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Big-league racing returned to New England this past week, with NASCAR occupying the grounds of New Hampshire Motor Speedway for their first visit of 2017. While a number of short tracks opted to sit idle for the weekend, the regional tours offered up their own brand of competition, hoping to capture some of the visiting race fans through the week. Weather once again played a role, raining out some rare midweek appearances, but the weekend cleared to allow fans to get their short-track fix.

ACT TOUR: After a lengthy layover, the ACT Late Model Tour packed up and headed to Seekonk (MA) Speedway for the Seekonk Late Model 100. A contingent of ACT-legal entries from southern Massachusetts and Connecticut tracks bolstered the touring teams to make up the field of twenty-seven.

Scott Payea (#37VT), seen here at Lee, has four straight wins in the ACT Tour. His finish in the Tour opener was a season-worst fourth. (File Photo)

At the end of the night, though, it was the same old story. Scott Payea started eighth, moved to the front of the field in a hurry, and held on through two late restarts to win the 100-lap event. The win was Payea’s fourth straight in 2017, setting a new Tour record.

Tour regulars followed Payea across the line, with rookie Jason Corliss second and the improving Rich Dubeau in third. Rhode Island’s Ray Parent, who pondered retirement after running part-time the last couple years, drove his #98 Ford to fourth place. Rowland Robinson, Jr. finished fifth with Dillon Moltz, the only other 2017 feature winner, in sixth.

2016 Thunder Road track champion Scott Dragon, who returned to full-time ACT competition with Richard Green Racing in 2017, was a no-show at the race, as were Connecticut racer Ray Christian III and Maine rookie Spencer Morse. Bobby Therrien was missing from the field as well, suggesting that he has opted to chase weekly points at Thunder Road instead.

With half the ACT Tour season complete, Scott Payea holds the points lead over Dillon Moltz, the only other driver to finish every race in the top ten.

PASS NORTH: With the big leagues of NASCAR in town, Star Speedway opted for a new approach to their second PASS North event of 2017, moving the race from last year’s rain-plagued late-season date to the Thursday before activities commenced at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Unfortunately, a mid-week storm system dampened the track throughout the day on Thursday, finally forcing PASS and Star to postpone the event Thursday afternoon. The date was moved to Star’s traditional Saturday-night slot.

This time, Saturday’s storm system skated north of the track and kept the quarter-mile oval dry enough for the feature. However, the rescheduled race had more than enough competition, not only from established weekly racing but from the day’s rain-lengthened activities at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The result was a short field of 14 Super Late Models in the pits at Star. Visiting NASCAR spotter Derek Kneeland had to withdraw; Derek Ramstrom was also a no-show. Joey Polewarczyk, a Star winner in 2016, was absent from the lineup as well. And weekly racing at Beech Ridge kept Reid Lanpher or Garrett Hall from making an appearance.

Travis Benjamin, Star Speedway 5/13/2017

Travis Benjamin (#7) took his first PASS win of 2017 in dominating fashion Saturday night. (File Photo)

Travis Benjamin and Johnny Clark won the heat races, and dueled for the lead early in the feature before Benjamin took the lead for good. The two-time Oxford 250 winner set sail, winning the caution-free race in just over a half-hour. Benjamin’s win was his first of 2017, and only the fourth for a full-time PASS North driver this year.

Ben Rowe raced to second place in the final rundown, helping the multi-time champion to a slim points lead over Benjamin. Tracy Gordon finished third with Johnny Clark coming home fourth. Fifth place went to Wayne Helliwell, Jr., making another start following his off-season health struggles. Joey Doiron was the final car on the lead lap in sixth.

Glen Luce slipped to third in points as both he and DJ Shaw struggled through the night, coming home thirteenth and fourteenth. Regional Modified star Anthony Nocella made his PASS debut in the #M32 normally driven by Steven Murphy. Nocella wheeled the fendered car to a 12th-place finish, three laps in arrears.

