Payea Holds Off Track Champion Thomas at Waterford Speedbowl

6.07.08

Late Model stock car driver Scott Payea continued a dream season by winning the Nutmeg State 100 at Connecticut’s Waterford Speedbowl on Saturday night. The 26 year-old from Milton, VT held off defending Waterford Speedbowl Track Champion Bruce Thomas, Jr. of Groton, CT for his second American-Canadian Tour victory in six starts this year.

Thomas jumped from his outside pole starting position to lead the opening 48 laps, at time stretching his lead out to nearly a full straightaway. Payea, who started seventh in the 30-car field, drove forward in the early laps and was brought even with Thomas for the race’s final three restarts just before the halfway point. Following a lap 48 restart, Payea nudged ahead to take the lead from Thomas.

The final caution flag on lap 50 drew the pair together again, beginning an intense, multi-groove, lead-swapping duel that lasted until Payea regained control for good on lap 55. Each driver led three times in the race, each for a total of 50 laps. As the race went caution-free to the end, Payea’s Ouellette Plumbing & Heating/Leahy Press #89 Ford Fusion held a comfortable five-car length lead over Thomas as the checkered flag flew.

“I knew had a good car right from practice in the morning,” said Payea following the victory, the fourth ACT Late Model Tour win of his career. “I was pretty confident once I got near the front that it would be up to me to lose the race, but Bruce Thomas really impressed me. He and the rest of these Waterford guys were very good tonight; I had a lot of fun racing here.”

Thomas, driving the Mystic Transportation/Aarsand Floorsanding #35 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, finished second in his first-ever ACT Late Model Tour start. Brad Leighton of Center Harbor, NH, the 1995 ACT Champion, finished third in his first main-event start of the season behind the wheel of the Irving Oil/Subway #55NH Ford Fusion. Waterford Speedbowl driver Ron Yuhas, Jr. of Groton, CT finished fourth in his first career ACT start, while rookie driver Nick Sweet of Barre, VT finished a career-best fifth.

Groveton, NH’s Randy Potter finished sixth, with New Gloucester, ME’s Ron Henry coming home a season-best seventh. Rookie Jonathan Urlin of London, ON earned his best-ever ACT Late Model Tour finish in eighth, while Milton, VT drivers Jean-Paul Cyr and Brent Dragon rounded out the unofficial top ten finishers in order.

Thirty-eight Late Model stock cars attempted to qualify for the 30-car starting field. Donald Theetge of Boischatel, QC earned the pole position with “+5” in ACT’s unique “plus/minus” heat race qualifying system. Theetge finished 21st with handling problems, one lap off the pace. The Nutmeg State 100 was completed in 52 minutes, 47 seconds and slowed by five cautions. Sixteen cars finished on the lead lap, with 26 of the 30 starters running at the finish.

Payea retains the ACT Late Model Tour point lead, unofficially, over Cyr, 401-362. Patrick Laperle of St-Denis, QC sits third with 350 points over Potter (347) and John Donahue of Graniteville, VT (342). The ACT Late Model is back in action at Maine’s Oxford Plains Speedway with the Dunkin’ Donuts 150 on Saturday, June 21. For more information, call (802) 244-6963 or visit www.acttour.com.

Payea grabs his 4th top 5 in five races with second at Thunder Road

5.25.08

Memorial Day weekend brought the Tour to Thunder Road for a double header with the True Value Modified Racing Series. The weather was perfect and the racing did not disappoint

In the heat race Scott started on the outside pole. At the drop of the green Scott battled with polesitter Brent Dragon before taking over the top spot and winning the heat race.

The feature saw Scott starting in 7th. At the start of the race nobody moved too much, there was a lot of side by side racing. After about 30 laps things started to string out a little. Scott started picking off cars one at a time. At lap 70 the first and only caution came out with Scott running in second. When the race went back to green Scott began a 30 lap battle with Eric Williams for the second spot. After a clean battle with Eric Scott took 2nd by a fender at the line.

The second place finish moves Scott and the SP Motorsports team into sole possesion of the point lead. Up next is Waterford Speedbowl in Waterford, CT on June 7th

Scott drives from 25th to 5th at Airborne

5.17.08

Saturday May 17th the ACT Tour traveled to Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, NY for the fourth stop on the 2008 season. Airborne is a place where Scott has many laps, he competed weekly at Airborne for two seasons in the Street Stocks and three seasons in a Tiger Sportsman car.

After drawing for the heat race positions Scott wound up starting shotgun in the first heat race. With little time to move up Scott finished near the back. This had Scott starting 7th in the consi, rain showers forced the schedule to get shuffled up and the consi was cancelled. Instead it was straight to the feature with a 25th place starting position.

From the drop of the green Scott began to work his way to the front. Using both the inside and the tricky outside lane at the tough half mile track. After numerous cautions the final coming just three laps from the end Scott had made his way to a strong 5th place finish.

With another top five finish Scott and the SP Motorsports team are tied for the point lead with Patrick Laperle as they tour heads back to Thunder Road Speedbowl for the Mekkelson RV Memorial Day 100 on Sunday May, 25th.

