LOUDON, N.H. — We couldn’t properly call it the Northeast Classic without Mother Nature staying true and changing the weather 987 times during a 72-hour span. We experienced it all, warm sunshine, blistering winds, downpouring rain, skies both clear and packed with clouds and even the occasional flurry of snow.
Through it all, well over a hundred different stock cars took to the 1.058-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the second annual Northeast Classic with Derek Gluchacki taking the biggest win of his career in the 50-lap ACT Late Model Tour season-opening event.
Unfortunate mechanical failures from early-season gremlins whittled a 38-car field that participated in Friday practice to a 32-car starting grid for Sunday’s Northeast Classic.
From the initial green flag, Dillon led the early goings with Tom Carey III hot on his heels.
On lap 13, Quebec City’s Alexandre Tardif got sideways coming out of turn-two and slammed hard into the inside retaining wall on the backstretch, allowing Patrick Laperle, among others, to hit pit road for much needed adjustments.
On the restart, Moltz chose the outside which allowed Carey to taking the lead on lap 14 using the inside line. The five’s continued to stay in file across the speedway with Cody Leblanc stalling out in his rookie venture with ACT.
Following the lap-26 competition caution, ‘Carey continued to lead with Moltz stalking from behind, closely followed by D.J. Shaw and Jimmy Hebert in third and fourth.
This foursome would pace the field with Gluchacki and local late model star Jaime Swallow Jr. jousting each other in and out of the top five. Given the 10-to-go signal from chief starter Jason Lamoy, Hebert became the first to step out and try a new line, nearly taking second from Moltz in turn two.
Poised to work the bottom again in turns three and four, it all went up in smoke when Woody Pitkat and Raphael Lessard smashed into the turn-four SAFER barrier, ending their day just nine laps early.
On the restart, Hebert again darted to the bottom under Carey just after the start/finish line before bombarding into turn-one. Again, the move would be squandered by a yellow flag flying after the frontstretch spin by Derek Ming and a right-front flat tire under the Shawn Swallow machine.
A second restart proved disastrous when Hebert went spinning, sliding backward into the turn-two wall, pinching 2021 Rookie of the Year Erick Sands with him while the avoidance-melee took several mid-packers including Jacob Burns, Remi Perreault, Jamie Swallow Sr. and Robby Gordon Douglas.
Following the red flag cleanup, Carey led Gluchacki, Moltz, Shaw and Jamie Swallow Jr. to the final restart of the race.
Gluchacki launched beneath Carey, leading lap 44 while a three-wide blanket of yellow and orange followed in the fight for fourth with Laperle pushing past Swallow Jr. and Moltz to steal the position. Keeping his momentum, Laperle led over Shaw for third on lap 45 by just a grill cover
Carey mounted one final charge against Gluchacki in the final two laps, but the No. 03MA prevailed.
Gluchacki’s victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is the biggest of his young career, his second ACT Late Model Tour win following Thompson Speedway’s Sunoco World Series in 2021. Carey III earned his second-consecutive silver Northeast Classic trophy, while Patrick Laperle made his return to the United States a statement, earning his best NHMS finish in third. Shaw and Moltz rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Derek Gluchacki, Tom Carey III, Patrick Laperle, D.J. Shaw, Dillon Moltz, Dany Trepanier, Ben Rowe, Jamie Swallow Jr., Jean-Philippe Bergeron, Shawn Swallow, Connor McDougal, Jacob Rowdy, Robby Gordon, Brenna Humphrey, Jimmy Hebert, Erick Sands, Remi Perreault, Jamie Swallow Sr., Mike Benevides, Derek Ming, Raphael Lessard, Woody Pitkat, Jeffrey Labrecque Jr., Rich Dubeau, Jimmy Renfrew, Mike Hopkins, Matt Anderson, Sebastien Couture, Cody Leblanc, Jake Johnson, Alexandre Tardif, Cam Huntress.