Dragon Leads the Way into Casella Night at Thunder Road
Barre, VT – The Thunder Road summer racing season continues this Thursday, June 18 with Casella Waste Management Night. The Thunder Road Late Models, Bond Auto Tiger Sportsmen, and Allen Lumber Street Stocks have all featured close competition early as they head into another round of their season-long campaigns.
The evening will also include the annual visit from the New England Antique Racers. The event features restored original versions of the Flathead Coupes and Sportsmen that thundered around the Barre high banks when the track opened its doors in 1960.
A number of intriguing stories are developing early in the weekly ranks. In the Late Models, Milton, VT’s Scott Dragon and his Richard Green Racing team are off to a torrid start in their second season together. The second-generation driver leads the point standings after posting consecutive runner-up finishes. Dragon also finished third in the American-Canadian Tour Merchants Bank 150 on May 3.
Dragon attributes the improvements the team made late in the 2014 season with being the catalyst for their early success in 2015.
“We didn’t change much in the shop over the winter,” Dragon said. “We just started hitting on stuff at the end of last season, and it’s still working for us. Where we ended up last season is basically what we carried into this season. We’re still tweaking on the car trying to get a little more out of it, but we’re also trying to maintain what we’ve got.”
Although there are still 13 races left in the Thunder Road Late Model championship chase, Dragon and the team are feeling good about the summer ahead.
“We’ve got a pretty solid package right now,” he said. “I don’t think we’re just going to all of a sudden get bad. I think we’re going to continue to be good.”
John Donahue’s victory last Thursday moved him into a tie for second in points with two-time “King of the Road” Nick Sweet. Ageless veteran Joey Laquerre ranks fourth, followed by youngsters Cody Blake and Kyle Pembroke. Defending champion Derrick O’Donnell was forced out of last week’s event with suspension problems and will try to get back on track.
2002 Champion Joe Steffen still leads the way in the Tiger Sportsmen, but has just 19 points between himself and defending Champion Jason Woodard in fifth. Barre, VT’s Doug Crowningshield sits eight points back of Steffen in second, with veteran Mike Martin close behind in third.
A close Tiger Sportsman Rookie of the Year battle is also shaping up. Graniteville, VT’s Stephen Donahue, the son of Late Model winner John Donahue, endured a hard crash in qualifying last week that saw his lead over Derek Barker cut to a single point.
Recent U32 High School graduate Tyler Austin has led the Allen Lumber Street Stock standings following each event in 2015. Wolcott, VT veteran Jamie Davis is 15 points back in second, with Jaden Perry and last week’s winner Kyle Streeter tied for third. Chris LaForest leads the Rookie of the Year standings after a career-best sixth-place finish last Thursday.
Casella Waste Management Night featuring the New England Antique Racers will be held on Thursday, June 18. Front gates open at 5:00pmwith post time at 6:00pm. Admission is $12 for adults, $3 for kids ages 6-12, and $25 for a family of four (2 adults, 2 kids).
For more information contact the Thunder Road offices at802.244.6963, media@acttour.com, or visitwww.thunderroadspeedbowl.com or www.newenglandantiqueracers.org.
Sources: Michael Stridsberg/Thunder Road PR