ACT Driver Payea Doubles Up at 10th Annual Merchants Bank 150

5.04.08

From www.acttour.com

BARRE, VT – Late Model stock car driver Scott Payea of Milton, VT earned his third career American-Canadian Tour victory in the 10th Annual Merchants Bank 150 at Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl on Sunday afternoon. Payea waged a race-long battle with defending Thunder Road Track Champion Dave Pembroke of Middlesex, VT, finally taking the lead for good on lap 129. Payea won the Merchants Bank 150 last year, as well.

Payea, 26, started the race from the outside pole position and led the first 46 laps before Pembroke, who started fifth, took over. Pembroke led – if only by two car lengths – for the next 54 laps before Payea nosed his Ouellette Plumbing & Heating/AC Sports #89 Ford Fusion ahead on lap 110. Pembroke led two more laps after a late restart before Payea moved in front to stay.

ACT Castrol Series Champion Patrick Laperle of Montreal paseed Pembroke late for the runner-up position. Former ACT Late Model Tour Champion Phil Scott of Montpelier, VT finished fourth, just ahead of seven-time and defending ACT Late Model Tour Champion Jean-Paul Cyr of Milton, VT.

Randy Potter of Groveton, NH made a late charge to finish sixth ahead of Hyde Park, VT’s Eric Williams. Scott Dragon of Milton, VT and John Donahue of Graniteville, VT finished eighth and ninth, respectively, while Pete Potvin of Graniteville, VT had a career-best effort to complete the unofficial Top 10.

Forty-three cars were on hand to attempt qualifying for 30 starting positions. The Merchants Bank 150 was completed in just over 58 minutes, and was slowed by just six caution periods.

The ACT Late Model Tour travels to Plattsburgh, NY’s Airborne Speedway for the 34th Annual Furniture World of VT Spring Green 100 on Saturday, May 17. For more information, call (802) 244-6963 or visit www.acttour.com.

UNOFFICIAL FINISH – 10th Annual Merchants Bank 150
ACT Late Model Tour – Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl, Barre, VT

Sunday, May 4, 2008
Pos-Driver-Hometown (# - denotes rookie)
1.Scott Payea, Milton, VT
2.Patrick Laperle, St-Denis, QC
3.Dave Pembroke, Montpelier, VT
4.Phil Scott, Montpelier, VT
5.Jean-Paul Cyr, Milton, VT
6.Randy Potter, Groveton, NH
7.Eric Williams, Hyde Park, VT
8.Scott Dragon, Milton, VT
9.John Donahue, Graniteville, VT
10.Pete Potvin, III, Graniteville, VT
11.#Tyler Cahoon, St. Johnsbury, VT
12.Jamie Fisher, Shelburne, VT
13.Brent Dragon, Milton, VT
14.Joe Becker, Jeffersonville, VT
15.Glen Luce, Turner, ME
16.Dave Whitcomb, Essex Jct., VT
17.Ryan Nolin, Georgia, VT
18.Robbie Crouch, Tampa, FL
19.Claude Leclerc, Lanoraie, QC
20. Joey Laquerre, East Montpelier, VT
21.Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., Hudson, NH
22.Chip Grenier, Graniteville, VT
23.#Jonathan Urlin, London, ON
24.Ron Henry, New Gloucester, ME
25.Cris Michaud, Northfield, VT
26.Trampas Demers, South Burlington, VT
27.Bobby Dragon, Milton, VT
28.Kip Stockwell, Braintree, VT
29.Dennis Demers, Shelburne, VT
30.#Nick Sweet, Barre, VT

Other Articles
Speed51.com
Payea Beats The Odds to Win at Thunder Road
Burlington Free Press
Payea outlasts competition at Thunder Road
The Times Argus
Payea opens Thunder Road with win
Union Leader
Payea wins Merchants Bank 150 ACT event

ACT Season Opener

4.22.08

Spring has finally arrived and with it the 2008 racing season. The first stop on the 2008 ACT Tour schedule was Lee USA Speedway. The SP Motorsports team was ready to hit the track after a long winter of work in the garage.

Saturday April 19th the team headed to Lee for a day of practice. Right off the trailer the car was fast. Throughout several practice sessions the team worked on getting the car better and at the end of the day everyone was happy.

Sunday was race day. With 49 teams attempting to qualify for 30 spots in the feature, getting in the show was the goal of the day. After drawing for starting position Scott got the pole in the second heat race. Scott led the 12 lap heat race from start to finish easily qualifying for the feature event in the 12th position.

After watching the next rounds of qualifying the team made a few adjustments for the feature. The 30 cars took the green and it didn't take long for trouble to start, in the first 8 laps there were three cautions taking defending champion Jean Paul Cyr and rookie polesitter Nick Sweet out of contention along with a few others. Scott was able to avoid all the trouble and start working his way to the front. With a long green flag run Scott steadily picked off cars on the outside and made it as high as 2nd near the mid point of the race. The car started to loosen up a little and after some late restarts and battles with lap cars, Scott and the SP Motorsports team took home a 4th place finish.

