9/9/2013
Wayne Helliwell Jr
New Series, Same Result
Wayne Helliwell Jr. piloted a converted American Canadian Tour late model to his first Granite State Pro Stock Series victory this past Saturday at the track known as Grovetona. Riverside Speedway in Groveton, NH hosted the touring pro stock series for the first time in series history.
Helliwell’s Bruce Bernhardt owned Ekeys-4-Cars, Unique Ford Fusion late model was converted to a pro stock for the fifth-time. Of those five-times Helliwell and Bernhardt have enjoyed four wins and a second place finish in what most would consider a car that is not capable of competing with the higher horsepower more sophisticated pro stock class.
Helliwell himself wasn’t sure they had made the right decision to convert their 27NH for Riverside. “After the first practice I thought, what did I get myself into…” stated Helliwell. “The car was so unstable; it was doing so many different things I wasn’t sure where to start… But after talking about it we realized the tires we had on the car were literally two-years old. Once we made the switch to the new rubber it really woke the car up.”
Helliwell who started from the pole, lead all 100 laps and lapped all but second place finisher Larry Gelinas. Gelinas who appeared to have saved his tires till the end made a hard charge in the closing laps but to no avail. Helliwell would go on take his first victory with the series in just his second start.
“It was fun to race with Larry,” stated Helliwell. “It’s been a while since we competed door-to-door like that. We used to race against each other every week about 12 years ago at Lee, so that was fun.”
The Pelham, NH based Team looks to compete more regularly with pro stock type series later this year and in the future. ”I’m not sure what will be next with this car,” stated Helliwell. “We may run some other shows this year… Maybe Oktoberfest at Lee, but for now we will concentrate on finishing the ACT season then run some other pro stock events. We’d like to compete more in that division but past this year I have no idea at this point…”
Helliwell pointed out that minimal change to his ACT car allowed him to be competitive with pro stock series like the GSPSS. “We changed four-things on the car to run with them, weight, carburetor, spoiler and the tires. Really all the work is spent trying to make the 10” tires fight in the body. We ran the same shocks, springs and brakes we use with the ACT.”
Helliwell will get back behind the wheel of his normal late model in two weeks as the American Canadian Tour heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for Bond Auto ACT Innovational. The non-points event features 43 invited drivers from around New England and Canada.
Next Event
What: BOND Auto Parts New Hampshire Innovational
Where: New Motor Speedway – Loudon, NH
When: Saturday September 21, 2013 – 4:00pm
Bernhardt Motorsport's thanks their proud partners: EKeys-4-Cars • Unique Ford • Bernhardt Automotive • Pro-Turf Landscaping • DTB Tax • C&M Distributing • Butler MacMaster Performance Racing • Carbonneau Insulation Co • IICCEEE • Ford Racing • Schoenfeld Headers • Sunoco Race Fuels • Bassett Wheels • Joes Racing Products • Quarter Master • ARP Bodies • Welded Media • Mangus Transmissions •Coastal Candle Company • Nate Brown Remodelling
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Eric LaFleche / Victory Lane Photos
Article Credit: Jason Lubin / Welded Media
Submitted By: Jason Lubin
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