Although rains pushed the Haunted Hundred at New London-Waterford Speedbowl back to Sunday, October 22, the poor weather did nothing to hinder the competition. Forty-nine American-Canadian Tour teams flooded the paddock at the coastal Connecticut oval with just thirty-one positions up for grabs in the final event of the 2023 season with the iconic ACT Tour championship, Rookie of the Year honors and Brookside Equipment Southern New England Triple Crown on the line.
By virtue of an impressive +6 in the fifth and final heat race, Scarborough, Maine’s Nick Cusack led the charge under the green flag for the Haunted Hundred. Urgency had been the mood of the day, especially after three rounds of qualifying sent home eighteen competitors. While Cusack held onto the early lead, Erick Sands and 2023 White Mountain Motorsports Park champion Kasey Beattie attempted to track him down on the inside groove. Waterford Speedbowl hot-shoes Ryan Morgan and Jordan Hadley also added in some local flavor out front in the opening laps.
Coming in second on the standings, defending champion D.J. Shaw entered the top-five on lap 13 under Brooks Clark while point leader Gabe Brown was mired in traffic way out back. Brown marched through all three rounds of qualifying on Sunday, entering the Haunted Hundred feature only after winning the Last Chance B-Feature.
Jacob ‘Rowdy’ Burns would bring out the lap 33 caution with a spin off turn two to slow the field. During the caution the hood flew up over the windshield of rookie contender Andrew Molleur until Woody Pitkat’s contact with the frontstretch wall saved the hometown rookie on lap 35.
Erick Sands put the hammer down to lead the field on lap 36 before a series of four cautions in three laps led to single-file restarts for the remainder of the 100-lap event. Shaw powered up to the lead after a heartbreaker for Sands saw the lights go out under the hood of the 36NH on lap 60. As the field settled in, former Rookie of the Year and Serie ACT Quebec star Alexendre ‘Fireball’ Tardif went to work on Shaw with 15-laps remaining. Tardif battled hard with Shaw throughout the final circuits, but laps ran down leaving D.J. Shaw to take down the Haunted Hundred win over Tardif and Nick Cusack.
By virtue of the win and his lap-leader bonuses, Shaw was able to overcome a twenty-one-point deficit to Gabe Brown to come back and win the 2023 American-Canadian Tour championship by thirty-one points. Shaw overcame the largest points-deficit in ACT Tour history to claim his second-career championship. Shaw was also able to bring home his second-consecutive Brookside Equipment Sales Southern New England Triple Crown while Tanner Woodard was able to claim the 2023 ACT Tour Rookie of the Year honors.
The 45th season of American-Canadian Tour Championship Stock Car Racing is officially over with all the top stars returning to Barre, Vermont for the annual Banquet of Champions on Saturday, November 4th. 2024 rule books and the 2024 schedule will be released by the Barre offices by Thanksgiving.
For more information about the American-Canadian Tour, contact the ACT offices at (802) 244-6963, media@acttour.com, or visit www.acttour.com. You can also get updates on Facebook and Twitter at @ACTTour.
New London-Waterford Speedbowl – Waterford, CT
The Haunted Hundred
Sunday, October 22, 2023
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
2023 American-Canadian Tour Champion – D.J. Shaw
2023 ACT Rookie of the Year – Tanner Woodard
2023 Brookside Equipment Sales Triple Crown Champion – D.J. Shaw
1. 04VT D.J. Shaw Center Conway, NH
2. 21QC Alexendre Tardif Notre Dame des Pins, QC
3. 49CT Nicholas Cusack Scarborough, ME
4. 68VT Brooks Clark Fayston, VT
5. 25NH Jesse Switser West Burke, VT
6. 00NH Jimmy Renfrew Jr. Candia, NH
7. 5MA Tom Carey III New Salem, MA
8. 17QC Maxime Gauvreau St-Marie de Richelieu, QC
9. 68NH #Tanner Woodard Waterbury Ctr., VT
10. 7NC Davey Riendeau Mooresville, NC
11. 0NH Brandon Barker Windham, ME
12. 97NH Joey Polewarczyk Hudson, NH
13. 41QC Jonathan Bouvrette Blainville, QC
14. 45NH Kasey Beattie St. Johnsbury, VT
15. 35CT Ryan Morgan N. Franklin, CT
16. 90QC Zackary Fauteaux Mascouche, QC
17. 03MA Derek Gluchacki North Dartmouth, MA
18. 60ME Gabe Brown Center Conway, NH
19. 31CT #Andrew Molleur Shelton, CT
20. 31CS Brody Monahan Waterford, CT
21. 76RI Tyler Tomassi Warwick, RI
22. 27NH Cam Huntress Rochester, NH
23. 36NH Erick Sands Derry, NH
24. 37CT Jordan Hadley Quaker Hill, QC
25. 77NH #Bryan Wall Jr. E. Kingston, NH
26. 1CT Corey Fanning Uncasville, CT
27. 47NH Brockton Davis Whitefield, NH
28. 88MA Woody Pitkat Bellingham, MA
29. 66VT Jason Corliss Barre, VT
30. 38RI Connor Souza Providence, RI
31. 30RI Jacob Rowdy Burns E. Greenwich, RI
B-Feature Non-Qualifiers -
DNQ 19CT Michael Bennett Willington, CT
DNQ 22RI Mark Jenison Cranston, RI
DNQ 53MA Glen Thomas West Bridgewater, MA
DNQ 6KT Derek Ramstrom Waterford, CT
DNQ 33MA Jaret Curtis Rutland, MA
DNQ 5RI Rich Staskowski Hope Valley, RI
DNQ 12CT #PJ Evans Uncasville, CT
DNQ 78M Emma Monahan Quaker Hill, CT
DNQ 8RI Ryan Souliere North Smithfield, RI
DNQ 22VT Peyton Lanphear Waterbury, VT
DNQ 21VT Reilly Lanphear Waterbury, VT
DNQ 49NH Matt Anderson Franklin, NH
DNQ 2DJ Douglas Curry Bozrah, CT
DNS 78CT Walter Sutcliffe E. Haven, CT
DNS 27MA Luke LeBrun Hudson, MA
DNS 2CT Derryck Anderson Jr Plainfield, CT
DNS 50RI Mike Benevides Westerly, RI
DNS 67MA Johnny Silva Attleboro, MA
-ACT Media Press Release
-Photo credit: Alan Ward
