Welch, Stearns Heat Up Heading To Beech Ridge
Both Banking On Crazy Horse’s Flat-Track Success This Week
SOUTH PARIS, Maine – When Quinny Welch ran headlong into misfortune last weekend, it may have served to fuel an old adage: “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.”
Welch, who had reeled off two straight wins at White Mountain Motorsports Park, was collected when the leaders wrecked on the final lap while running in the Top-5 at the track last Saturday night. He never saw the checkered flag. But with the help of his own crew and some others, Welch pulled an all-nighter and made repairs to his No. 78 IBEW Local 104 Chevrolet – then hauled over to Canaan Fair Speedway to finish sixth in the Subway Fresh Fit 150 on Sunday.
Now, Welch will have Crazy Horse Racing give the car a good once-over this week before entering the ACT Late Model Tour Beech Ridge 150 at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, Maine, this Saturday night.
“They’re going to get me ready for flat-track racing in Maine,” said Welch, who has never been to Beech Ridge. “That’s what they’re good at.”
Crazy Horse has been pretty good for the Lancaster, N.H., driver on his home track, too. Welch, a multi-time champion on the high banks at White Mountain Motorsports Park, earned an opening day win at the scenic quarter-mile and now has three wins there this season.
Welch went into damage control mode for most of the early part of the season, however. After struggling for a few weeks, he finally found the root of the problem. It took several different diagnoses, but once the car was back to full health, Welch was back in Victory Lane. He reeled off consecutive victories in 50-lap Late Model races on July 27 and August 3.
“(Crazy Horse owner Mitch Green) said, ‘Let’s get this thing straightened out for you,’ and we tuned her up the way I wanted it,” Welch said. “I had some things I thought we needed to do to it, and they had some things they thought it needed, so we combined it. As usual, we hit things off pretty good together – and it worked really well those two weeks in a row.
“That was good. Two wins in a row was great, and I thought three in a row was going to be a lot better.”
Welch had decided nearly a month ago that if he was out of championship contention at White Mountain Motorsports Park, he was going to enter some ACT races at different tracks. Beech Ridge was one he had circled on the calendar.
“I probably could get to second in points (at White Mountain), but I’ve finished second four times over there,” Welch said. “I’d rather go try to win a race somewhere else, challenge myself and our team. We’ll have Mitch and Mickey (Green) work on the car and get her ready for Beech Ridge.”
BUILDING MOMENTUM: Travis Stearns is hoping that the same flat-track success where Crazy Horse built its name will play out this weekend. The driver of the Richard Green Racing No. 16 LaQuinta Inn & Suites Ford finished second in the St. Jude Children’s Hospital 150 at Devil’s Bowl Speedway on July 28.
“That was big-time for us,” Stearns said. “We weren’t even going to go – we had kind of thrown in the towel and decided to take a week off and grasp hold of our senses a little bit. We decided late – late-late – that we were going to do it. I’m glad we did. I needed that finish, for sure. Everybody did.”
Though Devil’s Bowl is bigger than Beech Ridge, it’s still a relatively flat oval – more like where the Auburn, Maine, driver began his racing career.
“I felt like we were going the right way and good (in the International 500) Airborne, but the finish was a little bit out of our hands,” Stearns said. “I still felt like we were going the right way with things. We dug our heels in, and we made it to Devil’s Bowl when we weren’t even supposed to.
“We had a good car there – a Top-3 car all day. It was the way I feel like we should be racing every week. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to run up front. I honestly feel like we’re just ramping up now, and I’m really looking forward to Beech Ridge.”
TREPANIER THIRD: Dany Trepanier of St. Edouard, Que., finished third on Saturday, August 10, in the ACT Castrol Series St. Eustache 200 at Autodrome St-Eustache.
Trepanier led the first 24 laps of the event, which was slowed only four times by the caution flag. It was the second podium finish in seven races this season for Trepanier.
The driver of the No. 19 Trepanier Motorsports Ford won the Riverside Twin 75s at Riverside Speedway in St. Croix, Que., on July 13.