Posted By Dusty Deavitt On August 30, 2016
Georgia, VT – This past weekend marked the first of the final three point counting events on the 2016 ACT Tour. Heading into this weekend the Scott Payea driven 37vt and the rest of the RPM Motorsports Team sat 16 points away from point-leader, Nicholas Sweet. Saturday’s Oxford 100 event made for an opportunity for the team to bounce back from season opener 19th place finish and their persistence all day long Saturday prevailed.
Saturday morning resulted in a post pre-race inspection heat chip draw of 27 on the board; which resulted in the Harrison Concrete Construction & Redi-Mix Dodge Charger starting 8th in the first qualifying heat.
Tuning the car would come down to three practice sessions each running for 15 minutes, the 37vt ended round one 3rd on the time-sheets, after some tweaking by crew Scott was able to place the 37vt at the top of the chart in round two. However, that would be short lived with yet again another 3rd quickest result coming from the third and final round. The crew now would go to work to get their car ready for the qualifying heat.
Qualifying heats lined up at 5pm and would each run for 10 laps with the top 5 finishers advancing to the Oxford 100 Feature Race with their earned +/-. Scott rolled out on the track in 8th place and in the short 10 lap heat would complete the sprint in 5th place. This earned the Harrison Concrete Construction & Redi-Mix 37vt a +3 heading into the Oxford 100; setting the stage for a top 5 starting position in ACT’s Feature Event.
Feature time would bring Scott to line the RPM Motorsports Late Model up in the 4th starting position behind the front row pole sitter, Bobby Therrien (5vt) and outside pole sitter Brandon Atkins (4ny); once the green-flag dropped on the event Scott managed to keep the Harrison Concrete Construction & Redi-Mix 37vt in the top 5 all night. On the lap 29 restart Scott would battle with Brad Babb (15me) and 3rd place point sitter Eddie McDonald (17ma) for the lead position, after swapping for the lead position multiple times with Babb, Scott finally gained control of the lead on the lap 79 restart.
Although, the fight for the win wasn’t over as Scott and Eddie would battle it out in two late race restarts on laps 88 and 90. At the line for the checkered flag, it was an ecstatic Rick Paya, team owner and spotter for the 37vt, who was able to congratulate his driver and team on a job well done and outstanding driver performance all night.
The conclusion of this race has brought the RPM Motorsports Team to within 2-points of the top spot in points, with two point counting races remaining, the next back to Beech Ridge Speedway September 17th & 18th and the final event at Thompson Speedway on October 15th.
