Hoar Comes Up Just Short In Championship Showdown
Posted By Tj Ingerson On October 9, 2012
Categories: Airborne | American-Canadian Tour
PHOTO: Brian Hoar congratulates Wayne Helliwell, Jr., on his championship after the American-Canadian Tour season finale on Sunday. (Alan Ward photo)
--by T.J. Ingerson
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. -- Brian Hoar put himself in a position to win the American-Canadian Tour championship when his pit strategy propelled him to the lead.
But Wayne Helliwell, Jr., fought back through the field after his pit stop, and set up a showdown with Hoar over the final 40 laps of the 200-lap season finale at Airborne Speedway. Helliwell bested Hoar, and ended Hoar’s reign in the American-Canadian Tour.
"That’s what I wanted it to come down to," Hoar said about the finish to the Fall Foliage 200. “That’s what I said all week -- that it’d be great if it came down to the two of us at the end. Hey, they were better. They won it fair and square. We had our shot. We were just too loose. We started the race and we were too tight, and didn’t think we had anything for them at the beginning. We made a quick decision to make a short stop and get ahead of everybody with tires -- knowing that we needed to lead some laps.”
Hoar felt his strategy had worked out best and was able to lead a race high 80 laps, snagging the five bonus points. The final restart with ten laps to go put Hoar and Helliwell side-by-side and gave Hoar the final showdown he had hoped for.
“I’m thinking, ‘I can’t believe it’s actually him and I at the front.’” Hoar said. “And then I’m going ‘I’m wishing my car is a bit different than it is right now.’ I got that lead and starting on the inside killed me. I don’t know if I could have held him off and it may have gotten ugly in the last couple of laps, because I could run the outside pretty good as long as I could pinch him down.
“I get out there on the last few restart and just remember respect. He’s raced with you respect and don’t get wild. Sometimes you push the panic button and make a mistake. But, we just didn’t have enough for him.”
Helliwell extended his point lead after his win at Sanair Super Speedway, and sat 44-points ahead of Hoar with three races remaining. Hoar picked up the win at Circuit Riverside Speedway and slashed the lead in half. Hoar beat Helliwell at Thunder Road in September, and cut the lead to just eight points headed into the season finale.
“We gave it our all and we made a hell of a comeback in the last few races of the season to come out of a big deficit and still pull a strong second off,” Hoar said. “Hey, those guys [Helliwell] ran great. We’ve had our success -- eight championships and to be in the hunt for a ninth is remarkable, three-in-a-row -- it had to come to an end at some point. Those guys deserve it.”
On the final restart of the race, RPM Racing team owner Rick Paya keyed the radio and reminded Hoar what that restart meant.
“My team owner, Rick [Paya], come over on the radio and say ‘bud, this one is for all the marbles man. It’s come down to the two of you. You got to do it.’”
The mutual respect between Hoar and Helliwell was evident over the entire course of the season. The two were fierce, but respectful competitors on the track, and were the first to congratulate each other in victory lane.
“It’s hard to say you can go a whole season like that and still come out of it and say ‘I just lost to the guy, but I can’t wait until the next time I race him,’ because he’s a lot of fun to race with,” Hoar said. “And I hope he says the same about me.”
The way the two battled this season, it may be a safe bet he does.