10/15/2013
Wayne Helliwell Jr
50/50 - Helliwell Dominates with the Late Model
Wayne Helliwell Jr. and the Bruce Bernhardt owned Team headed home this past weekend to Lee USA Speedway’s annual season ending Oktoberfest. The three-day program saw Helliwell behind the wheel of both his late model and pro stock.
After a day of heat race action that saw him pick-up the victory in the pro stock and a second place finish in the late model, Sunday was all about the feature events.
A redraw of the top-12 cars from each class saw Helliwell roll from the sixth starting position in the pro stocks. He would grab the third spot by lap-10, and the lead on a lap-14 restart.
A caution with 10-laps remaining saw a great side-by-side battle with Helliwell and Brian Kruczek for top spot. Kruczek would gain the advantage on the outside lane after the restart. With four-laps go contact between the two saw the 27NH spin into the infield. Helliwell would come home in the 9th overall position.
“Nobody’s fault but mine,” stated Helliwell. “We were just racing hard and banged wheels; it jerked the steering wheel out of my hand… Instead of it breaking my wrist I just let go. Just hard racing is all it was.”
Helliwell went on to point out that if the body of his car was mounted to accept the larger tires that contact most likely won’t have caused the wheel to be pulled out of his hands.
“The ACT style bodies are mounted for an 8” tire not a 10”. We really have to pull and stretch it to make the wider tires fit; so they stick out some in the front. The first thing to make contact is the tire not the body. If that was an 8” tire we have kept going.”
Unfazed by the pro stock outcome Helliwell rocketed from his ninth starting position in the late model to third in just three-laps. As the field crossed the finish line to complete lap-10 Helliwell went from third to the lead in one corner; passing both A.J Panessiti and Ricky Bly at the same time.
He would go on to live up to the “Punisher” nickname and dominate the remainder of the event winning by more than a full straightaway.
“When you have a car that good it’s a lot of fun,” stated Helliwell. “We didn’t turn so much as a nut on this car all weekend. We just put tires on it; that was it.”
Helliwell piloted the same late model that was destroyed at the final point’s race of the American Canadian Tour just two-weeks prior to victory lane; something he was very proud of.
“We’ve done so much on these cars the last two-weeks you would have thought it was start of the season not the end…” Helliwell stated. “This is a great way to end the weekend after re-clipping this thing…”
The work the Bernhardt Team has done saw completely new setups under both machines at Oktoberfest, something Helliwell laughs about after the fact.
“You would think being the end of the year you would just run what you know will work… But we are outside the box this weekend just trying some new stuff to see how it goes… In this case the late model worked; the pro stock didn't. If you’re not always trying new things you will get left behind for sure,” Helliwell said.
He and the Bernhardt Team will look to take their winning setup to victory lane again next weekend as the $10,000 to win Fall Brawl at Riverside Speedway in Groveton, NH is up next. Helliwell a previous winner of the race on high banks looks to repeat to close out his successful season in the 200-lap event.
“We’ll probably go with a completely different setup,” Helliwell joked. “Makes no sense does it…”
Next Event
What: $10,000 to win Fall Brawl 200
Where: Riverside Speedway - Groveton, NH
When: October 19, 2013 - 1:00pm
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Dave Greenwood Photo
Article Credit: Jason Lubin / Welded Media
Submitted By: Jason Lubin
