PHOTO: ACT needs a good rivalry. Who better than Brian Hoar and Joey Polewarczyk? (Leif Tillotson photo)

-by Justin St. Louis
VMM Editor

Brian Hoar has the American-Canadian Tour championship all locked up. Big surprise, right? When a guy wins six championships, you sort of expect the seventh one.

But there’s no ignoring number-two man Joey Polewarczyk.

With ACT wins at Beech Ridge and Waterford, a victory in a weekly show at Seekonk, and of course the two huge wins at New Hampshire and Thunder Road, Polewarczyk has won five of his last ten starts. The best he can do in terms of the ACT championship is to beat Brent Dragon for second place — and he enters Waterford with a 14-point edge over the Milton veteran — but his focus is solely on one thing: Beating Hoar at Waterford.

Want proof? VMM posted an article on Hoar on Wednesday morning; in the article Hoar said he “can’t go into winter with [Polewarczyk] having beaten me three races in a row,” and that he would do “everything but wreck him,” to win at Waterford.

At 1:20 in the afternoon, the editor of said article was pushing a shopping cart down the peanut butter and jelly aisle at Price Chopper when the phone went off on Wednesday.

It was a text message from Polewarczyk: “I like that article on Hoar. Now I have some extra fire to go and beat him one more time! I think he’s a great guy, but now I want to win this race ten times more. Hopefully we can dominate it. And he can be 2nd. LOL”

Don’t let that “LOL” fool you into thinking it’s a joke. Hoar and Polewarczyk have a mutual respect — that has been obvious for a long time — but it’s hard to tell if they actually like each other. They shake hands and congratulate each other when one man defeats the other, and we witnessed Hoar give Polewarczyk a man-hug after his Milk Bowl win last week.

That’s all good for show, but you’re crazy if you think that Brian Hoar enjoys telling a 21 year-old kid he was happy to lose to him. You’re also crazy if you think Polewarczyk is willing to let Hoar go by him because he thinks Hoar is “a great guy.”

No way. Hoar wants nothing more than to go out on top at Waterford, with that black No. 97 behind him. And Polewarczyk wants to see red. In his mirror.

If there’s one thing ACT needs right now, it’s a rivalry. And who better to be rivals than the top two drivers?

***

For the first time maybe forever, I’m upset about missing an Enduro. Devil’s Bowl Speedway hosts its first “Vermonster” 150 on Sunday, with $1,500 waiting for the first survivor.

But truthfully, the only part anyone really cares about with that show — at least as far as I’m concerned — is the “giant trophy” that the Champlain Valley Racing Association website is guaranteeing to the driver with the best Vermont-themed paint scheme on their Enduro car.

It should be interesting to see how many Renegades, Bombers, and Dukes show up for their open-competition races, too.

The CVRA has a pretty good fall/winter Enduro schedule planned out. We’re hoping to catch at least one of these shows before (or while) the snow flies:

Sun., October 10 — Devil’s Bowl Speedway
Sat., October 16 — Albany-Saratoga (N.Y.) Speedway
Sat., November 6 — Devil’s Bowl
Sat., November 27 — Albany-Saratoga
Sat., January 1 — Albany-Saratoga

***

We’ve got a 701-mile round trip planned for the weekend, and it’s all presented by BFR Chassis of Whately, Mass. BFR has over 475 feature wins and 31 track championships to its credit, and you could be next on the list.

VMM’s coverage of ACT Championship Weekend presented by BFR Chassis brings us to Riverside Speedway in Groveton, N.H., on Saturday for the Bond Auto/WIX Tiger Tour finale, then the ACT Late Model Tour closer at Waterford Speedbowl on the Connecticut coast on Sunday.

Check out www.BFRchassis.com to learn more, and be sure to stay locked on both the VMM website and our Twitter page for updates and information as it happens.

***

Thursday was the opening night of the NHL season, and the Canadiens-Maple Leafs game was freaking blacked out.

That game was in Toronto on CBC. I live in Vermont. They’re eight hours apart. So tell me this: Why was I forced to miss not only that game, but also the comedy that is Don Cherry and Ron MacLean?

It’s gonna be a long winter if that keeps up. Especially if the Habs keep losing.

Ole.

***

Vermont Motorsports Magazine congratulates the 2010 track champions at Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl:

Nick Sweet, Barre, Vt. — ACT Late Model
Tony Rossi, Peacham, Vt. — Bond Auto Tiger Sportsman
Mike MacAskill, Williamstown, Vt. — Allen Lumber Street Stock
Ken Christman, Cabot, Vt. — Junkyard Warrior

***

If VMM could be in three places at once, one-third of it would be at Seekonk for the DAV Memorial weekend. Jon McKennedy leads Ascutney’s Dwight Jarvis for the Modified Racing Series championship by only 17 points with three races remaining. We’ll have results and news from the Seekonk event on Monday.

***

Okay, five places. It’s Super Dirt Week at Syracuse, and Canaan Dirt Speedway tries again tonight with its $1,000-to-win Modified race. Who knew October could be so much fun?

***

AROUND THE REGION:

Time to take a look at the Vermont racing scene from the past week…

Big Daddy’s Speedbowl (Rumney, N.H.): Kevin Chaffee of Orange was Saturday’s Sportsman Modified runner-up, and Josh Sunn of White River Junction was eighth. Robert Tucker of Topsham was fifth in the Super Streets. Andy Johnson of Wilder was the Mini Stock runner-up with Dave Durkee, Jr., of Tunbridge fourth.

Northeast Mini Stock Tour: Thetford rookie Chris McKinstry took his sixth win of the season on Saturday at Seekonk (Mass.) Speedway.

Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl (Barre, Vt.): Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., of Hudson, N.H., won Sunday’s 48th annual People’s United Bank Milk Bowl over Brian Hoar of Williston and John Donahue of Graniteville. Derrick O’Donnell of Bradford won the Tiger Sportsman race over Tom Therrien of Hinesburg and Mike Ziter of Williamstown. Rookie Sid Sweet, Jr., of Williamstown crashed his way into Street Stock victory lane over Ron Gabaree of Barre and Tim Campbell of West Topsham, and Cabot’s Ken Christman got his 12th Junkyard Warrior win of the year over Barre’s Kevin Dodge and Mike Devino, Sr., of Essex Junction.

***

THIS WEEK:

Friday, Oct. 8
Canaan Dirt Speedway, Canaan, N.H. — 6:30pm (“War of the Worlds” Sportsman Modified Special)

Saturday, Oct. 9
Big Daddy’s Speedbowl, Rumney, N.H. — 6:00pm (Modified Open)
Riverside Speedway, Groveton, N.H. — 1:00pm (ACT Tiger Tour, Fall Free For All)

Sun., Oct. 10
Devil’s Bowl Speedway, West Haven — 12:30pm (Vermonster Enduro 150/Renegade 50/Bomber 30/Duke 30)

TOURING SERIES:

ACT Late Model Tour: Sat./Sun., Oct. 9/10 — Waterford Speedbowl, Waterford, Conn. (12:30pm both days)
ACT Tiger Tour: Sat., Oct. 9 — Riverside Speedway, Groveton, N.H. (1:00pm)
Modified Racing Series: Sat./Sun., Oct. 9/10 — Seekonk Speedway, Seekonk, Mass. (1:00pm both days)
NASCAR Nationwide Series: Sat., Oct. 9 — Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, Calif. (ESPN2/4:00pm)
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Sun., Oct. 10 — Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, Calif. (ESPN/3:00pm)