Shaw Fights Field, Cautions to Take First Stafford ACT Event Since 1985

Stafford Springs, CT — The American-Canadian Tour broke a 38-year drought by entering the Stafford Motor Speedway complex on Friday, the first time the series had raced the iconic 1/2-mile since 1985. Thirty-four teams from across New England and Quebec made the trip to kick off the Brookside Equipment Sales Southern New England Triple Crown and, for many, take their first laps at the Connecticut oval. While the ACT Spring Sizzler 75 was a rowdy and, at times, rough affair, the top stars of the international touring series put on a worthy show at the front to wow the crowd at hand and those at home on FloRacing.

Following qualifying to start Friday’s events, the American-Canadian Tour was the last to take the field to wrap up night one of the two-day NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler weekend. Stout in their qualifying efforts, Jimmy Renfrew, Jr., Dillon Moltz, Woody Pitkat and Bryan Wall, Jr. all brought +4 plus/minus handicaps to fill the front two rows of the starting field. Moltz was down and out immediately with rear-end suspension issues forcing him pit-side under pace laps leaving Renfrew and Wall to start the event.

Alan Ward photo

The rough and rowdy came out from the beginning with minor spins and major wall-slaps combining to bring out the caution flag repeatedly. Through it all, members of the top-ten showed their strength in car control and stamina to continue pacing the field. The most spectacular portion of the race involved a three-way battle for the lead between Renfrew, D.J. Shaw and Derek Gluchacki as the three, nose-to-tail, faced lap traffic with 25-laps remaining. With Renfrew falling back on his bid for the outside groove, both Shaw and Gluchacki dive-bombed into turn three and fought hard over three laps until Shaw came out with the lead.

Through it all, the three leaders kept pace at the front and made it interesting at the end. D.J. Shaw took down the win in the ACT Spring Sizzler 75 to join the ACT winners list that includes the legendary Robbie Crouch and Jean-Paul Cabana. Derek Gluchacki made close moves throughout the event but settled for second with Jimmy Renfrew, Jr. putting on a great race to stay third. Derry, New Hampshire’s Erick Sands had a career-defining day by staying in the top-five throughout the come home fourth with rookie Bryan Wall, Jr. also looking stout to come home fifth.

Alan Ward photo

Thompson Speedway regular Matt Lowinksi-Low took down sixth with top-three ACT point chaser Gabe Brown taking seventh after a late-race wreck forced him pit-side for damage control. Quebec’s Jonathan Bouvrette came down eighth, rookie Andrew Molleur took ninth and eight-time ACT champion Brian Hoar rounded out the top-10 in his first race since 2015.

The American-Canadian Tour returns to action at the Lee USA Speedway in just seven short days for the New Hampshire Governor’s Cup 150 on Sunday, May 21st. The ACT Tour returns to the Granite State coastline oval 2023 season opener complete with Open Pro Stock competition, Black Flagged Podcast Ridge Runners, O’Reilly Auto Parts Six Shooters and MLM Diagnostic Service Pure Stocks. The entry list is already ballooning with talent with the popular circuit returning to the ACT schedule in 2023 bringing new and old to take on the rough and worn surface of Lee USA Speedway!

The Brookside Equipment Sales Southern New England Triple Crown returns on Saturday, June 3rd with the American-Canadian Tour stars invading Seekonk Speedway for the 48th running of the Spring Green 123! This will be the iconic event’s first time at Seekonk with the hometown heroes of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series set to battle against the ACT heavy weights at the Cement Palace!

For more information, contact the ACT offices at (802) 244-6963, media@acttour.com, or visit www.acttour.com. You can also get updates on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @ACTTour.

Stafford Motor Speedway – Stafford Springs, CT

ACT Spring Sizzler 75

Friday, May 12, 2023

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS

1          04VT    D.J. Shaw                     Center Conway, NH

2          03MA  Derek Gluchacki          North Dartmouth, MA

3          00NH   Jimmy Renfrew Jr.      Candia, NH

4          36NH   Erick Sands                  Derry, NH

5          77NH   #Bryan Wall Jr.            E. Kingston, NH

6          17CT    Matt Lowinski-Loh      Thompson, CT

7          60ME   Gabe Brown                Center Conway, NH

8          41QC   Jonathan Bouvrette    Blainville, QC

9          31CT    #Andrew Molleur       Woodbridge, CT

10        45NY    Brian Hoar                   Williston, VT

11        5MA    Tom Carey III               New Salem, MA

12        68VT    Brooks Clark                Fayston, VT

13        61NH   Ryan Olsen                  N. Haverhill, NH

14        0NH     Quinten Welch            Groveton, NH

15        9MA    Brian Tagg                   Oxford, MA

16        27NH   Cam Huntress              Rochester, NH

17        91CT    Woody Pitkat              Bellingham, MA

18        92MA  Tom Fearn                   E Longmeadow, MA

19        97NH   Joey Polewarczyk, Jr.  Hudson, NH

20        67MA  Jaret Curtis                  Leicester, MA

21        19CT    Michael Bennett         Willington, CT

22        37CT    Jordan Hadley             Quaker Hill, CT

23        73MA  Cole Littlewood           Orange, MA

24        5CT      Dillon Moltz                 New Sharon, ME

25        66VT    Jason Corliss               Barre, VT

26        73CT    Jared Materas             Westfield, MA

27        7NH     Cody Leblanc               Berlin, NH

28        6CT      Corey DiMatteo          Farmington, CT

29        97MA  Adam Gray                  Granby, MA

30        12CT    #PJ Evans                     Uncasville, CT

DNS    27RI     Rich Staskowski           Hope Valley, RI

DNS    9CT      Robert Stirk III             Naugatuck, CT

DNS     68NH   #Tanner Woodard       Waterbury Ctr., VT

DNS     38RI     Connor Souza              E. Providence, RI