Crew chief Eric Leperle (l) and driver Patrick Leperle(r) hope to hit victory lane at New Smyrna Speedway in Fl., iike they did at Airborne Speedway Park in Plattsburgh, NY, in the mid-February ACT Tour races in Florida during Speed Weeks. (Credit: Eric LaFleche photo.)[/caption]
By Lou Modestino
The Laperle Brothers race team from Montreal, Quebec have entered the ACT American Racer Challenge Cup to be contested at the New Smyrna Speedway (NSS) in New Smyrna Beach, Florida on Monday and Tuesday, February 16-17, 2015. That brings the ACT field for the winter showdown at the World Series of Racing to a total of twenty-eight (28) entrants from throughout New England and Quebec.
“Well I guess you could think of this as somewhat of a ‘game-changer’. Eric Laperle has been an accomplished crew chief for his brother Patrick ever since they flipped the coin to see which twin would drive their first race at Airborne Speedway back in 1998. Patrick became the driver and Eric began learning his craft as crew chief. The Laperle team will certainly bring some energy to the event next month,” said ACT President Tom Curley.
The Laperle team has won eighteen (18) ACT major events. They sit third in all-time wins. Patrick Laperle is a three-time Série ACT (Quebec) Champion, he also won the ACT US title in 2008. He is a three-time winner of the Milk Bowl at Thunder Road.
Many members of the Laperle team, including brother Eric, will be working at the Daytona International Speedway preparing for Quebec driver Mario Gosselin’s Xfinity Series (formerly Nationwide) opening event on Saturday, February 21, 2015.
“Boy, this should be a lot of fun next month. There are going to be some very good race teams with Eddie Mac (MacDonald), Labbe, Hebert, Theetge, Parent, and Joey (Polewarczyk, Jr.), just to name a few. Now you add in Laperle and that should make things pretty wild,” said newly appointed ACT Race Director Cris Michaud.
Robert Hart, long-time promoter and owner of New Smyrna Speedway said, “It was a goal of ours to get the American Canadian Tour to return to our track after the great show they put on a few years ago. I know many of our fans from both the North and South enjoyed the competition the ACT teams are known for. We are very much looking forward to hosting them again this year. We sure hope we can provide some warm weather for our Northern friends next month.”
The American Racer Challenge Cup is a two-day event with twin 100-lap races held on Monday and Tuesday, February, 16-17 2015. Joey Polewarczyk, Jr. is the defending Champion. A full entry list of the ACT teams will be announced in a week.
Source: ACT Tour PR