Thunder Road Champions Set to be Crowned on Community College of Vermont Night
Barre, Vt. – The final point-counting event of the season at Barre’s Thunder Road is set for this Friday, September 8 at 7:00 pm with Community College of Vermont (CCV) Championship Night. The Thunder Road Late Models, Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers, and Allen Lumber Street Stocks will all crown their champions at the Friday night affair that was previously postponed due to weather.
As part of the CCV Championship Night special, all three divisions will run extra-distance features. The Late Models will cap the night with a 65-lap main event, while the Flying Tigers and Street Stocks will run 50 and 35 laps, respectively.
Hinesburg’s Bobby Therrien leads a two-man battle in the Thunder Road Late Models to become the 2017 “King of the Road”. Therrien has a 31-point lead over South Burlington’s Trampas Demers and would become the first driver in the track’s modern era to win championships in three different divisions. He previously won the Allen Lumber Street Stock championship in 2007 and the Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tiger title in 2012.
“It would mean the world to me to get all three championships for the ladder system that Thunder Road has built,” Therrien said. “Going into the summer, (the Late Model title) was our goal, but it was a very high goal that we set, and we’re on the verge of being able to do it. To be able to get a championship not only for myself, but for the team, would mean a lot. We just have to continue doing what we’ve been doing. We’ve gotten in this position by having a strong second half of the season, so going into Friday night, we’re going to have the same attitude as the rest of the summer. We always show up to win, but we have a bigger picture in mind, so hopefully, we’ll be able to have another solid night and be able to wrap it up.”
Therrien opened the season with a win in the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic on May 28 and has remained at the top of the standings for most of the summer, bolstered in part by five Maplewood Semi-Feature victories. Demers emerged as a serious title contender with his victory in the VP Racing Fuels Vermont Governor’s Cup on July 13 and has stayed near the front thanks to a division-leading seven podium finishes.
The fight for the rest of the top-10 in points is hotly contested as well. Barre’s Jason Corliss leads a three-way clash for third between fellow Barre racer Cody Blake and Milton’s Scott Dragon with the trio separated by 31 total points. Other drivers such as Wolcott’s Marcel J. Gravel and Westford’s Darrell Morin are looking to secure career-best final points positions with strong runs on Friday.
In the Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers, former champions Jason Woodard of Waterbury Center and Brendan Moodie of Wolcott will decide the 2017 title. Woodard has a 24-point advantage over Moodie on the strength of four feature victories, which is tied with Hinesburg’s Trevor Lyman for the division lead. Moodie led the standings for much of the season after winning the Memorial Day opener and has remained in the hunt by posting a division-leading 12 top-five finishes.
Morrisville’s Dwayne Lanphear is 74 points back of the lead in third and would need Woodard to miss the feature on Friday in order to keep his title hopes alive. Lyman is 16 points behind Lanphear in fourth, while Myers Container Service Triple Crown Champion Mike Martin completes the top five.
The Allen Lumber Street Stock championship duel is one of the closest in recent memory as four drivers sit within 13 points of the top spot. It is also a highly diverse contest with two division veterans going against two teenage competitors in their sophomore seasons.
Wolcott’s Jamie Davis, the 2015 Street Stock champion, currently holds a two-point lead over 19-year-old Cooper Bouchard of Hinesburg. Longtime contender Alan Maynard of Fairfax rides five points behind Davis in third. Sixteen-year-old Kelsea Woodard of Waterbury Center rounds out the quartet in a bid to join her father Jason Woodard as Thunder Road champions.
The final round of the 2017 Thunder Road championship bouts goes to post at 7:00 pm this Friday, September 8. The pits will open at 3:30 pm and the front gates will open at 5:15 pm. Admission for CCV Championship Night 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 at (802) 244-6963,media@thunderroadvt.com, or visit www.thunderroadvt.com.
Sources: Michael R. Stridsberg/Thunder Road Speedbowl PR
Alan Ward photos