Hoyt Outruns Competition and Weather to Win Bolduc Enduro 200
Street Stock Special Postponed to August 19
Barre, VT — Braintree’s George Hoyt proved that steady and sure wins the race by triumphing in the 37th Bolduc Metal Recycling Enduro 200 at Barre’s Thunder Road on Sunday, August 8. Hoyt inherited the lead after previous Enduro winner Richie Turner crashed out with less than 20 laps to go and bested the 118-car field for a $3,000 winner’s purse.
Hoyt had to beat more than just his 117 challengers at “The People’s Race”. Despite weather forecasters predicting a 10-15% chance of evening rain by late afternoon, the skies opened up shortly after 5:00pm. Hard rain continued on and off for nearly two hours, forcing the postponement of the RK Miles Street Stock Special that was to open the night.
However, teams and officials forged ahead with the Enduro. Once lightning had cleared the area, the field began lining up. Just before 7:00pm, with the rain starting to clear, the field took the green in front of a huge crowd and an international live-streaming audience on FloRacing.
Once the event got underway, it was the usual festival of thrills and spills. Sheffield’s Hans Laggis led much of the first half amid a flurry of red flags, including one just minutes into the event for a fire under Keith Benoit’s engine. However, Laggis got tagged on the frontstretch and ended up piling into some stopped cars entering turn one, ending his night.
That made Hoyt the leader as they reached the 100-lap mark followed by Northfield’s Danny Doyle and Barre’s Andy Benoit. After some early troubles, though, Turner was closing fast. Shortly after the seventh red flag on lap 138 for Meghan Brown’s turn 3 flip — the only rollover of the night — Brown finished making up a multiple-lap deficit and overtook Hoyt for the lead. The flip by Brown also was the latest piece of a multi-lane obstacle course entering turn three that would factor into the outcome.
Turner pulled away after taking the lead, eventually building up a margin of nearly two laps over Hoyt. As Turner let it fly, Hoyt focused on staying out of trouble amidst the many stopped automobiles.
Shortly after the final red flag on lap 180, Hoyt’s tactics paid off. The field got bottled up right in front of Hoyt and Turner as they came to turn three and created a logjam. Hoyt was able to get stopped with his front bumper barely grazing the car in front. Turner couldn’t slow up in time, getting bounced around and eventually smacking the turn three wall to end his night.
Hoyt backed up a few feet, rolled around the stopped cars, and kept on chugging. Even with that delay, he was still more than a full circuit ahead of Doyle. Hoyt maintained the gap the rest of the way, making him the only driver to complete the full 200 laps.
Doyle, another former Enduro winner, settled for runner-up this time around. South Hadley, MA’s Wesley Johnson took home third place. Despite a pit stop late in the going, Andy Benoit was able to wrangle fourth. Larry Underwood, Trevor Mears, Thomas Bohannon, Dennis Perry II, Levi Jackson, and Kelly Miller Jr. rounded out the top-10. The full Enduro results will be posted on the Thunder Road website by the end of the day on Monday, August 9.
The Bolduc Metal Recycling Street Stock Special has been rescheduled to Thursday, August 19 as part of Vermont Tire and Service Night. The Street Stocks will then run double features on Sunday, September 5 at the Berlin Optical Expressions Labor Day Classic. This ensures the division still gets to run all features that were scheduled for 2021.
Thunder Road gets back on track this Thursday, August 12 at 7:00pm with North Country Federal Credit Union Night. The Burnett Scrap Metals Road Warriors go 50 laps in the 3rd Annual Road Warrior Challenge. They’re joined by the Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Models, Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers, and RK Miles Street Stocks.
Admission to NCFCU Night is $15 for adults, $5 for kids ages 6-12, and $30 for a family of four (2 adults, 2 kids). Advance tickets are available at www.happsnow.com/event/Thunder-Road-Speedbowl. All Thunder Road events are also live-streamed on FloRacing for those with a paid subscription.
For more information, contact the Thunder Road offices at (802) 244-6963, media@thunderroadvt.com, or visit www.thunderroadvt.com. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at @ThunderRoadVT. For more information about FloRacing, visit www.FloRacing.com.
THUNDER ROAD SPEEDBOWL — Barre, VT
37TH BOLDUC METAL RECYCLING ENDURO 200
SUNDAY, AUGUST 8, 2021
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Pos., Driver, Car #, Hometown, Laps
- George Hoyt ( 1 ) Braintree, VT , 200 Laps
- Danny Doyle ( 151 ) Northfield, VT , 199 Laps
- Wesley Johnson ( 129 ) South Hadley, MA , 196 Laps
- Andy Benoit ( 112 ) Barre, VT , 191 Laps
- Larry Underwood ( 173 ) Fairfax, VT , 191 Laps
- Trevor Mears ( 30 ) Pittsifeld, VT , 190 Laps
- Thomas Bohannon ( 00 ) Wolcott, VT , 190 Laps
- Dennis Perry II ( 109 ) E Corinth, VT , 189 Laps
- Levi Jackson ( 186 ) Milton, VT , 188 Laps
- Kelly Miller Jr. ( 04 ) Johnson, VT , 188 Laps
THE FULL ENDURO RESULTS WILL BE POSTED ON THE THUNDER ROAD WEBSITE BY END-OF-DAY ON MONDAY, AUGUST 9.
(IMG_8176.JPG): Braintree, VT’s George Hoyt climbs out of his car after winning the 37th Bolduc Metal Recycling Enduro 200 at Thunder Road on Sunday, August 8. (Alan Ward)
(IMG_8936.JPG): The Enduro brought its usual share of motorized mayhem, which included a rollover by Meghan Brown (#141) with just over 60 laps to go. (Alan Ward photo)