US PRO STOCK NATIONALS: Last week’s short track schedule was set to commence with the U.S. Pro Stock/Super Late Model National Championship, a $10,000-to-win special event at Seekonk Speedway. Teams were able to get some test laps in, but persistent rain forced organizers to postpone the event a full week.

Twenty-one teams came back on July 19th for the makeup date. Joey Polewarczyk, Jr. started first by virtue of a heat-race win and dominated the first half of the 200-lap race. The top five were inverted for the second segment, with Maine’s Reid Lanpher assuming the point. Lanpher yielded the lead to Joey Pole after contact, and Pole eventually fell to Eddie MacDonald.

Derek Griffith, Oxford Plains Speedway 6/11/2017

Derek Griffith captured the non-points U.S. Pro Stock/Super Late Model National Championship at Seekonk Speedway after the race was rain-delayed by a week. (File Photo)

With fifteen laps remaining, Derek Griffith got a nose under “The Outlaw,” getting past MacDonald to take the race lead. Griffith, who finished second in 2016’s event, held on to win the race and the $10,000 prize. Garrett Hall, who started shotgun on the field after replacing a transmission, charged his way to second in the closing laps. Derek Ramstrom finished third, with MacDonald fourth and Seekonk regular David Darling fifth.

Recent PASS winner Travis Benjamin, racing the Frahm family’s #14, won his qualifying heat but finished sixth in the 200-lap feature. Joey Pole faded to eighth with Reid Lanpher ninth. Modified ace Woody Pitkat finished twelfth. Canadian Raphael Lessard, in the #99 for David Gilliland Racing, finished back in 16th, ahead of defending winner Tom Scully, Jr. Devin O’Connell, representing the Granite State Pro Stock Series, finished deep in the field in 19th.

WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS: One local track not falling victim to the mid-week deluge of rain was Barre, Vermont’s Thunder Road. The weekly ACT Late Model action was shelved for the annual VP Racing Fuels Vermont Governor’s Cup 150. Joining the Thunder Road weekly regulars, in a car prepared by Mad Dog Motorsports, was NASCAR star Kyle Busch, in his first visit to T-Road.

The Cup, however, belonged to Trampas Demers. The son of former NASCAR Busch North racer Dennis Demers took the lead from “Bad Boy” Bobby Therrien late in the race and held on over the last eight laps to win his first Governor’s Cup. Therrien finished second, with Marcel J. Gravel third, Darrell Morin fourth and defending T-Road track champion Scott Dragon in fifth.

Kyle Busch ran as high as sixth, but contact late in the going relegated the visitor to 21st in the lineup. Governor Phil Scott was unable to contend for his own trophy; he finished 24th. Visiting Série ACT racers Jean-François Déry and Jonathan Bouvrette finished 20th and 22nd.

While SLM racers at Oxford Plains Speedway had an off-night on Saturday, Beech Ridge Motor Speedway’s Pro Series returned to action sans the visiting PASS stars from a week before. Corey Bubar, who had competed in the PASS 150 that week, drove to victory over Reid Lanpher and Garrett Hall.

Wiscasset (ME) Speedway hosted double features for their weekly Pro Stock competitors, with Scott Chubbuck and Daren Ripley each winning a feature. The night was marred by a grinding crash for Brandon Sprague, who was treated for a bruised lung and a concussion. Brandon is out of the hospital and hopefully will be back behind the wheel soon.

COMING UP: The ACT Tour is off until August’s event at Beech Ridge. The Série ACT competitors roll back into action with their fourth race of the season on Saturday at Autodrome Montmagny. The Granite State Pro Stock Series heads to White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, NH on Saturday for their own 100-lap main event. PASS takes a week off before returning to Oxford Plains Speedway for a Sunday-afternoon tuneup for the big 250.

Jeff Brown is a contributor to Short Track Scene. A native of New Hampshire and a long-time fan of New England racing, Brown provides a fan's perspective as he follows New England's regional Late Model touring series.

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