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The ACT Late Model Tour heads to a familiar house with a different feel this weekend.
Formerly known as Riverside Speedway in Groveton, N.H., the new Speedway 51 plays host to its first ACT Late Model Tour race under the ownership of longtime ACT and Thunder Road Internatonal Speedbowl competitor Joey Laquerre — the winningest driver in Thunder Road history. The Generation Next ACT 151 begins with qualifying rounds at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.
“It’s a complete change from what the track was to now,” said Laquerre, who purchased the track last November, one week after his grandson, Joey M. Laquerre died as a result of an ATV accident. The track’s name was taken from the car number the youngest member of the Laquerre racing family sported on his cars.
“We started with putting a whole new wall in and all new fencing. We relocated the grandstands and elevated the pits at one end… That took a long time. It was something like 10,000 yards of dirt.”
The Generation Next ACT 151 will be the first race held at the quarter-mile track since Laquerre purchased it.
“It’s very special to have ACT with us,” Laquerre, of E. Montpelier, Vt., said. “(ACT President) Tom Curley and myself go back to when we were 17 or 18 years old.”
Defending ACT Tour Champion and current point leader Joey Polewarczyk Jr. leads the series into Speedway 51. Polewarczyk already has two wins this year in four races, including the most recent event at Airborne Park Speedway. He also won two years ago at Riverside Speedway.
Kyle Welch of Newport, N.H., will also be in the field. Despite some tough luck in 2015, Welch was the surprise winner at this track the last time ACT visited last season.
“I’m really, really excited to go back to Groveton,” Welch said. “We had a really good car last year, so this race has definitely been circled on our calendar.
“The new era of the track is the big thing – just to honor Joey M. Laquerre. I think the winner is really going to have some pride in this race, whoever it may be. ACT is a tight group, and I hope I can win it for him.”
Brad Babb will carry the Speedway 51 colors on his Joey Laquerre–owned ride as he goes for his second win of the season. Fellow youngsters Emily Packard and Brandon Atkins were strong in their inaugural visits last year and look to build on those performances. Travis Stearns surged to the top of the Bond Auto Parts New Champions standings at the Spring Green 115 and will try to extend that lead. Longtime NASCAR K&N Pro Series East competitor and two-time Oxford 250 champion Eddie MacDonald is expected to be gunning for his first Speedway 51 win as well.
(Source: American Canadian Tour press release)
Eddie MacDonald won the 2014 Fall Brawl at that track.
Are you the same Andy Boright that is banned from Thunder Road???