The Lee race was the season opener for the ACT Tour and one of ten races that will comprise the series for 2005. Piekarski was happy with the car during practice and the heat races.

"The car wasn’t perfect, but it was comfortable and we were showing respectable lap times on the stop watch," said Piekarski.

Each driver needed to draw for their starting position and unfortunately the draw was deep in the field for the heat race.

"It is tough to qualify for these events when more than 60 cars show up," expressed Piekarski.

"The number you draw can almost seal your fate and really dictates how you need to drive during qualifying races," Piekarski continued.

Piekarski did have to race hard to earn a position in the feature, but was able to work his way to the front.

After each qualifying round was completed, the feature line up was posted and Piekarski would fire for the main event deep in the pack from the 25^th position.

"Honestly, you never want to start that deep in the pack at Lee, but I think it helped us in this one," said Piekarski.

"From the start of the race, the car was a bit tight but as the race moved along, the car freed up and ended up where I was loose off the corners. There was a lot of action ahead of me during the race and I was just trying to be patient and let things unfold. I avoided a lot of big wrecks and tried to pick up what I could under the longer green flag runs," commented Piekarski.

By the halfway point of the race, Piekarski had cracked the top ten.

"I felt like we had a top 10 car today and when we positioned ourselves with the front pack, I was going to be very happy with a finish where I was running."

As the race progressed, there were more wrecks and more cautions, keeping the pace of the race slow. With fifteen laps remaining in the race, Piekarski slipped into the top five and continued to keep his nose clean of the racing misfortunes of many of the veterans.

As the checkers flew, Piekarski crossed the finish line in the fourth position, recording his first career top five finish on the ACT Late Model Tour.

"I am very excited to have my first top five finish come at a track where I have the most seat time in a Late Model and to do it in front of home track friends and family makes it even that much more special," expressed a jubilant Piekarski.

"I want to thank Wayne Helliwell Sr. for his help as crew chief at this event and especially thank Mike Rancourt for the great spotting in a tough race. This was definitely a team effort for PBJ Motorsports," closed Piekarski.

The team will now set its sights on the next race, which will take place on Sunday, May 15^th at Thunder Road in Barre, VT. In 2004, Piekarski had a DNF after mechanical failure in his first outing at Thunder Road, but then improved with a 15^th place and an 11^th place finish, respectively, in two other events at the track.