The International Pro Stock Challenge, a series that featured races in New England and eastern Canada, has folded for financial reasons and been replaced by the 12-race Pro All-Star series created by Naples’ Tom Mayberry, a veteran pro stock driver.

The series will include three races apiece at White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H. and Scotia Speedworld in Halifax, Nova Scotia; two each at Hermon’s Speedway 95 and Circuit St. Croix in St. Croix, Quebec and one apiece at New Hampshire’s Lee USA Speedway and Canaan Speedway.

All of the races will be 150-lappers with the exception of the Aug. 11 event at Scotia Speedworld, which will be a 250-lapper. The 150-lap races will pay $4,000 to win and $400 to qualify while the Aug. 11 event will pay $7,000 to win and $700 to qualify.

“I had chatted with Joan Roue about taking over the IPSC series if all the loose ends were ironed out from last year. But there were some loose ends left so I decided not to go that route,” said Mayberry. “Then I went to the Portland Exposition [car show] and talked to [drivers] Benji Rowe, Sam Sessions and some other drivers and I thought it would be a real good idea to get something together.

“The first thing I did was make sure we could get a race in southern New England and Red MacDonald said he would give us a race at Lee USA Speedway. Then I talked to Del Merritt at Speedway 95 and he had some IPSC races scheduled. He gave us those two dates and that was real important. That got us rolling,” added Mayberry.

The 40-year-old Mayberry said one of the differences between his series and the IPSC tour is the divvying up of the purse money.

“The IPSC paid $5,000 to win and $250 to start. But we wanted to give more to the bottom teams,” said Mayberry.

He is quick to credit the IPSC “for setting the foundation for this to work. I just tried to tweak it a little bit.”

He has also reduced the point fund from $100,000 offered by the IPSC to $38,000.

“We should be able to do that. I don’t want to promise more than I can come through with,” said Mayberry, who will be the director of the series and won’t race in it. “Even if we have a bad year, I can do it myself [pay the points fund money].”

There will be a points champion over the 12 races; one for the six northern races (Scotia Speedworld, Speedway 95 and one of the St. Croix races) and another for the other six (the five New Hampshire events and one of the St. Croix races).

“We broke it up that way so that if somebody has a bad race or can’t run the entire series, they have something else to shoot for,” said Mayberry.

Mayberry said several of the tracks will foot the bill for the races but, in other cases, they will have to lease the tracks.

“We will definitely end up with some kind of sponsorship. We have three people working 18 hours a day on over 200 proposals [for sponsorships] we have sent out,” said Mayberry. “They’re doing a real good job.”

He said his response in the racing community has been “very good” and several drivers have indicated they intend to run the entire series.

“I’m very optimistic, I really am. I tend to be pretty cautious but things are working real good. I’ve had 28 calls from guys reserving numbers for Lee and that’s still six weeks away,” said Mayberry.

Smith, NEPSA endorse Mayberry

One of the people giving Mayberry his blessing is Northeast Pro Stock Association director Gary Smith of Bangor.

“We’ve been working hand-in-hand with him. We’d like to see his series take off. He has something we’ve never had: employees who can make things work,” said Smith, who will race on both circuits since they don’t have conflicting dates.

“We’re all working for the same objective: providing a place for pro stockers to race. So it makes sense to work together,” said Smith.

NEPSA will have a five-race tour with three races at Autodrome Montmagny, Quebec and two at Unity Raceway.

The opener will be held at Montmagny on June 2.

The Pro All-Star series and the NEPSA races won’t conflict with the three-race series at Oxford Plains Speedway, which includes the True Value Oxford 250, or the Coastal 200 at Wiscasset Raceway.

Turner’s Benji Rowe won the IPSC and the NEPSA points titles last year.