Flying Tigers Rolling into Doubleheader Weekend
Multiple Racers Planning WMMP and Thunder Road Double-Duty on Saturday-Sunday
N. Woodstock, NH & Barre, VT —The American-Canadian Tour (ACT) Flying Tiger division is preparing for a huge weekend of Northeast racing. At least four drivers are planning to race on back-to-back nights at North Woodstock, NH’s White Mountain Motorsports Park and Barre, VT’s Thunder Road Speedbowl in an old-school doubleheader.
The NorthCountry Federal Credit Union Night event at Thunder Road originally scheduled for Thursday, August 12 was recently postponed to Sunday, August 15 due to weather concerns. This creates a rare back-to-back that begins in the beautiful White Mountains of Northern New Hampshire.
Saturday, August 14 at 6:00pm, the Flying Tiger division goes 75 laps in round two of the J.P. Sicard Triple Crown Series at White Mountain. The next day at 5:00pm, they have a 40-lap weekly Thunder Road feature. Despite Mother Nature tightening the schedule up, four racers are already confirmed for both events. East Kingston, NH’s Bryan Wall Jr.; Waterbury Center, VT’s Tanner Woodard; East Thetford, VT’s Brandon Gray; and East Burke, VT’s Colin Cornell all plan to “do the double” this weekend.
“I’m pretty excited,” said Wall, who is a two-time winner at Thunder Road this year. “It would be nice to have a day in-between to get the car ready, but any racing is good. I was kind of worried for a while that the race at White Mountain would get cancelled because it didn’t look great at first, and you don’t want that to happen again. So anything to get both races in. Two days of racing in a row might be a little bit of work, but what else could be more fun than that?”
“To be honest with you, I didn’t really feel like my car was ready where it should have been (for Thursday), so I’m actually really happy that we got a couple extra days to finish getting it ready,” Gray added. “I think as long as we keep our nose clean Saturday night and salvage a good finish, we can focus on our main priority, which is Thunder Road, and we can try to get back into a rhythm there.”
Wall, Gray, and Cornell are all weekly Thunder Road competitors who race part-time at White Mountain. Each had a solid result in the track’s J.P. Sicard Triple Crown opener and have made spot starts since then to stay sharp for the final two events. Cornell earned a runner-up finish on June 26 while Wall came home fifth last Saturday. Gray was caught up in a late crash on July 24 before bouncing back for a podium result the following week.
Woodard, meanwhile, is the only driver to enter every event at both tracks in 2021. He’s earned a combined three wins between the two circuits, including a Triple Crown victory at Thunder Road on July 9. The 17-year-old Woodard also leads both Rookie of the Year chases.
Woodard, who is a teammate of Wall, has separate cars that he races at the two tracks. Wall, Cornell, and Gray, on the other hand, just have one car each. Despite not having a back-up, the racer’s mentality ingrained in them combined with the significance of the Triple Crown event won’t let anyone ease up on Saturday. They’ll try to add that winner’s trophy to their collection and focus on the Thunder Road event later.
“The smart approach would probably be to take it easy (at White Mountain) and try not to destroy your car,” Wall said. “But I’m going to go in on Saturday and do everything I can to win this Triple Crown. I finished sixth in the first (race), so I still have a pretty good shot. So I’m going to try to not think too much about racing the next day while I’m there, and we’ll worry about that after the race and see how bad any damage is. But I’m not going to go out there and go easy on Saturday, that’s for sure. I’m going to give it everything I can and try to win.”
Going to White Mountain also gives these racers something fresh apart from the weekly Thunder Road grind. Although both tracks are a quarter mile in length, they race very differently. That means drivers can put their skills to the test in other ways. Gray, for example, likes the White Mountain events because he can focus more on driving and worry less about the technical side.
“When we go to White Mountain, we’ve been really strong due to the fact that you don’t have to have the most perfect car there,” Gray noted. “You can make it up by, in my opinion, wheeling the car. At Thunder Road, there’s so much good competition that you have to have the car 90% perfect to make it work, because there’s 30 cars separated by three-tenths of a second.”
Things don’t ease up for the Flying Tigers following the weekend doubleheader. Thunder Road will be right back in action on Thursday, August 19 with Vermont Tire Service Night, which boasts double the normal prize money in the Tiger feature. The J.P. Sicard Triple Crown champion is then crowned at White Mountain on Saturday, August 21.
It adds up to four races in eight days while going head-to-head against the likes of Jason Woodard, Shane Sicard, Michael Martin, Ryan Ware, Cameron Ouellette, and Matthew Potter. The next week may be the defining stretch in the seasons of these four double-duty drivers and anyone else who dares to dip their toes in both waters.
The J.P. Sicard Triple Crown Series returns to White Mountain Motorsports Park Saturday, August 14 at 6:00pm. The Wells River Chevrolet Flying Tigers go 75 laps in round two of the three-race series. White Mountain also welcomes the Wicked Good Vintage Racing Association Early Late Models and Outlaws. The Foley Oil & Propane Late Models, Woodsville Guaranty Savings Bank Strictly Stock Mini’s, and Dads 4 By Tool & Supply Kids Trucks complete the card. The front gates open at 4:00pm. Admission is $12 for adults, $3 for kids ages 6-12, $25 for a family of four (2 adults, 2 kids), and free for kids ages 5 and under.
Thunder Road hosts NorthCountry Federal Credit Union Night on Sunday, August 15 at 5:00pm. The special twilight Sunday show features the 3rd Annual Burnett Scrap Metals Road Warrior Challenge plus championship action for the Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Models, Lenny’s Shoe Apparel Flying Tigers, and RK Miles Street Stocks. The front gates open at 3:15pm. Admission is $15 for adults, $5 for kids ages 6-12, $30 for a family of four (2 adults, 2 kids), and free for kids ages 5 and under. All Thunder Road events are also live-streamed on FloRacing for those with a paid subscription.
For more information about White Mountain Motorsports Park, contact the track offices at (802) 244-6963, media@acttour.com, or visit www.whitemountainmotorsports.com. You can also follow us on Facebook at @WhiteMtnMotorsports.
For more information about Thunder Road, contact the track 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.
(tr06112101.JPG): East Kingston, NH’s Bryan Wall Jr. (#77NH), a two-time Thunder Road winner in 2021, is one of several Flying Tiger drivers who plans to race White Mountain Motorsports Park and Thunder Road on back-to-back days this weekend. (Alan Ward photo)>>