HUDSON, N.H. — Jimmy Renfrew Jr. capped a perfect weekend on the race track with his first ACT Late Model Tour victory on Sunday at New Hampshire’s Hudson Speedway.
Renfrew got the lead early and kept some of the best American-Canadian Tour late model racers in the business at bay to score the Father’s Day win in a car owned by his dad James.
It was the fourth straight event where the ACT Late Model Tour had a first-time winner, bringing the series total to 82 different winners since its inception in 1992. For Renfrew, it came less than 24 hours after he triumphed in a 50-lap feature at White Mountain Motorsports Park.
Trent Goodrow earned the pole in qualifying and led the first three laps before Renfrew took over from the outside pole. Hometown racer Joey Polewarczyk followed him around for second and the duo broke away before “Joey Pole” cut a right-rear tire to bring out the first caution with 25 laps complete.
Ryan Kuhn moved into the second spot on the restart, and after another yellow on lap 29 for Kevin Vaudrien’s spin, the top two tried to drive off and leave the field. Kuhn would get to Renfrew’s back bumper whenever they encountered lapped traffic only for Renfrew to open a few car lengths back up once they were clear.
Behind them, several top runners were making waves from the back. Previous first-time ACT winners D.J. Shaw and Tom Carey III steadily worked their way forward from the 10th and 11th starting positions while Pole seemed to be in a rocket ship after getting his tire changed. Point leader Ben Rowe, who started dead last after a problem in qualifying, was also moving up.
All of them got a chance to close on the leaders with 41 laps to go when Erick Sands lost control off turn two and backed hard into the wall. However, Renfrew was once again too strong at the point. Carey gave chase on Kuhn for the second spot while Pole had to pit with 13 laps to go because of overheating problems.
Just when things seemed settled at the front, Derek Gluchacki looped his machine in turn two while battling for the fourth position. That brought the fourth and final caution out to set up an 11-lap sprint to the finish.
Renfrew once again got the jump on the inside while Carey filled the hole. Coming off turn four with 10 laps to go, Kuhn bobbled slightly and Shaw got into his rear bumper. Kuhn made an incredible save to maintain control, but both Carey and Rowe were able to slide past him. Neither could catch Renfrew, though, as he sped to his second feature win of the weekend.
Carey’s runner-up finish was his third top-two of the season. It also unofficially moved him into the points lead over Rowe, who came in third from shotgun on the field. Kuhn settled for fourth with Shaw fifth. Gluchacki, Stephen Donahue, Jimmy Hebert, Shawn Swallow, and Jaret Curtis rounded out the top-10. Carey and Sands were the heat race winners.
The finish:
Jimmy Renfrew Jr., Tom Carey III, Ben Rowe, Ryan Kuhn, D.J. Shaw, Derek Gluchacki, Stephen Donahue, Jimmy Hebert, Shawn Swallow, Jaret Curtis, Jason Ryan, Chase Curtis, Matt Anderson, Kevin Vaudrien, David MacDonald, Joey Polewarczyk Jr., Trenton Goodrow, Erick Sands.