Pole Repeats in ACT Can-Am 150 at Circuit Riverside
Ste-Croix, QC – Hudson, NH’s Joey Polewarczyk Jr. turned an early setback into an opportune moment en route to winning the American-Canadian Tour (ACT) Can-Am 150 at Ste-Croix, QC’s Circuit Riverside Speedway on Saturday, August 22.
“Joey Pole” was involved in an incident with Martin Goulet Jr. and Brandon Atkins on lap 18 of the 150-lap event and pitted for two tires and adjustments during the resulting caution. After driving back up to third on the track, Pole inherited the lead when leaders Wayne Helliwell Jr. and Jean-François Déry pitted under caution with 44 laps remaining.
Although Helliwell and Déry drove back up through the field, neither could touch Pole, who won the Can-Am 150 for the second straight year while taking his fifth ACT U.S. Tour victory in 10 races this season. Pole also unofficially retook the points lead from Helliwell by a single marker with three races remaining.
“Obviously we weren’t planning on spinning early,” Pole said. “We thought before the race about when to pit or if we should pit at all if the scenario was right, and then (on the caution) we made the call right at the very last minute, and it paid off.
“I didn’t think Wayne was going to pit,” he added. “He and Déry were running pretty strong when we were in third; it was going to be tough to get around them. So I backed off a little bit trying to save in case there was another yellow. But then they both pitted, and from that point on it was just about holding those guys off.”
Déry started on the pole after earning a +9 in his qualifying heat through ACT’s plus/minus handicapping system and led the first 71 laps, holding off Jonathan Bouvrette and Série ACT point leader Dany Trépanier through a rash of early cautions. Helliwell entered the fray as the race approached its midpoint and got around Déry on the race’s seventh restart.
Helliwell led the next 35 circuits before making his pit stop and surrendering the top spot to rival Pole. Having been handed the lead, Pole turned up the wick, fending off Trépanier, Déry, and Helliwell on the final two restarts for the win.
Déry finished second with Helliwell third. Trépanier extended his Série ACT point lead with a fourth-place finish while Karl Allard charged from the 22nd starting position to finish fifth. Brad Babb, Alex Labbé, Patrick Cliche, Emily Packard, and Patrick Hamel rounded out the top-ten.
The ACT U.S. Tour returns to Quebec along with Série ACT on Saturday, September 12 at Vallée-Jct., QC’s Autodrome Chaudiere. The doubleheader will see twin 200-lap features for both the ACT Late Models and the Pro All Stars Series Super Late Models. Post time is 6:00pm. Série ACT will be back in action for the Montmagny 150 at Autodrome Montmagny on Saturday, September 5.
For more information contact the ACT offices at 802.244.6963, media@acttour.com, or visit www.acttour.com or www.serieact.com.
AMERICAN-CANADIAN TOUR
CAN-AM 150
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Pos Start Pos Driver Car # Hometown Laps
( 6 ) Joey Polewarczyk Jr. ( 97NH ) , Hudson, NH , 150 Laps
( 1 ) Jean-Francois Dery ( 21QC ) , Quebec, QC , 150 Laps
( 7 ) Wayne Helliwell Jr. ( 27NH ) , Dover, NH , 150 Laps
( 2 ) Dany Trepanier ( 19QC ) , St-Edourard, QC , 150 Laps
( 22 ) Karl Allard ( 7ON ) , St-Felicien, QC , 150 Laps
( 23 ) Brad Babb ( 15NH ) , Windham, ME , 150 Laps
( 4 ) Alex Labbe ( 48QC ) , St-Albert, QC , 150 Laps
( 10 ) Patrick Cliché ( 5QC ) , Levis, QC , 150 Laps
( 13 ) Emily Packard ( 9ME ) , E. Montpelier, VT , 150 Laps
( 26 ) Patrick Hamel ( 51QC ) , St.-Croix, QC , 150 Laps
( 3 ) Jonathan Bouvrette ( 41QC ) , Blainville, QC , 150 Laps
( 19 ) #Rich Dubeau ( 30NH ) , Plainfield, NH , 150 Laps
( 12 ) Jeff White ( 50ME ) , Winthrop, ME , 150 Laps
( 21 ) Claude Leclerc ( 11QC ) , Lanoraie, QC , 150 Laps
( 11 ) Martin Goulet Jr. ( 83QC ) , Mascouette, QC , 148 Laps
( 30 ) Leo Poirier ( 12ON ) , Ottawa, QC , 148 Laps
( 28 ) Carl Poulin ( 57QC ) , Quebec, QC , 147 Laps
( 24 ) Jimmy Hebert ( 58VT ) , Williamstown, VT , 146 Laps
( 9 ) Pierre-Luc Labbe ( 94QC ) , St-Joseph-De-Beauce , 145 Laps
( 8 ) Rowland Robinson, Jr. ( 28ME ) , Steuben, ME , 138 Laps
( 20 ) Gaetan Longtin ( 66QC ) , Mercier, QC , 131 Laps
( 29 ) Patrick Dubé ( 18QC ) , Boischatel, QC , 126 Laps
( 17 ) Patrick Boucher ( 96QC ) , St-Martine, QC , 126 Laps
( 25 ) Charles Harvey ( 77QC ) , Terrebonne, QC , 115 Laps
( 15 ) Patrick Boyer ( 13QC ) , Quebec, QC , 96 Laps
( 31 ) Dave Trevors ( 88QC ) , Quebec, QC , 68 Laps
( 5 ) Kyle Welch ( 9NH ) , Newport, NH , 63 Laps
( 16 ) Simon Roussin ( 6QC ) , Quebec, QC , 54 Laps
( 33 ) Gaetan Gaudreault ( 38QC ) , Quebec, QC , 41 Laps
( 35 ) Donald Theetge ( 80QC ) , Boischatel, QC , 39 Laps
( 34 ) Jacques Poulin ( 97QC ) , East Broughton, QC , 27 Laps
( 14 ) Brandon Atkins ( 4NY ) , AuSable Forks, NY , 19 Laps
( 18 ) Steven Boissoneault ( 31QC ) , Lyster, QC , 19 Laps
( 27 ) Stephane Levesque ( 12QC ) , St-Liguori, QC , 17 Laps
( 32 ) Lucien Rocheleau ( 66ON ) , Montreal, QC , 7 Laps
DNS Travis Stearns ( 16ME ) , Auburn, ME
DNS Mike Ziter ( 54VT ) , Barre Town, VT
Lap Leaders: Jean-Francois Dery, 1-71; Wayne Helliwell Jr., 72-106; Joey Polewarczyk Jr., 107-150. (2 lead changes among 3 drivers)
Time of Race: 1:37:43 Margin of Victory: 0.501 seconds
Cautions: 10 (laps 8, 13, 18, 24, 51, 57, 70, 105, 130, 134)
Heat Winners: Jonathan Bouvrette, Alex Labbe, Jeff White
Consi Winners: Gaetan Longtin, Claude Leclerc