9/21/2012
Wayne Helliwell Jr
Finish Strong
In what has been a career year for Wayne Helliwell Jr. the motto heading in the final weeks of racing action is “Finish Strong”. Helliwell who has won nearly half the events he’s entered in 2012 has amassed 20 victories in 44 starts is looking to continue those winning ways with lifelong goals on the line in the coming weeks.
Helliwell put an exclamation point on the NASCAR Whelen All-American New Hampshire state title two weeks ago winning the final event at Lee USA Speedway behind the wheel of the Witkum Brothers Scherbon Consolidated Inc. 350 Supermodified. Getting the jump from the outside front row on lap one, he never looked back. The win would make #16 on the year towards the overall Whelen National Championship. Helliwell who has battled around the 10th position in the overall standings all year was hoping for a guaranteed starting spot in the upcoming All-Star event being held at Daytona International Speedway this coming February.
With his combined effort in both the late model and supermodified he would finish 14th in North America missing that guarantee but remained satisfied with the overall outcome of both his teams efforts. “We are proud of what we did this year with Whelen stuff, we had a top 10 goal in mind and just missed it. I have to thank Ed & Bobby [Witkum] and Bruce {Bernhardt] for the opportunities they provided me this year. Really rain is the only reason we didn’t finished top 10, one more race and we would have been there. Driving completely different cars and accomplishing what we did is very satisfying.”
Helliwell pointed out that the overall car counts week in and week out are the only reason he missed out on a top 3 finish. Referencing the amount of points given for each race based off the car count of the event; more cars would have netted him more overall points propelling him in the standings. “If you add two more cars to each event we raced this year we would have finished 3rd overall… Something’s are just out of your control, but still a positive when you look at it like that. Finishing where we did with less than full fields is a testament to where are programs are with these teams.”
Helliwell who cut a deficit of 55 points in half over the final 4 weeks of racing behind the wheel of the winged 350 super finished the season in the runner up position, missing his 10th Lee USA Speedway track title by 25 points. “We finished strong”, said Helliwell. It comes down to that broken radiator back in July. I know we had the best car week in week out from the Money Bags [100] race till the end of the year; our finishes show that. We turned our program around the second part the year.”
Continuing on the broken radiator trend Helliwell’ s late model program with owner Bruce Bernhardt and the Ekeys-4-Cars Unique Ford Fusion look to fend off a hard charging eight time champion Brian Hoar in American Canadian Tour action as the series points come to a close at Airborne Speedway in 3 weeks. A defective radiator cap in the series third race at Oxford Plains Speedway relegated Helliwell to a 30th place finish. That coupled with inconsistent top 10 runs while Hoar went to victory lane has closed the title to within 8 points with one points race remaining. The Bernhardt motorsports team hasn’t lost focus and is ready for the upcoming challenge. “We took the week off and regrouped and refocused our efforts, said team owner Bruce Bernhardt. It’s been a very productive week and we’ll be ready for Brian [Hoar] at Airborne.”
Before the drama of the final points race can play out the series heads to back to back mega events at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway and the famed Vermont Thunder Road Speedbowl. This Saturday in front of arguable the largest crowd the series will see this year, 42 cars will invade the 1 mile Loudon, NH oval for the Bond Auto Parts ACT Innovational, for the fourth running of the invitation only event. Helliwell who missed victory by 3 laps in the second running of the event 2 years ago will look to slice his way through the field set by random draw.
The following week the teams will head north for 50th annual Milk Bowl at Thunder Road Speedbowl. The three segment race will see a purse of over $110,000 dollars. Helliwell and the bright orange 27NH machine will look to better their back to back second place finishes at the high banks this year for his opportunity to kiss the cow in victory lane.
“I’ve been saying it all year, you have win races to win this title. I’m excited and looking forward to the next 3 weeks. It’s amazing what you can do and find with a week off. We are ready…,said Helliwell.
Our 2012 Late Model 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 / Sunoco Race Fuels / The Brake Man / Joes Racing Products
Our 2012 Proud SBS Partners ~ Scherbon Consolidated Inc / Locke Crane Service / Westford Glass / Witkum Flooring / Harrington Brothers Paving
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Leif Tillotson Photo
Article Credit: Jason Lubin
Submitted By: Jason Lubin
