8/18/2012
Wayne Helliwell Jr
The Domino Effect
In racing just like in life one single event can have a effect good or bad on multiple others things. In this case it was two victories that set the dominos in motion and put and explanation point on the year long puzzle to the 2012 racing season. Saturday night Wayne Helliwell Jr. and the Bruce Bernhardt owned Ekeys-4-Cars, Unique Ford Fusion team headed back to the Canaan Fair Speedway in Canaan, NH; hoping to continue the hot streak that seminally hasn't stopped since they unloaded at the northern New Hampshire oval in April.
As the saying goes "i'd rather be lucky than good" when it came time to head north to Canada with the American Canadian tour series last Saturday night the Bernhardt Motorsports team was just that, lucky. Heading to Canada meant Helliwell would have to miss two feature events at Canaan Fair Speedway; both events would have counted towards weekly racing series track championship points and the bigger picture NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national championship.
Helliwell's decision to head to Canada instead of Canaan was an easy one when asked what the team intended to do? A weekend that was expected since they choose their ambitious schedule over the winter. "We knew it the time would come, said Helliwell. "But we never thought we would be in the position were we are… We were just fortunate that we had a big point lead at Canaan but there was never really a decision that had to be made, we were going to Sanair [Super Speedway]."
As the team headed north of the border tracks across the northeast battled rain and thunderstorms. As the American Canadian Tour event was battling the elements themselves word came over the boarder that Canaan Fair Speedway had fell victim to the rain; meaning Helliwell would maintain his impressive 116 point lead heading into this weekends events.
Twin 35 lap feature events were once again on tap for the NASCAR weekly racing series action. Helliwell would roll from the 14th starting position and waste no time going to the front. Using the outside lane he would break into the top 10 by lap 7 and be 5th by lap 12. Rocketing past the 53 car of Tyler Fiscus on lap 20 he would go on unchallenged to claim win #12 on season.
"Believe it not we actual found some things wrong with the car this week. We made a couple of small changes and the car is back were it was at the beginning of the year, said Helliwell. "I know it doesn't seem it, but we have been off with this car for a few weeks… We have run it at others tracks trying to find the best combination to be competitive every-time we unload. It just comes to down to wear and tear on the car. It was much better today, it's so much fun to drive a car thats this good."
The second 35 lap feature event would see Helliwell start from the 12th position. The ensuing first 12 laps were impressive to say the least; Helliwell would slice his way through the field in a matter of minutes. 10th after lap one, 7th after lap five and 3rd after lap 12. Battling to the outside of the the #7 car of Scott MacMichael the pair would run side by side for 3 laps in-till lap 25 when Helliwell would complete the pass for the lead. Surviving multiple late race restarts against Chris Bergeron he would go on to claim win #13 on the season and in doing so would set the domino effect in motion.
With only one scheduled late model points event remaining at Canaan Speedway, Helliwell only needed to start the first feature event Saturday to unofficially claim the 2012 Late Model track championship. The teams 2012 results at Canaan have been nothing less than amazing through 16 events at the track. Helliwell has recorded 16 top 3 finishes with 13 victories that include the $5000 to win SUBWAY Fresh Fit 150 on opening day back in April. His worst finish on the year is a 3rd place which he finished 3 times.
The wins also make him the unofficial 2012 NASCAR New Hampshire state champion for the 3rd time in 4 years. Mathematically second place point man Russ Hersey can not accumulate enough points to overtake the Dover, NH driver with the remaining weeks ahead. It also increases his already 138 point lead in the American Canadian Tour Ford Challenge Championship were he is trying to make it a three-pete and go down in the ACT history books as the only driver to win the title since the program was initiated in 2010. Following his next competitive late model race Helliwell will start replacing bad finishes as the best 18 overall races will count towards the end championship. This will be no small feat as Helliwell has only finished outside of the top 6 one time in 2012 late model competition. That finish came when he had freak engine failure at Oxford Plains Speedway back in May.
When Helliwell was questioned about his feelings on completing some of the lofty goals the team had set forth at the start of the season, he was happy but not totally satisfied and knows there is work left to do.
"We are happy things are starting to fall into place, but it's kind of anti-climatic winning this thing with some racing left to do. I'm really proud of Bruce and all the guys for the effort we've put in every week. We have a lot work left to do and some big plans coming up at the end of the year that we need to shift some focus too. Putting some of these things behind us and focusing on the ACT title will be really good for everyone. Our year long sacrifices are starting to payoff, but we have a lot of work left to do and i'm excited looking ahead…"
The Helliwell, Bernhardt team will once again head north of the boarder next saturday night as the American Canadian Tour heads to Riverside speedway in St. Croix, QC for round #8 in 2012 championship. Helliwell will try and continue his Canadian winning ways and repeat his success after taking the victory at Sanair Super Speedway in St. Pie, QC two weeks ago. More information about the upcoming event can be found at https://www.acttour.com.
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
Follow Wayne:
https://www.waynehelliwelljr.com
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https://twitter.com/#!/WayneHelliwell
Photo by: Jill Helliwell
Article Credit: Jason Lubin
Submitted By: Jason Lubin
