Barker’s ACT Debut Ends In Lee Victory Lane

It’s easy to call “beginner’s luck” for a race winner in his first series start. It’s hard to do that for Brandon Barker.

The Super Late Model stalwart stunned the American-Canadian Tour faithful with a victory in Sunday evening’s New Hampshire Governor’s Cup 150 at Lee USA Speedway.

Barker fought off challenges by Jimmy Renfrew, Jr. and Gabe Brown to earn his first ACT Tour win in his first start with the Vermont-based organization.

Third-place Jason Corliss, winner Barker and runner-up Gabe Brown share the podium after Sunday’s 150-circuit thrill show. (STS/Jeff Brown)

“I backed my pace up,” Barker said of a quiet midrace stretch that may have secured him the win. “And thankfully it worked out.”

Barker is hardly an unknown quantity in the Northeast, particularly at Lee. The Windham, Me. racer has two Granite State Pro Stock Series wins at “New Hampshire’s Center of Speed,” and won Lee’s Pro Stock championship last year. But the ACT Late Model, not as commonplace at his home state stomping grounds, represented a new challenge.

Barker rose to that challenge quickly, placing second in his heat and leading the opening laps from the pole. Brown seized the lead on a lap-25 restart, with Renfrew pressuring Barker for second while former Governor’s Cup 150 winner Dillon Moltz climbed to fourth.

Moltz spun battling for third, though, bringing out a lap-37 caution and erasing Brown’s advantage. Renfrew got past Barker for second after the restart and took the lead on lap 52, on the hunt for his first ACT Tour win in nearly two years.

Barker remained in the hunt, taking the lead back after a lap-95 caution and gapping Renfrew on an open track. As the leaders worked around slower traffic, Renfrew reeled Barker back in. Barker opted for the high line, but Renfrew made a bold three-wide move to get alongside Barker and steal the lead with 13 laps remaining.

Renfrew made the most of lapped traffic to get past Barker late in the race. (STS/Jeff Brown)

Unintimidated by Renfrew’s charge, Barker parried back, swapping the top spot with Renfrew again. Bumper to bumper, the leaders traded paint and positions while Brown crept closer to the lead battle. Barker was in control with five laps to go when Renfrew threw his car into turn three, losing grip and spinning from second to bring out a yellow flag.

Barker took the outside lane for the restart, and Brown took full advantage, running Barker high and nearly opening a lane for third-place Jason Corliss to capitalize. Corliss’ charge was stymied by a wreck behind the leaders that ended the evening for Brian Hoar and slowed the race one last time.

Rethinking his restart decision, Barker forced Brown to the outside lane for the final green flag. Barker quickly cleared Brown from the inside, leaving him to fend off Corliss while he drove away.

“I love Lee,” Barker said. “I’ve always wanted to try an ACT car, and thanks to the Sullivan family for giving me the opportunity.”

Barker’s win was also a first for car owner Chris Sullivan, whose “Eppin Express” had been to victory lane but never in an ACT Tour feature. (STS/Jeff Brown)

Brown, whose car developed a handling problem early in the feature, persevered for a career-best second-place finish.

“I really think we had a car to win here,” the Center Conway, N.H. native said. “The trailing arm fell all the way down in the bracket, and it just killed the run that we had. Just couldn’t hang on for a win here.”

Renfrew kept the pressure up on Barker all race long, but a late spin relegated the former series winner to 13th at the finish. (STS/Jeff Brown)

Corliss started deep in the field, but the three-time Thunder Road International Speedbowl track champion persevered for a third-place finish after a tough outing at Stafford Motor Speedway a week before. “We had a really strong run from the back at Hickory, another old worn-out surface,” he said. “So I knew we had a shot here.”

Defending champion DJ Shaw was fourth at the line, with 2015 ACT Tour champion Joey Polewarczyk rounding out the top five after thrashing to get his car back in one piece after his own Stafford crash.

Sophomore Cam Huntress made a spirited run in the closing laps to a career-best sixth-place finish, ahead of Dylan Payea and Tom Carey III. Early contender Dillon Moltz fought back to ninth, while Erick Sands rounded out the top ten. After his late spin, Renfrew could only climb back to 13th.

Brown raced Barker hard on the penultimate restart, opening the door for Corliss to steal the lead if not for an immediate caution flag. (STS/Jeff Brown)

Derek Gluchacki was running sixth when his engine expired on lap 73, forcing the young racer to the pits just before halfway. The pre-season title threat has suffered two tough mechanical failures in the first four races, offsetting a win in the season opener at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and a second-place run at Stafford.

