Racing: Joey Pole Returns to Victory Lane at New London-Waterford

Posted on by George Commo

Courtesy American Canadian Tour

 

Waterford, CT – Hudson, NH’s Joey Polewarczyk, Jr. returned to American Canadian Tour action and victory lane at New London-Waterford Speedbowl with his win in the first event of the Southern New England Tripleheader on Saturday, May 21. Polewarczyk claimed his third straight New London-Waterford Speedbowl ACT win dating back to the last two times the tour visited the track in 2010.

 

The 2014 ACT Tour Champion started from the third position and, after a brief battle with Scott Payea, took over the lead for good on lap 18. Polewarczyk distanced himself from the remainder of the field on a couple of long green flag runs, but Eddie MacDonald worked his way free from traffic and managed to close the gap to a car length with just two laps remaining in the 100 lap event.

 

MacDonald couldn’t get to Polewarczyk’s back bumper but still managed to create a wild finish as his axle broke coming off of turn four, sending him hard into the front stretch wall and sending the remainder of the field scrambling. His momentum allowed him to limp across the start finish line just ahead of third place finisher Payea.

 

Dillon Moltz and Ray Parent completed the top five. Defending ACT Champion Wayne Helliwell, Jr., Rich Dubeau, Brandon Atkins, Bobby Therrien and current point leader Nick Sweet rounded out the top ten. Sweet rebounded from a spin on lap 54 and a flat tire during the final caution on lap 74 to edge out a spinning rookie Ryan Olsen at the line.

 

The event saw 5 cautions and was completed in 1 hour and 5 minutes including a 2 minute red flag after a hard wreck involving James Banfield on lap 12. Banfield was uninjured. There were 20 cars on the track when the checkered flag flew including 17 finishing all 100 laps. Heat winners were Polewarczyk, MacDonald and Helliwell, while Mike Ziter claimed the consi win.

 

Polewarczyk’s win came in the first of the Southern New England Tripleheader, which heads to Seekonk Speedway on Saturday, July 16 and wraps up the 2016 ACT schedule at Thompson Speedway on Saturday, October 15.

 

The American Canadian Tour heads next to Devil’s Bowl Speedway in West Haven, VT on Saturday, June 4 for their 6th event of the season.

 

Many of the ACT stars will be in action next Sunday, May 29th at the non-ACT point counting Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic at Barre, VT’s Thunder Road. The event will also feature the PASS North 150.

 

American Canadian Tour 100 Unofficial Results

New London-Waterford Speedbowl

Saturday, May 21, 2016

Pos. (Start) Driver (Car #), Hometown, Laps Completed

  1. (3) Joey Polewarczyk, Jr. (97NH), Hudson, NH, 100 Laps
  2. (9) Eddie MacDonald (17MA), Rowley, MA, 100 Laps
  3. (1) Scott Payea (37VT), Miton, VT, 100 Laps
  4. (2) Dillon Moltz (5CT), Waterford, CT, 100 Laps
  5. (5) Ray Parent (17RI), Tiverton, RI, 100 Laps
  6. (10) Wayne Helliwell, Jr. (27NH), Dover, NH, 100 Laps
  7. (8) Rich Dubeau (30NH), Lebanon, NH, 100 Laps
  8. (4) Brandon Atkins (4NY), AuSable Forks, NY, 100 Laps
  9. (18) Bobby Therrien (5VT), Hinesburg, VT, 100 Laps
  10. (13) Nick Sweet (40VT), Barre, VT, 100 Laps
  11. (20) #Ryan Olsen (61NH), N. Haverhill, NH, 100 Laps
  12. (22) Emily Packard (9ME), E. Montpelier, VT, 100 Laps
  13. (11) Keith Rocco (88MA), Berlin, CT, 100 Laps
  14. (16) Anthony Ryan Jr. (2CT), Ridgefield, CT, 100 Laps
  15. (14) Mike Ziter (54VT), Barre, VT, 100 Laps
  16. (23) #Devin O’Connell (1VT), Madison, CT, 100 Laps
  17. (6) Brian Tagg (3MA), Oxford, MA, 100 Laps
  18. (7) Brad Babb (15NH), Windham, ME, 99 Laps
  19. (19) Bruce Thomas, Jr. (35CT), Groton, CT, 99 Laps
  20. (21) Jeff Smith (15CT), Old Lyme, CT, 99 Laps
  21. (24) Rowland Robinson, Jr. (28ME), Steuben, ME, 85 Laps
  22. (17) Jason Palmer (17CT), Berlin, CT, 73 Laps
  23. (26) Cornelius Flynn (24MA), Hampden, MA, 73 Laps
  24. (30) William Wall (4MA), Shrewsbury, MA, 50 Laps
  25. (12) Christopher Garside (83CT), Groton, CT, 46 Laps
  26. (25) Marc Curtis, Jr. (27MA), Brookfield, MA, 36 Laps
  27. (27) #Mark Jenison (22RI), Warwick, RI, 34 Laps
  28. (15) Walter Sutcliffe (78CT), East Haven, CT, 18 Laps
  29. (29) James Banfield (22CT), South Glastonbury, CT, 11 Laps
  30. (28) Mark Hudson (82MA), Norton, MA, 3 Laps

Lap Leaders: Scott Payea, 1-12; Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., 13-16; Payea, 17-18; Polewarczyk, 19-100. (3 lead changes among 2 drivers)

Time of Race: 1:05:05 (red on lap 12 for 1 min. 58 sec.)

Margin of Victory: 1.687 seconds

Cautions: 5 (laps 12(red), 16, 18, 54, 74)

Heat Winners: Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., Eddie MacDonald, Wayne Helliwell, Jr.

Consi Winners: Mike Ziter