10/20/2015
Wayne Helliwell Jr
Three Time!!
Wayne Helliwell Jr. and the Bruce Bernhardt lead Team are now 3-Time American Canadian Tour Champions. Helliwell finished 7th in the season ending 100-lap event at Thompson Motorsports Park to claim the series top prize.
Entering the event with a season high 42-point lead after the championship battle changed hands seven-times in the 13 events on the 2015 ACT calendar, he needed a 14th or better finish heading into the feature. It was drama filled till the end.
Starting from the 15th position of a 35-car field, Helliwell would find himself heading in the wrong direction on lap-3 when the 9ma of Brian Tagg encounter an overheating problem, spraying water onto the windshield of the Ekeys-4-Cars, Butler Macmaster, Harpoon Brewery, Ford Fusion; impairing his vision for the remainder of the event.
Falling as far back as 17th in the running order Helliwell’s title chances had slipped to within 2-points as chief rival Joey Polewarczyk Jr. opened up a straightaway lead from his third starting position.
“I couldn’t see anything,” stated Helliwell. “It was like driving through a frosted glass door,” he posted on social media after the event. “I had to drive out the [left] side of the car. The back stretch wasn’t so bad because the lights are facing a different way on the track, but coming out of [turn] 4 I couldn’t tell what was wall and what was track. It was solid white through the window.”
Not being able to see became a bigger problem when trying to race side-by-side for Helliwell. “I couldn’t tell how close I was to the car next to me. On restarts I was really giving myself room; I couldn’t tell who was in what lane, who the lap cars were. I waited to get single file, to set guys up on corner entry so I didn’t crowd someone into the wall, it was really unsafe… but you can’t stop in a situation like that, there was 30 cars on the track. You battle all year and for it to possible come down to a dirty window is just crazy. It worked out...”
Helliwell ultimately let the race sort itself out and cracked the top-10 after the halfway point. “I had no plans to go into safe mode,” he stated. “We had a top-5 car; I was just planning on letting things play out and work our way to the front. But when the window happened I was trying to keep us out of trouble. Seems like each one of these [championships] has had some drama to it… I was happy to see that checkered flag at the end.”
The back and forth drama of the 2015 ACT title chase was most likely more exciting to watch than be a part of Helliwell states. “It was fun to battle Joey [Polewarczyk] all year, but it will wear you out. You’re glad when it’s over. You race the race not a competitor and at the end if it’s meant to be, it is what it is…”
His 7th place finish marked his worst on the year with the series, completed his championship run with 13 top-10’s, 11 top-5’s and 4-wins in 13 starts on the season to claim his third series title in four years. Since 2011 when competing full time with the ACT Tour the Bernhardt Motorsports Team have three championships and a second in points. Something the Dover, NH driver has a hard time comprehending.
“I… we never thought we could win one championship never mind three,” Helliwell stated with a smile. “When you start thinking about running in a series like this and see guys like Brian [Hoar] and Jean [Paul Cyr] you think there is no way we can compete with that. Then go out and do it… for a small Team from Pelham [NH] that builds their own stuff this is pretty amazing when you look at the numbers. I couldn’t be prouder of everyone for this."
Helliwell points to friends and family for making the long hours worth it at the end. "You can't do this with the support of your family, the support of your Team's families, he stated. "This is a full time job and i have to thank Jill, my kids Britney, Elisabeth and Brooke, Bruce, Kurt, Al, Deana, Greg, Jason, Wayne, Matt, my father and everyone else that made this possible and pitched in, heck even [former ACT competitor] Randy Potter was a crew member for a day this year... Thank you to everyone.”
With the championship behind them the Team will look to have some fun this weekend as the final late model event of the season heads to Speedway 51 for the Fall Brawl. An event and track Helliwell has multiple wins at.
“We look forward to this race every year,” stated Helliwell. “There should be a really strong field of cars. It would be nice to close out the season celebrating for another week with the late model...”
NEXT RACE
WHAT: Fall Brawl 151
WHERE: Speedway 51 – Groveton, NH
WHEN: Saturday, October 24, 2015
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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TJ Ingerson / VMM Photo
Article Credit: Jason Lubin / Welded Media
Submitted By: Jason Lubin
