News Director 
Story By: AMY HARROP / RPW – SCARBOROUGH, ME – The ACT Series returned to Beech Ridge Motor Speedway on Saturday night for their annual visit to the track. Drivers from the East Coast and Canada came to put on a show for the Coastal 100. Qualifying heats were divided into 3 segments, with the feature race following a full night of competition at the track.
Miles Chipman of Nottingham, New Hampshire drew the pole for the heat, followed by Claude Leclerc, Mark Hudson, Rich Dubeau and Jason Corliss. Fan and track favorite Eddie MacDonald started from the rear in his #17 car. Chipman pulled into the early lead, but Eddie Macdonald was on the move in the early laps of the heat. He broke the top 5 on lap 4 in turn 3 after passing the #82 of Hudson. The #30 of Rich Dubeau was also on the move, finding his way up to the runner-up spot on lap 5. He was at Chipman’s bumper by lap 8, challenging for the lead. Eddie MacDonald was still on the move, charging into P4 by lap 8. Chipman managed to hold off the others, capturing the heat victory. Rich Dubeau, Jason Corliss, Eddie MacDonald, and Rowland Robinson, Jr. followed, rounding out the top five.
Josh Masterson of Charlotte, VT and Jean-Francois Dery of Quebec started on the front row for the second qualifying heat, followed by Mark Jenison, Claude Lepage and Kyle Welch. The #11 of Masterson pulled into the early lead, but Dery was quick to his heels, ready to strike. As the leaders pulled away, there was a 4-way battle for P3 among the remaining top 6 drivers (9, 22, 5 and 34) that carried on throughout the race. Masterson pulled away with the heat victory, followed by Derym Jenison, Welch and Lepage.
Raymond L. Christian and Michael Ziter led the field to green in the final qualifying heat, followed by Steven Miller, Scott Payea and Jimmy Hebert. The #54 of Ziter got the early jump, leading the first lap of the heat. The #04 of Eric Badore was on the move early, finding his way into the runner-up spot on lap 2 after starting the race from the rear. As the #54 continued to pull away, the #37 of Scott Payea was at Badore’s door, challenging him for P2. They made contact on lap 8 in turn 2, with the #04 of Badore getting bent out of shape. They both were able able to correct their cars without losing any positions on the track. The #54 of Ziter drove off into victory, followed by Payea, Ziter, Hebert and Oren Remick.
Eric Badore and Scott Payea started on the front row for the feature event, followed by Eddie MacDonald, Oren Remick and Rich Dubeau. The #37 of Payea pulled into the early lead. But, the #21 of Remick was on the move, making his way up to the runner-up spot by lap 5. The #34 of Spencer Morse came to a slow on lap 12, pulling into the pits. After briefly pulling back onto the track, he pulled back down the pits on lap 17, seemingly battling with handling issues. By lap 23, Eddie MacDonald had stolen away the runner-up spot from Remick, setting his sights on the #37 of Payea. The leaders started hitting lap traffic on lap 35, which led to Payea getting held up just enough for MacDonald to pull to his back bumper by lap 38. By lap 40, MacDonald was at Payea’s outside, challenging him for the top spot. He eventually cleared him on lap 41 in turn 1, leaving just a few car lengths of distance between them. Jimmy Hebert was on the move behind the leaders, pulling to the inside of Oren Remick on lap 50, challenging him for P3. After a 9-lap battle between the 2 cars, Hebert cleared Remick for the spot on lap 59 in turn 3. By lap 70, Payea cut down MacDonald’s lead to just one car length. The two leaders were in a league of their own, pulling into a ½ straightaway lead over the rest of the pack. By lap 85, MacDonald had pulled back into a 3-car length lead over the #37 of Payea. MacDonald sailed away into victory, followed by Payea, Jimmy Hebert, Oren Remick and Rowland Robinson, Jr.
In Victory Lane, MacDonald said that Beech Ridge is one of his favorite places to come back to, as well as thanking his family, friends and crew. Of his car, he said, “We changed a bunch of things on the car in the past week…thanks to Andy Shaw, we had a really fast race car.”
Catch the ACT tour next at the White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, NH on Saturday, August 19th for another 100 laps of ACT racing!
