Payea in Right Place at Right Time for Propane Plus 150 Win

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

Celebrating at Lee USA earlier in 2016

Seekonk, MA – Scott Payea was the last man standing on a wild night at Massachusetts’ Seekonk Speedway on Saturday, July 16, taking the lead with three laps to go en route to his second American-Canadian Tour (ACT) win of the season in the Propane Plus 150.

Colchester, VT’s Payea had run a distant second to Brad Babb for much of the second half of the event, but the 12^th caution of the night for ACT Late Model Tour point leader Nick Sweet’s spin on lap 141 set up a showdown between Babb, Payea, Eddie MacDonald, and Dillon Moltz. After Babb got off to a strong restart, Payea began inching back up on the outside as the laps wound down.

As Payea drew even with three laps remaining, MacDonald – who started last after arriving from Loudon’s New Hampshire Motor Speedway shortly before the green flag – dove three-wide on the backstretch, and contact entering turn three allowed Payea to leap out to the top spot. MacDonald and Babb continued bumping and eventually ended up in the turn two wall to bring out the red flag with two laps to go. Payea then held off Moltz on the race’s final restart for the victory.

Tiverton, RI’s Ray Parent led the first 18 laps from the pole before Babb assumed the point for the first time. Joey Polewarczyk, Jr. followed Babb to the front, and the two engaged in a thrilling duel in the race’s middle stages, swapping the lead multiple times and running side-by-side for extended periods following numerous cautions, including a red flag for Dylan Estrella’s hard impact with the turn four wall on lap 47.

Babb finally gained control following a lap-79 caution, as Polewarczyk subsequently began to fade on the race’s longest green-flag run. As Babb slowly drew away from the field, Payea, MacDonald, and Moltz put on their own battle for second, with MacDonald coming up on the outside of Payea when Sweet spun to set up the dramatic finish.

Moltz earned a season-best second-place finish, while Polewarczyk rebounded to finish third. Defending ACT Champion Wayne Helliwell, Jr. drove from the 19^th starting position up to fourth, and local youngster Nicholas Johnson completed the top-five. Parent, Ryan Vanasse, Sweet, Bobby Therrien, and Mike Ziter rounded out the top-10.

William Wall, Vanasse, and Babb earned heat race wins. Rookie Devin O’Connell and Polewarczyk captured the consolation events.

The ACT Late Model Tour and Pro All Stars Series (PASS) head to N. Woodstock, NH’s White Mountain Motorsports Park this Saturday, July 23 for their second doubleheader of the season. The “Showdown in the Mountains” features twin 150-lap events for both series along with White Mountain’s regular weekly divisions. Post time is 5:00pm.

For more information contact the ACT offices at 802-244-6963, media@acttour.com, or visit www.acttour.com.

ACT LATE MODEL TOUR

PROPANE PLUS 150

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS

Pos, Start Pos, Driver, Car #, Hometown, Laps

1. ( 6 ) Scott Payea ( 37VT ) , Miton, VT , 150 Laps
2. ( 13 ) Dillon Moltz ( 5CT ) , Waterford, CT , 150 Laps
3. ( 7 ) Joey Polewarczyk, Jr. ( 97NH ) , Hudson, NH , 150 Laps
4. ( 19 ) Wayne Helliwell, Jr. ( 27NH ) , Dover, NH , 150 Laps
5. ( 4 ) Nicholas Johnson ( 6MA ) , Rehoboth, MA , 150 Laps
6. ( 1 ) Ray Parent ( 17RI ) , Tiverton, RI , 150 Laps
7. ( 9 ) Ryan Vanasse ( 11RI ) , Warwick, RI , 150 Laps
8. ( 16 ) Nick Sweet ( 40VT ) , Barre, VT , 150 Laps
9. ( 3 ) Bobby Therrien ( 5VT ) , Hinesburg, VT , 150 Laps
10. ( 10 ) Mike Ziter ( 54VT ) , Barre, VT , 150 Laps
11. ( 26 ) Rich Dubeau ( 30NH ) , Lebanon, NH , 149 Laps
12. ( 12 ) Nicholas Uhrig ( 11MA ) , Warwick, RI , 149 Laps
13. ( 17 ) Brian Tagg ( 3MA ) , Oxford, MA , 149 Laps
14. ( 20 ) Mark Hudson ( 82MA ) , Norton, MA , 149 Laps
15. ( 25 ) Emily Packard ( 9ME ) , E. Montpelier, VT , 149 Laps
16. ( 30 ) Eddie MacDonald ( 17MA ) , Rowley, MA , 148 Laps
17. ( 5 ) Brad Babb ( 15NH ) , Windham, ME , 148 Laps
18. ( 23 ) #Mark Jenison ( 22RI ) , Warwick, RI , 147 Laps
19. ( 27 ) Ron Barbosa, Jr. ( 2RI ) , Warren, RI , 139 Laps
20. ( 21 ) Jerry DeGasparre, Jr. ( 71RI ) , Pawtucket, RI , 103 Laps
21. ( 8 ) William Wall ( 4MA ) , Shrewsbury, MA , 86 Laps
22. ( 2 ) #Devin O'Connell ( 1VT ) , Madison, CT , 68 Laps
23. ( 18 ) Brandon Atkins ( 4NY ) , AuSable Forks, NY , 68 Laps
24. ( 15 ) #Ryan Olsen ( 61NH ) , N. Haverhill, NH , 68 Laps
25. ( 14 ) Rowland Robinson, Jr. ( 28ME ) , Steuben, ME , 64 Laps
26. ( 11 ) Derek Ramstrom ( 35MA ) , Worcester, MA , 49 Laps
27. ( 22 ) Dylan Estrella ( 47MA ) , N. Attleboro, MA , 47 Laps
28. ( 29 ) James Linardy ( 77MA ) , Somerville, MA , 36 Laps
29. ( 28 ) Walter Sutcliffe ( 78CT ) , East Haven, CT , 24 Laps
30. ( 24 ) Anthony Ryan, Jr. ( 2CT ) , Ridgefield, CT , 24 Laps