It was a great start to the year. With little damage to the car the team can concentrate on getting the car setup for Oxford Plains Speedway, the site of the second stop on the Tour Saturday April 26th.

2008 Season almost here!

3.18.08

As spring finally starts to arrive things are getting busy around the shop. The cars are looking good and should be finished soon. Scott and the team are looking forward to the Tours return to Lee USA Speedway for the season opener.

2007 ACT Awards Banquet

1.12.08

The S.P. Motorsports team attended the annual ACT awards banquet where Scott picked up second place honors.


Full story from acttour.com
The American-Canadian Tour/Thunder Road Banquet of Champions closed the curtain on the 2007 racing season Saturday night at the Sheraton-Burlington Hotel & Conference Center in South Burlington, VT. Among the honorees were seven-time ACT Late Model Tour Champion Jean-Paul Cyr and his car owner, Rick Paya, Thunder Road “King of the Road” Dave Pembroke, and Thunder Road weekly division Champions Nick Sweet (NAPA Tiger Sportsman), Bobby Therrien (Allen Lumber Street Stock), and Bunker Hodgdon (Power Shift Online Junkyard Warrior).

Also picking up special honors were Sportsmanship Award winners Shawn Fleury (Late Model), Justin Hart (Tiger Sportsman), Mike Martin (Ed Carroll Memorial Street Stock), and Neal Foster (Warrior). The Most Improved Drivers, each winning in a landslide vote by their fellow competitors and track officials, were Mike “Beetle” Bailey in the Late Model division and sophomore Tiger runner Chris Chambers.

The Dr. Gordon R. “Doc” Nielsen Rookie Achievement Award went to 20 year-old Therrien, the Allen Lumber Street Stock Champion and Rookie of the Year with six feature wins.

Mike McGill of WCAX Channel 3 (CBS affiliate, Burlington, VT) and Jamie Scavotto of WPTZ NewsChannel 5 (NBC affiliate, Plattsburgh, NY) were the co-winners of the Ken Squier Award. The Ken Squier Award, in its 20th year, merits a person or group who fosters and elevates local stock car racing through exceptional service to fans and competitors. The season-long efforts of McGill and Scavotto through their television and online coverage of Thunder Road and ACT race events were among the very best in the track’s 48-year history.

Late Model driver Jamie Fisher of Shelburne, VT was honored with the Don MacTavish Award for his long-lasting and profound impact on stock car racing in the region. Fisher began his career in 1995 in the four-cylinder Street Stock division at Thunder Road, behind the wheel of a tiny yellow Chevrolet Chevette with sponsorship from the S.D. Ireland Brothers construction and concrete company based in Burlington, VT. Since his humble beginnings, Fisher’s trademark yellow #18 car has become one of the most popular and recognizable race cars in New England. Fisher was the 2003 “King of the Road,” the 2001 ACT Late Model Tour runner-up, and a three-time Rookie of the Year (1999 ACT, 1999 Thunder Road Late Model, 1997 NAPA Tiger Sportsman). He is a four-time winner in ACT competition, and owns more than 20 feature wins in weekly events across three divisions.

MacTavish was a young racer from Dover, MA that first made his mark in demolition derbies. He was even featured on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” and the game show “To Tell The Truth” for his car-smashing exploits. But MacTavish is best known as one of open-wheel Modified racing’s all-time greats. He captured the 1966 NASCAR National Sportsman Championship by competing in an exhaustive schedule of 122 events, winning the title by more than 3,000 points over Connecticut’s “Wild” Bill Slater. MacTavish raced – and won – regularly at Vermont’s Catamount Stadium and Plattsburgh, NY’s Airborne Speedway on his way to the ’66 championship. “Mac” earned his big break during the winter of 1968-69, when he landed a ride on what is now the Sprint Cup Series. During his debut at Daytona Int’l Speedway in February 1969, during the famous Permatex 300 support race, he was involved in one of auto racing’s most horrific crashes. MacTavish was killed instantly, ending a dream for New England race fans of the era to see one of their own make it big in the upper echelon of the sport.

The first Don MacTavish Award was given to NASCAR Founder William H. G. “Bill” France, Sr. in the year MacTavish’s life was tragically taken. Since that time, honorees have included drivers Tom Tiller (1971), Jean-Paul Cabana (‘74), Beaver (’79) and Bobby Dragon (’83), Robbie Crouch (’88), Claude Leclerc (’90), Jean-Paul Cyr (’96), Brian Hoar (2000), Joey Laquerre (’04), and Phil Scott (’05). Other distinguished winners have included Thunder Road Founder Ken Squier (‘72), ACT President Tom Curley (’81), Thunder Road Chief Starters Archie Blackadar (’75), Dick Willett (’85), and Mike Wilder (’98), car owners C.A. Crouch (’77) and Smitty McKay (‘03), and officials Doc Nielsen (‘80), Bubby Wilder (’84), and Dean Gallison (’06).