Story By: TOM HERZIG / ACT TOUR – NORTH WOODSTOCK, NH – Scott Payea of Colchester, Vt. took the lead from Dillon Moltz on a lap 72 restart and notched his third consecutive American Canadian Tour (ACT) victory in the White Mountain 150 Saturday at White Mountain Motorsports Park.
Moltz started on the pole, led the first 71 laps and then drew even to Payea’s outside on lap 78, but never managed to regain the top spot. With six laps remaining, Payea finally managed to give Moltz the slip. His winning margin was four car-lengths.
Josh Masterson, who had kept contact with the leaders while dicing with local favorite Quinny Welch for over 50 laps, finished third. Welch was fourth, followed by Corey Mason and Jimmy Hebert.
Payea stayed strongest the longest in the Harrison Redi-Mix No. 37. After gaining the lead from the outside of the front row on the lap 72 restart, he was able to protect it from the bottom on the fourth and final restart on lap 97 and smoothly work lapped traffic from anywhere on the track.
It was the 11th victory of Payea’s ACT career.
“The car never fell off,” Payea said. “I can’t thank the RPM team enough. The outside was the place to be, but fortunately, I could make the inside work. He (Moltz) stalked me. I had a mirror full most of the time.”
Moltz expressed disappointed with the outcome. “We came back with the same setup we won with here last year and we got a little too tight,” he said. “It was a heck of a ride though.”
Mike Ziter had a strong showing go for naught when electrical problems forced him to the pits while running in fourth on lap 126.
Ziter, Masterson and Welch had an entertaining back and forth for much of the way.
“I apologize for using Quinny up some there,” Masterson said. “I used the car up a little early, but this was a good change for us. It’s been a struggle.”
Mason earned his top-5 finish after starting 13th. “The lapped cars ran us hard,” he said. “They didn’t want to give up.”
Positions 7-10 went to Rowland Robinson Jr., Jesse Switzer, Scott Dragon and Stacy Cahoon.
The next American Canadian Tour event is at Seekonk Speedway (Mass.) Saturday, July 15.
White Mountain 150 Finish – starting position in (*)
Scott Payea (3) 2. Dillon Moltz (1) 3. Josh Masterson (2) 4. Quinny Welch (6) 5. Corey Mason (13) 6. Jimmy Hebert (7) 7. Rowland Robinson Jr. (21) 8. Jesse Switser (8) 9. Scott Dragon (18) 10. Stacy Cahoon (10) 11. Jason Corliss (11) 12. Rich Dubeau (9) 13. Jeff Marshall (12) 14. Kyle Welch (5) 15. Mike Kennison (16) 16. Stephen Donahue (19) 17. Ray Christian (14) 18. Jeremy Davis (25) 19. Jonathan Lemay (23) 20. Oren Remick (17) 21. CJ McClaughlin (15) 22. Scott Corey (20) 23. Mark Hudson (22) 24. Matt Anderson (28) 25. Mike Ziter (4) 26. Spencer Morse (29) 27. James Capps III (24) 28. Miles Chipman (27) 29. Bryan LaQuire (26) 30. Jimmy Linardy (30)