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Daniel Holben photo
Waterbury, VT — The American-Canadian Tour (ACT) has distributed nearly $140,000 worth of season-ending awards to cap the 2021 racing season. This includes awards from the ACT Late Model Tour, Thunder Road Speedbowl, White Mountain Motorsports Park (WMMP), and the New England Late Model Challenge Cup.
More than $107,000 in point fund money alone was distributed across the ACT family of tracks and series. A total of 75 drivers received at least one point fund check from ACT this year.
Some of the biggest point fund winners include Barre, VT’s Jason Corliss, Turner, ME’s Ben Rowe, Graniteville, VT’s Stephen Donahue, and Waterbury Center, VT’s Tanner Woodard. Corliss had the season of a lifetime, winning his third straight Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Model title at Thunder Road plus the inaugural Challenge Cup crown. This double championship comes on top of his five Thunder Road weekly racing wins and the $10,000 check for capturing the Midsummer Classic 250.
Ben Rowe and his Richard Moody Racing team took home a $10,000 check for winning their first ACT Late Model Tour championship. The team also is receiving nearly $2,000 worth of contingency awards for their accomplishments. This includes three 54-gallon drums of Sunoco 110-octane racing fuel; a case of Driven Racing Oil; and product certificates from Bassett Wheels, All-Star Performance, Kirkey Fabrication, and KRC Power Steering.
Donahue and Woodard were the only drivers to earn three point-fund checks in ACT-sanctioned competition. Awards went to Donahue for finishing 7th in ACT Late Model Tour points, 10th in Thunder Road Late Model points, and 6th in Challenge Cup points. Woodard took 10th in Thunder Road Flying Tiger points, 4th in White Mountain Flying Tiger points, and 5th in the J.P. Sicard Triple Crown Series. He was just one spot away from a fourth check, coming 6th in the Myers Container Series Triple Crown at Thunder Road.
In addition to the cash point fund prizes, there were almost $30,000 in year-end contingency prizes for ACT competitors. This is on top of more than $14,000 work of contingencies awards from ACT’s partners during the season.
ARBodies and Five Star Race Car Bodies were two huge contributors to the end-of-year prize pool. Both companies awarded a full body package to one random full-time driver each from the ACT, Thunder Road, and White Mountain Late Models. Franklin, NH’s Matt Anderson (ACT Tour), Hinesburg, VT’s Cooper Bouchard (Thunder Road), and Claremont, NH’s Mike Jurkowski (WMMP) are receiving brand-new ARBodies ABC Late Model “A” body packages. Five Star ABC NextGen body packages are going to Derry, NH’s Erick Sands (ACT Tour), Westford, VT’s Darrell Morin (Thunder Road), and Moultonborough, NH’s Matthew Morrill (WMMP).
The companies also posted season-ending awards for the Flying Tiger division and Challenge Cup. Milton, VT’s Robert Gordon (Thunder Road) and Tanner Woodard (WMMP) were chosen to collect an ARBodies 88 Monte Carlo reskin kit. Milton, VT’s Sam Caron (Thunder Road) and Marshfield, VT’s Matthew Potter (WMMP) are each getting $500 Five Star product certificates. East Providence, RI’s Gerry DeGasparre Jr. gets the $500 ARBodies Challenge Cup gift certificate while Graniteville, VT’s Christopher Pelkey was selected for the $500 Five Star Challenge Cup merchandise card.
Norton, MA’s Mark Hudson will have a new Port City Race Cars ACT chassis for his racing adventures in 2022. The brand-new chassis went to Hudson as part of the Challenge Cup program. Hudson was randomly selected from the 25 drivers who ran at least 10 Challenge Cup-eligible events.
Both Koni and QA1 posted three sets apiece of ACT Late Model-approved shock absorbers to be given out at season’s end. Center Conway, NH’s D.J. Shaw (ACT Tour), Morrisville, VT’s Brandon Lanphear (Thunder Road), and Monroe, NH’s Oren Remick (WMMP) are each getting a set of Koni 30 series shocks. The sets of QA1 63 series shocks are going to Stephen Donahue (ACT Tour), Chris Roberts (Thunder Road), and Kasey Beattie (WMMP).
Sunoco Race Fuels and New England Racing Fuel posted six 54-gallon drums of 110-octane spec fuel for ACT racers. Three of them drums went the ACT Tour champion Rowe while North Dartmouth, MA’s Derek Gluchacki was picked randomly among ACT 100%ers to receive a drum of fuel. One drum each went to the Flying Tiger champions at Thunder Road and White Mountain Motorsports Park.
Bassett Racing Wheels posted eight different end-of-year awards that were given out. New Salem, MA’s Tom Carey is picking up a new set of four powder-coated wheels that was posted for a luck ACT 100%er. Bassett product certificates are also going to the top three in ACT Tour points as well as the runners-up in Late Model and Flying Tiger points at both Thunder Road and White Mountain.
Several other contingencies were tied to where drivers finished in points for their track and division. All Star Performance awarded product certificates to the champions of each ACT, Thunder Road, and White Mountain point-counting division. DRP Performance Products provided a certificate for the fifth-place driver in ACT Tour points, matching their race-by-race awards. Kirkey Fabrication posted certificates for the top-three in the ACT standings.
The third-place finisher in ACT Tour, Thunder Road Late Model, and White Mountain Late Model points all were rewarded with a Tilton Engineering certificate. Edelbrock Racing also gave a certificate to the third-place ACT driver. NES Enterprises posted product certificates for the champions of the RK Miles Street Stocks at Thunder Road and the Woodsville Guaranty Savings Bank Strictly Stock Mini’s at White Mountain. It all added up to a lucrative year for many drivers that also helps them get a jump-start on next season.
The 2022 racing schedules for the ACT Late Model Tour and its sanctioned tracks are expected to be released by Thanksgiving. Registration forms, division rules, and other information will soon follow. Please check the respective track websites and social media pages for updates. The 2021 banquets will be held next spring in the interest of health of safety.
For more information, contact the ACT offices at (802) 244-6963, media@acttour.com, or visit www.acttour.com. You can also get updates on Facebook and Twitter at @ACTTour.
