4/20/2012
Wayne Helliwell Jr
Second place is the first loser.
Wayne Helliwell Jr. and the Bruce Bernhardt owned Ford Fusion team started off their 2012 American Canadian Tour season with a sold second place finish at Lee USA Speedway's New Hampshire Governors Cup 150.
Helliwell who is an 8 time Lee Speedway champion and arguable has more laps around the New Hampshire oval than all of his fellow ACT competitors combined came up one position short in the season opening event. Helliwell would roll off 5th on the grid after a solid +3 in ACT plus/minus handicap system dominating his heat with a win. He would waste little time making his presence known at the front of the field taking the lead on lap 10 and holding a comfortable margin leading a race high 63 laps. Battling an extremely loose car Wayne would simple fall in line and while running 9th found himself facing the wrong direction exiting turn two. Drawing a yellow flag on lap 117 would change the complexion of the whole race. "I don't think i've ever been that loose in a car before? I was sideways off the turns for about 10 laps there. I didn't want to be the yellow but I was glad to be able to get some new tires on the car," said Helliwell. The caution allowed him to pit for fresh tires and put the new six tire rule in select 2012 events to the test. Rejoining the field in 9th position, he would break back into the top five in just the next ten laps, taking over 2nd place behind multi time series champion Brian Hoar with 13 laps to go. Multiple late side by side restarts with Hoar gave the home track fans something to cheer about. At times Helliwell could be seen pushing Hoar through the turns. "Our cars were so equal on speed it was tough to hang out there lap after lap," said Helliwell. I was better than him through the middle of the turns, he was better off of them." The event would finish in that order and the team would come up one spot short, but showed their hard work over the winter and that they are once again a contender for the 2012 American Canadian Tour Championship. "I'm starting to know what Earnhardt felt like at Daytona when it comes to this race. We've been so close here. From how the car was running halfway through this race i never would have thought we could have run 10th, so to take a solid second from here i'm happy. Everyone did a great job today."
This coming weekend the team heads to Canaan Fair Speedway in Canaan, NH on Saturday and Devils Bowl Speedway in Vermont on Sunday for some testing before the next series event, the Merchants Bank 150 at the famed Thunder Road International Speedway in Barre, VT Sunday, April 29.
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
(Eric LaFleche Photo)
Article Credit: Jason Lubin
Submitted By: Jason Lubin
