LOUDON, N.H. — With 10 Maine natives in Saturday’s second annual American-Canadian Tour (ACT) Invitational, race fans from the Pine Tree State had plenty of action to watch as the region’s top Late Model short tracks stars took on the famed “Magic Mile.”
For starters, Turner resident Glen Luce led the field into turn 1 as the race went green. His time up front was brief, as the handling on his car wasn’t quite as he’d hoped. He wound up 15th in the final rundown on the same lap as the leaders.
“The car was scary loose in the early going,” Luce said. “I was hoping it would tighten up, but it never did. It made it a real challenge in traffic, so a lot of cars went sailing past us. Still, this was a great day for Ford and their new crate engine. While my handling wasn’t quite right, the engine was strong all day. We’re pretty happy with this run, and we think we know what to do to the car to make it handle better next time.”
Ricky Rolfe was the highest finishing Maine driver, wheeling his machine to a solid seventh-place finish. The Oxford regular with a lot of ACT experience under his belt made some bold moves in traffic early on, and looked as fast as the leaders for a while.
Other Mainers in the final rundown include Shawn Martin (17th); Dennis Spencer Jr. (23rd); T.J. Watson (29th); Austin Theriault (30th); Scott Luce (35th); Travis Adams (36th); and Tim Brackett (39th).
Brackett, crowned the 2010 Late Model points champion just one week ago, struggled to get up to speed at Loudon Saturday but soldiered on to the finish. After playing it conservative in the “Test & Tune” session here last month, the easy-going veteran earned a guaranteed spot by earning the title at Oxford.
“I may not have had a very good day, but it was still a good experience to race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway,” Brackett said. “I lost my brakes early on, so we had to park it before we really even got up to speed. The race was everything I expected, I’m happy that Late Models get a chance to race as part of such a huge weekend. I was honored to be invited and just wish we could have finished the whole race.”
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