Polewarczyk claims 48th annual Milk Bowl at Thunder Road

By Phil Whipple

BARRE, VT - On Saturday, September 18, he blew 'em away at New Hampshire
Motor Speedway in the second annual ACT Invitational. Late that afternoon,
after driving up from 27th on the 43-car grid, Joey Polewarczyk Jr.
proclaimed it was the biggest win of his career. When it comes down to pure
exposure, he may have been right.

Yet when it comes to prestige, historic significance and legendary battles,
the 21-year-old from Hudson, NH, captued the grand-daddy of them all last
weekend. Polewarczyk put together finishes of first, seventh and fourth to
claim the overall crown in the 48th annual Peoples United Bank Milk Bowl
Sunday afternoon at Thunder Road.

For the first time in this event's storied past, the second and third
segments were expanded from 50 to 75 laps. Polewarczyk won the first 50-lap
segment, then powered his New Hampshire Precision/Pole's Automotive Ford
Fusion up through traffic to seventh in the second tilt. When it came down
to the closing laps, it was Polewarczyk and defending ACT champion Brian
Hoar contending for the overall crown. Polewarczyk ran Hoar down in heavy
traffic and passed him, as Hoar watched any hopes of winning slip away.
Polewarczyk's 12-point final tally beat out the 20 of Hoar.

Hoar settled for second overall with finishes of second, 13th and fifth in
the three segments. John Donahue claimed third overall, while Brent Dragon
and Joey Laquerre completed the top five.

"I can't believe we just won the Milk Bowl," Polewarczyk said before kissing
Miss Daisy Dalton, the official Milk Bowl Queen. "This is a very emotional
win for me. We've been trying for five years to win this race, but were
never able to finish it off. It is a truly amazing feeling. This race is so
tough, there were some scary moments going through traffic in the second
segment. But we came through it clean,  and back up our incredible victory
at New Hampshire by winning the Milk Bowl. I couldn't be any happier or more
proud for my entire team."

Sunday marked Polewarczyk's seventh career victory in ACT Late Model
competition. Along with his win at Loudon, Polewarczyk also took top honrs
in Scarborough, Maine (Beech Ridge/July 24) and in Waterford, Connecticut
(Waterford Speedbowl, August 21). It may have taken a while
to get revved up, but when Polewarczyk finally got his ACT (pardon the pun)
together in 2010 - he did so in a big way.

Finishing sixth through 10th in the 48th annual Milk Bowl were Patrick
Laperle, Eric Williams, Dave Pembroke, Jamie Fisher and Ben Rowe. Leading
all storylines at Thunder Road over the weekend was the fact that 61 Late
Models were on hand Saturday for time trails. For this late date, and with
the odds heavily favoring drivers with years of experience on the
high-banked 1/4-mile, that speaks to the Milk Bowl's history and magic. Just
the slim chance of making the show brought out more cars than several points
races (the Milk Bowl is not an ACT points-paying event).

With more cars loaded up in the trailers than on-track when the green flag
waved, there were tons of talented drivers who didn't make the show. Here's
a look at some of the names in the B Feature that kicked off Sunday's card:
former NASCAR Busch North Series champions Mike Olsen and Jamie Aube; Oxford
regulars Tommy Ricker, Travis Stearns and Dave Farrington Jr.; Supermodified
veteran Mike Ordway; Todd Aldrich (another grandson of Stub Fadden); and
former ACT at Oxford winner Randy Potter of Groveton, New Hampshire. Potter
made the show via provisional thanks to his standings in ACT points.

Pete Potvin won the second segment over Craig Bushey and Ben Rowe. Jean-Paul
Cyr ran away with the third leg, with Quinney Welch second and Glen Luce
third. Luce, of Turner, Maine, suffered moderate damage to his No. 7 entry
after getting caught up in a couple of altercations. For him to salvage a
podium finish in that final leg and 12th overall is evidence of a
never-say-die attitude. The top four finishers in the first segment went on
to claim the top four spots overall.

One sight that meant a great deal to me Sunday was seeing Alvin Fadden, son
of Hall Of Fame driver Stanley 'Stub' Fadden, in the pit area. Alvin's son
Travis is a regular in the Late Model division at White Mountain Motorsports
Park, and qualified for the Milk Bowl in just his second attempt. Fadden got
banged around like a pinball in several three-wide battles and came away
with a 23rd-place finish overall. Just seeing Travis out there in a white
No. 16 car with Patten's Gas on the hood brought back some wonderful
memories. Stub would have been proud to see Travis in the Milk Bowl.

With perfect fall conditions, beautiful colors on display in Vermont's
beautiful maple trees and cold apple cider in my cup, the 48th annual Milk
Bowl at Thunder Road was a real treat. Thousands of the T-Road faithful
packed the stands to enjoy the great side-by-side battles we saw all
afternoon. It's one of the nation's toughest, most renowned short track
events - and it sure lived up to its hype last Sunday. Congratulations to
Joey Polewarcyzk Jr. on his convincing victory at "the Nation's Site of
Excitement."