ACT Releases 2005 Late Model Tour Schedule : Raceway Media

Waterbury, VT – The American-Canadian Tour (ACT) has released the official 2005 schedule for its Late Model Tour, a seven-track roster with high-profile events, including the two largest Late Model events in the region.

The series will open for the first time at Lee USA Speedway in Lee, NH with a 100-lap event on Sunday, April 24, and will then travel to Barre, VT’s Thunder Road Speedbowl for the 7th annual Merchants Bank Freedom Lynx 150 on Sunday, May 1. Former winners of the race include Phil Scott of Middlesex, VT, Gorham, NH’s Tracie Bellerose, and two-time and defending race winner Jean-Paul Cyr of Milton, VT.

Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, ME will host a 100-lap race on Saturday, May 21, marking the return of the late-Spring event. Stacy Cahoon of St. Johnsbury, VT was an ACT Tour Oxford winner exactly ten years prior to the scheduled 2005 event. 2004 OPS Late Model champion Shawn Martin of Turner, ME will try for his second ACT Tour win as the series returns to his home track. Jean-Paul Cyr used mid-June victories at White Mountain Motorsports Park to help win the ACT Tour championship in both 2003 and 2004, and will look for his third straight win in the event as the Tour returns to the N. Woodstock, NH bullring on Saturday, June 11.

Canaan (NH) Fair Speedway returns to the ACT Tour schedule after a two-year absence with a 100-lap event on Sunday, June 26. Past winners at Canaan include Middlesex, VT drivers Phil Scott and Dave Pembroke, and Bethlehem, NH’s Ken Dufour, the most recent winner in 2002. Steve Fisher of Shelburne, VT will try to defend his first career win at “The Cement Place” as the ACT Tour returns to Seekonk (MA) Speedway on August 13. Fisher’s heart-stopping, last-lap pass of Cyr to steal the win made him one of a record six drivers to carry ACT Tour checkers for the first time in 2004.

The homestretch of the 2005 ACT Tour season will not only decide the champion, but will pad a few drivers’ wallets as well. ACT has announced a pair of $10,000-to-win “Super Series” events in September, starting with the Thunder Road Labor Day Classic 150 on the weekend of September 3rd and 4th. The second event will be at Lee USA, the 3rd annual Late Model National 150, on Sunday, September 25th. The Super Series events are largest Late Model events in New England, each with a total purse topping $50,000. Brent Dragon of Milton, VT and Jamie Fisher of Shelburne, VT are the most recent Labor Day weekend winners at Thunder Road, although the race has not been an ACT Tour event since 2002. Jean-Paul Cyr was the 2002 winner. The inaugural Late Model National winner at Lee USA was St-Denis, Quebec driver Patrick Laperle, when the event was 100 laps. London, Ontario racer D.J. Kennington took the $10,000 top prize after 150 laps in 2004, besting a field of 76 cars.

Sandwiched between the Super Series contests is the 34th annual Fall Foliage 150 at Airborne Raceway in Plattsburgh, NY. Now under new management, Airborne will again host the ACT Tour for the long-standing tradition on Sunday, September 11. Brent Dragon joined an impressive list of previous winners in 2004, a list that includes native New Yorker Mark Lamberton, Southern legends L.D. Ottinger and Butch Lindley, Canadians Jean-Paul Cabana, Junior Hanley, and Patrick Laperle, and New England drivers Dave Dion, Brad Leighton, Brian Hoar, and seven-time winner Robbie Crouch.

The 2005 season closes with the 42nd New England Dodge Dealers Milk Bowl. The legendary three-segment, cumulatively scored race is known as one of the toughest short tracks events in the country. Cris Michaud of Northfield, VT was the 2004 winner, by a miniscule one-point margin over Lincoln, NH’s David Avery. Past winners include Beaver and Bobby Dragon, Robbie Crouch, Kevin Lepage, Stub Fadden, Eric Williams, Jean-Paul Cyr, and Phil Scott. For more information about the ACT Tour, contact (802) 244-6963, or visit www.acttour.com.

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