Indeed, Gluchacki’s misfortune leaves him fourth in points but 68 points back of reigning champ Shaw, who leads Brown by 22 markers with Renfrew in third. Shaw, Brown and Renfrew race for their own teams, but campaign chassis built at Shaw’s family shop, making them close allies off the track. Shaw is on a particularly blessed streak; the five-time PASS North champion has not finished outside the top ten since the 2021 season opener, in which he was disqualified in post-race inspection. Shaw has only raced full-time with the Tour since 2020, but the last time the veteran racer crossed the finish line outside the top ten in an ACT feature was in 2013.

If there were any consolation prize for Gluchacki, it was that his last-place finish came in the shortest ACT field of the season. Sunday’s race was the third ACT Tour event in 15 days, with scheduled dates at Thunder Road and Lee sandwiching the rain-postponed tilt at Stafford. Both Thunder Road and Stafford had taken their toll on the field, leaving a few anticipated entries on the sidelines at Lee.

Still, a 24-car touring field for a Sunday-night feature, in a region where nearly every racer has a day job to tend to on Monday morning, is worth celebrating, especially considering the context. And four races into the season, eleven drivers have attempted every race.

An errant suspension bolt made Brown’s car a handful, but the 2021 GSPSS champion held on for his best ACT Tour finish yet. (STS/Jeff Brown)

Barker’s car owner Chad Sullivan has fielded an entry in every race in 2023 as well. Sullivan’s HMS Racing has been a local staple, both on the Tour and in weekly competition at Star Speedway, not far from the team’s base. Sullivan has fielded cars for a number of drivers, from the unproven Dylan Bilodeau and Max Dolliver to veterans Miles Chipman and Alby Ovitt, with Renfrew even taking a turn at the wheel last fall. None, however, had placed the quick car in an ACT Tour winner’s circle.

Multi-time White Mountain Motorsports Park track champion Quinny Welch joined the team for March’s preseason doubleheader at Hickory Motor Speedway. Welch reeled off back-to-back top tens in the non-points bout, but fell back to earth with mid-pack performances at NHMS and Stafford and a hard crash at Thunder Road.

Derek Gluchacki and crew chief Dave Lessard look on with frustration after parking their ailing car just shy of halfway. The title threat has mechanical failures in two of the last three races. (STS/Jeff Brown)

Barker was picked to drive the car at Lee. The Pro All Stars Series regular’s roots go back to Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, but Lee has treated him well. Driving for car owner Wright Pearson, Barker won back-to-back GSPSS features in 2018 and 2019, leading 124 of 150 laps in his 2019 victory. When Lee added Pro Stocks back to its schedule last season, Barker ran the six-race slate for former NASCAR Cup Series car owner Archie St. Hilaire, winning the first Pro Stock championship at the track in years.

With a fourth-place finish in the evening’s Pro Stock feature, Barker has plans for the season with both St. Hilaire and his long-time PASS Super Late Model ride, in which he finished second at Oxford two weeks ago. Whether he fits any more ACT racing in with Sullivan remains to be seen. For the moment, Barker stands in elite company with two other drivers who have won their only premier ACT-sanctioned start. Canadian standout DJ Kennington won at Lee in a one-off start in 2004, while Dale Earnhardt lapped the field in a 1983 victory at the former Cayuga Motor Speedway in Ontario. Earnhardt’s win was under the NASCAR Stroh’s Tour banner; when NASCAR parted ways with series operators Tom Curley and Ken Squier after 1985, the organization was rebranded as the American-Canadian Tour.

It’s elite company, but company Barker will have to part with if he wants to add to his ACT win total.

Unofficial Results
American-Canadian Tour New Hampshire Governor’s Cup 150
Lee USA Speedway

1. (0NH) Brandon Barker
2. (60ME) Gabe Brown
3. (66VT) Jason Corliss
4. (04VT) DJ Shaw
5. (97NH) Joey Polewarczyk
6. (27NH) Cam Huntress
7. (7ME) Dylan Payea
8. (5MA) Tom Carey III
9. (5CT) Dillon Moltz
10. (36NH) Erick Sands
11. (72MA) Ryan Kuhn
12. (41QC) Jonathan Bouvrette
13. (00NH) Jimmy Renfrew, Jr.
14. (31CT) Andrew Molleur
15. (77NH) Bryan Wall, Jr.
16. (68NH) Tanner Woodard
17. (9MA) Brian Tagg
18. (5ME) Dominic Curit
19. (45NY) Brian Hoar
20. (8NH) Connor McDougal
21. (25ME) Jason Gammon
22. (73MA) Cole Littlewood
23. (28NH) Ricky Bly
24. (03MA) Derek Gluchacki

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