8/12/2012
Wayne Helliwell Jr
Mieux, le dimanche - Better on Sunday
Wayne Helliwell Jr. and the Bruce Bernhardt owned Ekeys-4-Cars, Unique Ford Fusion team headed north of the border for the first time in 2012; as race #7 on the American Canadian Tour stopped at Sanair Super Speedway in St. Pie, QC. It marked the return of the series to 7/8 mile triangle shaped track since 2006. It was also the the first ever competitive laps run at the track for Wayne and the 27NH team.
The race original scheduled for Saturday night prompt an accelerated racing program as bad weather moved into the surrounding area. The decision was made by the competing drivers to forgo heat races and line the feature event up by averaging the 3 rounds of practice times in an effort to complete the program. That put the bright orange Ford Fusion of Helliwell on the pole for the 100 lap event; along side current Série ACT Castrol points leader Patrick Laperle.
Helliwell would lead the first lap as Laperle and fellow Canadian driver Karl Allard would move to the front of the field on lap two. The battle at the front was short lived as heavy rain brought a caution out on lap 5. With the weather winning on the night; the event was red flagged on lap 7 and postponed till Sunday afternoon.
Helliwell would restart 3rd with 93 laps remaining. He would ride there till the first and only yellow flag of the event on lap 35. On the restart he would take the second position from Karl Allard and fall in line with 91QC of Laperle. Dropping to the bottom of the track as the field entered turn one on lap 53 Helliwell took command of the race. Stretching his lead to as far 12 car lengths at times; He would set a torrid pace lapping up to the 16th place in the 37 car field. As he took the two to go sign a hard charging Brian Hoar and Austin Theriault were bumper to bumper with the Dover, NH native. Hoar tried his best to grab the top spot on the final lap to no avail. Helliwell would go on to record his first every win in Canada; leading the final 47 laps.
"This is incredible, said Helliwell as the an elated crew greeted him on the front stretch. "If this was last night i don't think we would be here right now" Helliwell who battled a tight handling car and tire issues during the practice sessions on Saturday used the extra day and practice sessions to further tune his car. "Our game plan didn't change, it just allowed us to adjust more on it. Our car was better today with the changes. Once again we were in the right place at the right time and were able to take home the win. This is a big deal for the series to put all this effort into coming back here, and we were able to pull it off."
The top 3 cars came across the finish line of the 7/8 mile track bumper to bumper after 100 laps of competition. Hoar and Theiault continue to chase Helliwell atop the series standings. Most of Helliwell's excitement in taking the win was just betting them. "I said after Beech Ridge, you have to win races in this series to win the title. We did that today. Both of those guys came from the back, Austin restarted in Maine today he was so far back… Everyone is battling for everything out there and its great to keep this thing going like this."
Helliwell opened up a few more points of breathing room on the young Theiault in the overall series championship standings. Just three points paying races remain on the 10 race schedule. The series heads north of the border once again in two weeks when they tackle Riverside Speedway in St- Croix, QC on Saturday, August 25. "Well continue to take this one race at a time, said Helliwell. "Anything can still happen in this thing, its still wide open. But today was a positive step in the right direction."
Our 2012 Proud Partners -
EKeys-4-Cars / Unique Ford / Bernhardt Automotive / A Handy Company / DTB Tax / C&M Distributing / Carbonneau Insulation Co / Hillside Country Store / IICCEEE / Ford Racing / Schoenfeld Headers / The Brake Man / Joes Racing Products
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https://www.stephanelazare.ca Photo
Article Credit: Jason Lubin
Submitted By: Jason Lubin
