Eddie MacDonald knows what it takes to win an American-Canadian Tour race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He'd just never done it in an even-numbered year before. On Saturday, the native of Rowley, Mass., used an aggressive pass with less than five laps to go to grab the lead for the first time and he'd hold on for his fifth career Bond Auto Parts ACT Invitational victory in the eighth annual special event.
Because of a controlled draw, MacDonald had to come from all the way from the 31st starting position. Riding in fifth for much of the second half of the 50-lap race, MacDonald used a late restart with four laps left to find some room to the inside of Jimmy Hebert heading into Turn 1. A difficult turn, MacDonald was able to make the inside line stick and beat Hebert to the backstretch.
"That was a tough race. I had a few times I thought we would have to settle for second or third," said MacDonald, who had previously won the Bond Auto Parts ACT Invitational in 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015. "I knew I had to really get after it and try to get the lead and luckily it worked out."
Hebert (Williamstown, Vt.), who started second and led a vast majority of the race, was the runner-up, while Alex Labbe (St-Albert, Quebec) moved through the field with MacDonald from the 30th starting position to finish third.
Dillon Moltz (Waterford, Conn.), Bobby Therrien (Hinesburg, Vt.), Tom Carey III (Petersham, Mass.), Rowland Robinson Jr. (Steuben, Maine), Woody Pitkat (Sturbridge, Mass.), Joey Polewarczyk (Hudson, N.H.) and Ray Parent (Tiverton, R.I.) round out the top-10.
The win puts MacDonald one victory shy of tying the track record of 10 wins held by Mike Stefanik and Ted Christopher. MacDonald has victories in three different series, including PASS (one), K&N Pro Series East (three) and the American-Canadian Tour (five).
"This really means a lot for us to come here and race in front of such a great crowd and on a NASCAR weekend," said MacDonald. "It always means a lot to me to come here and run well. This place is always a blast."
For more details and ticket information on events at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, or to purchase tickets to Sunday's Bad Boy Off Road 300 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, please stop by our ticket office, visit the speedway website at www.nhms.com, or call Fan Relations at (603) 783-4931.