Helliwell ends nine-year SLM drought with GSPSS Claremont checkers

As Wayne Helliwell, Jr. secured the lead in Sunday night’s Claremont 125, a few drops of water spat down on the track surface. Not even an otherwise-dry day at Claremont Motorsports Park could go unblemished by the spring’s relentless rain.

But perhaps the rain symbolized the end to the dry spells Helliwell cast off as he crossed under the checkered flag.

Helliwell prevailed in a race-long duel with longtime rival Joey Polewarczyk, earning his third career Granite State Pro Stock Series win but his first since 2014—and his first touring Super Late Model win in almost nine years.

A statistical dry spell, indeed.

Dry has not been the word for New England over the last month, and the GSPSS has been no more fortunate than any other series. Rainouts of both April’s scheduled lidlifter at Lee USA Speedway and a non-points event in mid-May made Sunday’s race the first of the new season. The change of venue returned the season opener to the track that hosted the first-ever GSPSS feature in 2011, the track that serves as the series’ home oval today.

Claremont is hardly home for Helliwell, who established himself at Lee and the other bullrings around southern New Hampshire before becoming a three-time American-Canadian Tour champion and multi-time Super Late Model feature winner.

Nevertheless, the Pelham, N.H. veteran clocked in fourth in time trials behind all-time GSPSS win leader D.J. Shaw. Shaw handily won his heat race, while Helliwell topped Polewarczyk in the second heat. Neither driver benefited from the post-heat redraw; reigning champion Casey Call drew the pole, while Helliwell and Shaw were bumped to fourth and fifth on the grid.

Polewarczyk got the jump on Call coming to the green flag, but the start was waved off as rookie Cam Curtis spun into the infield. “Joey Pole” was on the mark for the second attempt, too, gapping the field as Call struggled to hold on to the runner-up spot.

Helliwell surged to second as Jeremy Sorel held steady in third for the opening laps. Shaw snuck by Sorel for third with twenty laps in the book.

Polewarczyk maintained a comfortable lead over Helliwell while the pack diced for fourth behind Shaw. But as he navigated slower traffic, Helliwell reeled in his rival, catching him just past halfway. On lap 70, Helliwell found an opening on the inside, drawing alongside Polewarczyk and even poking his nose ahead for a lap and a half. Helliwell could not complete the pass, though, and fell back into line.

Shaw was losing touch with the top-two battle, struggling to find a line around the slower car of Alex Quarterley. Cole Robie had climbed to a distant fourth. Polesitter Call ran fifth, leading a six-car train that was just ahead of the lead battle with fewer than forty laps to go.

Suddenly, Shaw slowed with a flat tire, bringing out the caution flag on lap 94. As Shaw pitted for service, Polewarczyk and Helliwell lined up for the restart ahead of Robie, Call, and Sorel.

Polewarczyk shot out to the lead once again, Helliwell in his shadow waiting for an opening. On lap 109, he found the hole, filling the inside groove with Robie in tow. This time, Helliwell cleared Polewarczyk for the lead, Robie keeping Polewarczyk’s hands full while battling for second.

Three laps later, Angelo Belsito spun in turn four racing for seventh, drawing the race’s final yellow flag.

This time, it was Helliwell who got the better of Polewarczyk on the restart, shooting into the lead. Robie had his hands full in a battle for third on back, with Sorel making the move to get to the head of the pack. Rhode Island’s Mike Mitchell joined the fray, battling for fifth after finishing second in last year’s season finale at Lee.

But no one had an answer for Helliwell in the final 11-lap sprint, as “The Punisher” cruised to a one-second victory over the 2020 GSPSS champion.

Sorel, who lost last July’s Claremont race by a matter of inches, finished third, securing his third straight podium finish at Claremont. Robie held off Mitchell’s spirited charge to finish fourth, while Mitchell posted his fourth consecutive top-six result.

Championship runner-up Evan Beaulieu finished sixth after a quiet race. Shaw raced back to seventh after his tire issues. Polesitter Call slipped to eighth on the final green-flag run. Cory Casagrande and Dan Winter rounded out the top ten.

Helliwell’s win was a first for the ARBodies Revolution body kit in GSPSS competition. The controversial body has found favor in ACT Tour competition, but has not caught on widely in PASS or GSPSS, largely lending to rules restrictions in the two series.

Helliwell and his Bruce Bernhardt-led team ended a two-year streak for championship car owner Peter Petit, who won the first two races of 2023 and 2024 with drivers Travis Benjamin and Joey Doiron. Petit did not field a car at Claremont.

But the streaks Helliwell and Bernhardt were more interested in ending were their own.

In the early 2010s, there were few combinations more potent than Helliwell, a second-generation racer with a winning resume at the local level, and Bernhardt, a disciple of New Hampshire’s renowned Dion Brothers. Racing orange Fords with blue chassis designed in their own shop, Helliwell and Bernhardt dominated the ACT Tour with championships in 2012, 2013 and 2015.

Helliwell and Bernhardt tested the Super Late Model waters as well, winning GSPSS features in 2013 and 2014 before turning their attention to Maine’s Pro All Stars Series. In August of 2016, Helliwell passed Travis Benjamin with seven laps remaining to win the Oxford 250, the biggest individual win of his career.

But the momentum of victory ground to a halt a few weeks later. Helliwell, who had managed multiple sclerosis for years, was sidelined by a severe flare-up that took him out of the seat until the following summer.

Taking his career and his health one race at a time, Helliwell ran select PASS events and the occasional GSPSS start, even trying weekly shows at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway. He scored his first win since the Oxford 250 in the 2018 DAV 150 at Seekonk Speedway. He returned to ACT Tour competition in 2019, winning a handful of races. But touring wins in the Super Late Model still eluded the Helliwell-Bernhardt tandem.

There has been cause for optimism in recent years. A new chassis and support from Midwest ace Toby Nuttleman have renewed Helliwell’s mechanical approach. Lee’s reintroduction of Pro Stocks to its regular lineup gave Helliwell a new racing outlet, and he responded with the 2023 track championship. And his limited PASS and GSPSS outings have yielded the top-five finishes Helliwell is used to.

Sunday’s win was a big breakthrough. And that Helliwell’s return to victory lane came heads-up against Polewarczyk, his chief rival in the ACT days and whose father shares his own racing legacy with the elder Helliwell, was almost poetic.

Helliwell won’t be so keen to wait another nine years, though.

Unofficial Results
Granite State Pro Stock Series | Claremont 125
Claremont Motorsports Park, Claremont, N.H.
1. (27NH) Wayne Helliwell, Jr.
2. (97) Joey Polewarczyk
3. (7) Jeremy Sorel
4. (29) Cole Robie
5. (40) Mike Mitchell
6. (56) Evan Beaulieu
7. (60) D.J. Shaw
8. (90NH) Casey Call
9. (7CT) Cory Casagrande
10. (81) Dan Winter
11. (8) Angelo Belsito
12. (32) Alex Quarterley
13. (77) Cam Curtis
14. (84) Jamie Wright
15. (62) Joe Kendall
16. (05) Bobby Frappier
17. (38) Danny Wear

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