10/15/2012
Wayne Helliwell Jr
Ford Three-pete
With the storybook drama of the 2012 American Canadian Tour Championship behind them, Wayne Helliwell Jr. and the Bruce Bernhardt Motorsports Ekeys-4-Cars Unique Ford Fusion team have one title left to achieve. The 2012 Ford Blue Oval Challenge championship is all but a lock for the Pelham, NH race team.
Heading into this weekends Fall Brawl 200 at Riverside speedway in Groveton, NH; Helliwell basically has to take the green flag to earn the teams third straight Blue Oval title. A program introduced by Ford Racing’s Manager of Sportsman Circle Track Racing Mike Delahanty. The program was started in 2010 and combines a drivers best overall 18 finishes between American Canadian Tour competition and weekly racing series action at ACT sanctioned tracks for any team utilizing the Ford S347JR crate engine.
The Bernhardt Motorsports team not only competed on the ACT tour in 2012 but recorded 14 victories and the 2012 Canaan Fair Speedway track championship. Those wins combined with other non-sanction ACT races allowed Helliwell to rack up an insurmountable overall lead. Competing in 10 more events than second place points finisher, 2012 American Canadian Tour Castrol Edge series champion Patrick Laperle. A total of 13 drivers were part of the program this year.
Helliwell’s best of 18 finishes include 13 victories, 3 seconds and 2 fourth place finishes. With just a couple of qualifying races remaining on the calendar there are not enough points available for his competitors to surpass Helliwell’s dream season. The overall championship is worth a cool $5,000 dollar payday.
Team owner Bruce Bernhardt points out it’s become a priority each season to take the title home. “Along with series and track title’s, we look at it each year as one of our goals to win this. It’s a fantastic program for our team, and rewards people that like to race. Mike [Delahanty] and Ford Racing have been a great partner since we came on board with their program. For them to put up this kind of money and have a championship within a championship is great for our sport. To win in 3 years in a row just shows how strong our team is.”
Ford Racing's own Mike Delahanty was equally pleased to see the Bernhardt, Helliwell combination once again taking home the title.
"After winning the first two Ford Racing Blue Oval Challenge Cups, it’s no surprise to see Bruce and Wayne taking the Cup again in 2012... What makes the Bernhardt and Helliwell Team Championship so impressive this year is that they also took home the ACT Title as well. These guys have won the Blue Oval Challenge Cup the last three years by using a real simple strategy – load up the car, the team and go to the track and race...
Smart planning by Bruce packed weekly late model shows and ACT Tour races together to earn the most possible points just about every week during race season. All of us at Ford Racing feel really lucky to have real diehard Ford racers like Bruce Bernhardt and Wayne Helliwell, Jr as the 3-time Blue Oval Challenge Cup champions."
Wayne and Bruce would like to thank the following partners for their help in making 2012 an overwhelming success. - 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
Follow Wayne:
https://www.waynehelliwelljr.com
https://www.facebook.com/WayneHelliwellJr
https://twitter.com/#!/WayneHelliwell
Article Credit: Jason Lubin
Submitted By: Jason Lubin
