify at Oxford Plains (ME) Speedway, but began to his stride by
finishing tenth at New Yorks Airborne Speedway in the STJAuto.com/Fortiers Community Car Home #88 Pontiac in
May.  He followed that up in successive events with a sixth at Thunder Roads Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic
and a fifth at Waterford (CT) Speedbowl, then earned top-tens at Ontarios Kawartha Speedway, White Mountain
Motorsports Park in New Hampshire, Oxford Plains, and in the Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl at Thunder Road.  Sweets
second-place finish at Oxfords New England Dodge Dealers 150 in September was the best result of his young career.
    Overall, Sweet finished an impressive ninth in ACT Late Model Tour championship standings and earned the
Rookie of the Year title over fellow Vermonter Tyler Cahoon of St. Johnsbury by 38 points, 121-83.  Jonathan Urlin
of London, ON finished third in rookie standings, followed by Ricky Wolf, Jr. of Northwood, NH and Matt White of
Northfield, VT.
    At only 19 years old, Hamels performances were equally as impressive on the Série ACT-Castrol.  After
winning the 2007 Série Super Sportsman touring championship in Québec, the teenager, father Michel, and their
closely knit team stepped up to the Série ACT-Castrol for the full eight-race schedule.  Instantly, success became
the norm.
    In his debut performance, the Canadian Cowboy grabbed an eighth-place showing at Autodrome St-Eustache
near Montréal, a flat, 4/10-mile oval.  At the high-banked Autodrome Chaudière 1/4-mile in Vallée-Jct., QC, Hamel
finished sixth and won the Kenyon Racing Products Hard Charger Award for improving his position the most of any
driver during the race (18 positions), then continued to show his versatility in the Hamel Construction, Inc. #51
Chevrolet by earning another sixth at Autodrome St-Félicien, a quirky half-mile tri-oval in northern Québec.  His
best finish of fourth came at Chaudière in August, followed by back-to-back eighth-place finishes at the fast
Autodrome Montmagny 3/8-mile.  Hamel also posted a tenth-place finish in the Coors Light 200 Showdown at
Chaudière, an invitational all-star race for the top ACT Late Model Tour and Série ACT-Castrol drivers in
September.  Sweet finished 18th after running in the top-five for most of the race.
    All told, Hamel finished seventh in the Série ACT-Castrol championship standings.  He outdistanced fellow
19 year-old Spencer MacPherson of Carleton Place, ON by 19 points, 97-78, to win the Rookie of the Year title. 
Justin Holtom of Ottawa, ON and Jonathan Urlin rounded out the freshman field.
    Hamel will be honored at the Série ACT-Castrol Banquet of Champions in November, while Sweet will accept
his award at the ACT Banquet of Champions in January.  Banquet dates and details will be announced soon.  For more
information, call (802) 244-6963 or visit www.acttour.com or www.laserieactcastrol.com.
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Contact: Justin St. Louis                                       
    Phone: (802) 244-6963
Email: media@acttour.com                                        Fax: (802)
244-1616