6/22/2015
Wayne Helliwell Jr
Survival
The driver known as the Punisher survived the battle to win the war Saturday night at White Mountain Motorsports Park. But it was the track itself living up the Punisher nickname.
Round-7 of the American Canadian Tour saw the annual trek to Woodstock, NH for the Vermont based series. But it was the off season track surface changes that saw as Helliwell himself put it “one of the roughest and toughest ACT races in years.”
With the outside lane of the racing surface ground down the ¼-mile oval saw passing become a premium, lack of grip set up a fierce battle for the bottom racing grove. The 150-lap race would prove to be a game of survival.
The Dover, NH driver rolled from the 10th starting position; deep enough in the field Helliwell felt it would be tough to even crack the top-5 from. Struggling to find a balance in his EKeys-4-Cars, Harpoon Brewery, Butler McMaster Ford Fusion. The Bruce Bernhardt led Team would make wholesale changes both before the heat and the feature race.
“We came and tested here a few weeks ago after we heard the track had changed,” stated Helliwell. “I thought we had a good base line but we were not good in practice. With the track [surface] we would have just road around mid-pack… We changed shocks, springs, control arms… a lot.”
Changes that didn’t seem to work when the green flag waved… Helliwell fell as low as 13th in the running order during the first third of the race. It was the cautions that help bring balance to the 27nh machine.
“It seemed like once we [heat] cycled the tires the car really started to come to,” stated Helliwell. “It was about trying to position yourself to be in the bottom lane when the yellows came out. But it was tough because if you had the chance to get a spot you had to take advantage of it…”
Like the lap-87 battle that saw Helliwell go from 7th to 4th as the three-wide battle in front of him left the bottom lane open; the decision that ultimately set up a chance for victory.
A lap-100 restart would see Helliwell grab the 2nd spot. With no grip on the outside lane he was unable to complete the pass on Brandon Atkins for the lead. Falling in line in the third position proved to be the lucky move as 3-laps later the front runners of Atkins and Eddie McDonald tangled sending both of them to the rear.
Helliwell would go on to claim his third win of the season uncontested and add a couple more points to the advantage in what has been an epic point’s battle for the series championship thus far.
“That was a rockem, sockem battle for sure,” stated Helliwell. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been a part of more demanding ACT race than this. It was total survival, nothing was easy about this… you had to earn ever spot tonight. We had some luck and was in the right place when it mattered, but I never would have thought we would be here [in victory lane] tonight. This is a great win for us…”
Helliwell will take the hard earned momentum to the state of Maine this weekend when round 8 of the series heads back to Oxford Plains Speedway, where he grabbed a runner up finish in the season opener.
“It doesn’t really matter where we finished in the past at Oxford, it’s one of those places that anything can happen,” stated Helliwell. “We struggle there, still and Joey {Polewarczyk] is really good there, so it will be a battle for sure. This is good feeling to bring there.“
Next Event
What: The Walker Mowers 150
Where: Oxford Plains Speedway - Oxford, ME
When: Saturday June 27, 2015 - Post time 6:00PM
Wayne Helliwell Jr. and Bernhardt Motorsport's would like to thank their proud partners: EKeys-4-Cars • Unique Ford • Bernhardt Automotive • Pro-Turf Landscaping • DTB Tax • C&M Distributing • Harpoon Brewery • Butler MacMaster Performance Racing • Spectro Performance Oils • IICCEEE • Ford Racing • Schoenfeld Headers • Sunoco Race Fuels • Bassett Wheels • Joes Racing Products • Quarter Master • ARP Bodies • Welded Media • Mangus Transmissions • Coastal Candle Company • VDL Fuel Systems • PEM Racing Gears • KRC Power Steering • DRP Performance Products • Firestorm Graphics • W.A.R Shocks • Allstar Performance
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Eric LaFleche/VLFPhotos.com Photos
Article Credit: Jason Lubin / Welded Media
Submitted By: Jason Lubin
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