Seven-time and defending American-Canadian Tour Late Model stock car champion Jean-Paul Cyr of Milton, VT will trade in his fenders at Lee USA Speedway on Sunday, April 20. Cyr will run both halves of the “New Hampshire Governor’s Cup 200,” racing the 100-lap features for both the ACT Late Model Tour and the open-wheel True Value Modified Racing Series.
    Although he is more widely recognized for his success in full-fendered Late Model racing, Cyr is a veteran of the ground-pounding modifieds. He raced with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour in 1998-99, capturing a pole position at Pennsylvania’s Jennerstown Speedway and a top-five finish at the Richmond Int’l Raceway in Virginia. Cyr will race for True Value Modified veteran driver/owner Gary Casella of Saugus, MA.
    “I tested Gary’s car at Waterford (CT) Speedbowl last week, and I had a blast,” Cyr said. “It took a few laps to get used to driving the modified again, but when I came in the pits I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.”
    Cyr said he will use the NH Governor’s Cup race to prepare himself for the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic at Barre, VT’s Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl on Sunday, May 25. The True Value Series’ appearance at the high-banked quarter-mile oval will be the first by a modified division since1965. That event is also an ACT/TVMRS doubleheader.
    “Gary and his team are a great bunch of guys, and they have a good car prepared for me,” said Cyr. With driver David Pinkham behind the wheel in 2006, Casella’s car won a True Value event at Maine’s Beech Ridge Motor Speedway. NASCAR veteran Tommy Cravenho piloted the car to a second-place finish at Thompson (CT) Int’l Speedway last September. “I want to have fun,” Cyr finished, “but I also want to give those guys some competition.”
    Kirk Alexander of West Swanzey, NH is a three-time champion of the True Value Modified Racing Series, along with 2006 title holder Dwight Jarvis of Ascutney, VT. Other leading drivers expected to be at Lee USA and Thunder Road include Connecticut hotshoes Les Hinckley and Eddie Dachenhausen, Massachusetts stars Louie Mechalides and Vinnie Annarummo, and New Hampshire’s Andy Seuss and Jack Bateman.
    Cyr will begin defense of his ACT Late Model Tour championship at Lee USA Speedway on Sunday, April 20 at 1:00pm against the likes of Vermont’s Scott Payea and Brent Dragon, New Hampshire’s Randy Potter and Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., Québec’s Patrick Laperle and Donald Theetge, and Maine’s Ron Henry.
    For more information on the New Hampshire Governor’s Cup 200, call Lee USA Speedway at (978) 462-4252 or visit www.leeusaspeedway.com.
    For information on the American-Canadian Tour, call (802) 244-6963 or visit www.acttour.com.
    For information on the True Value Modified Racing Series, call 1 (800) 924-9524 or visit www.modifiedracingseries.com.

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