Doiron Wins First Race Of The 2015 Season At Thunder Road
Barre, VT- Joey Doiron out of Berwick, ME took down the win in Sunday’s first ever appearance for the AIM Recycling Pro All Star Series Super Late Models at the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic at Thunder Road Speedbowl. Words could not describe this win for Doiron. ” This is Thunder Road. That pretty much sums it up.” Doiron Said
Doiron ran in the ACT Tour 6 years ago and would get rookie of the year. When he came to Thunder Road. He loved the track. ” Super fortunate that all the Tom’s (Tom Curley and Tom Mayberry) and everybody got together and for the better of short track racing and PASS got to come here. I was the lucky one to win out of everybody. I can’t believe it. Out of all the races were going to this year outside of the Oxford 250. I’d say up here probably this is the second biggest race you could win.”
Doiron thought second place finisher Jeremy Davis would catch him at the end. ” The laps couldn’t click off quite fast enough there. If I hit my marks perfect. I could maintain on him. Maybe pull half a car on him. I couldn’t seem to drive the same line twice around here the last 30 laps. I was able to get the lead from Wayne (Helliwell, JR). He drove up off the track in turn 2. I was thinking the whole time that I just can’t be that guy that loses the race with 5 to go cause he drives off the track or drives into the wall.”
Doiron caught up to a lap car with about 7 or 8 laps to go and hit the wall on the frontstretch and was thinking he was going to lose the race. He would be afraid to face his crew guys if he had lost the race but he was able to seal the deal.
Jeremy Davis out of Tamworth, NH would finish in second. For Davis the second place finish felt like a win to him. ” A lot of hard work. Long time coming. We don’t have much. We scrounge to get everything we can.” Davis Said
Davis and his team puts good pieces together to have a good car. ” It pays off finally. I still feel like I won. It’s good enough that I definitely knew I was here.”
Davis felt he was better in traffic and felt he was a little quicker than Doiron but knew it would be tough to pass. ” I wasn’t going to lay into him or run him up. There were a bunch of times we caught lap traffic that I could of stuffed in there or made it a questionable move. I wasn’t going to do any of that stuff. I tried just to stay on him and get him to make a mistake. He did a great job and kept it underneath him. Never really bobbled much.”
D.J. Shaw the defending champion would finish third. Shaw thought it was pretty good out there with a lot of grooves. Shaw felt it raced more like the late models. ” They could slide around and bump and bang a little bit and come out unscathed.” Shaw Said
Shaw felt it was cool to see Super Late Models as he ran in the ACT Tour before.
Bobby Therrien would finish in fourth. For Therrien, finishing in fourth place was a like to win to him as he loves coming to Thunder Road. To come out with the car in one piece made Therrien very happy for his crew guys to get a top 4 finish. ” They earned it. They busted their butts on Saturday. We tried a lot of stuff. Of course Dale Shaw and DJ and that whole crew has helped us out a ton with this car. It’s pretty awesome to come out of here with 4th.” Therrien Said
Derrick O’Donnell would take down in the 100 lap Thunder Road/ACT Late Model event as Scott Dragon would finish second and Nick Sweet would finish third.
Notebook
PASS drivers took to the track on Saturday for a practice session. Cassius Clark felt it was like running Speedway 51 in Groveton, NH. ” It’s a little tight off of 4. It’s got similar characteristics. More banking. You can drive up the bank a little bit. It’s fun really.” Cassius Clark Said
Clark did run a legends car at Thunder Road back in 2001. Cassius’s dad Billy Clark came up to Thunder Road once to race snowmobiles. Clark would finish 14th in the race on Sunday.
Mike Rowe kicked off his 2015 season with 2 wins at Oxford Plains Speedway and Star Speedway. Rowe ended up blowing a motor in practice at Thunder Road on Saturday. The crew worked all night to get the car ready for Sunday. Rowe would finish 6th in the race.
Ben Rowe felt that Thunder Road is one of toughest places he has ever raced at. Rowe thought the race on Sunday was going to be side by side. The Super Late Models were 3 quarters of a second quicker than a Late Model. ” This is one of my worse tracks typically. If I can come out of here. That would be ecstatic.” Ben Rowe Said
Ben Rowe would finish 10th in Sunday’s event.
Travis Benjmain’s father raced at Thunder Road back in the 90’s. Benjamin remembers that race being wild. When he went out for the practice sessions on Saturday, Benjamin felt that track looked tight and felt that there was going to be a lot of give and take. Benjamin would finish in the race on Sunday in 7th.
One of the things Johnny Clark learned this weekend at Thunder Road was not to let your guard down. ” I’ve heard Tom Curley say that like 5 different men have made it through turn 4 three wide. I’ve had a hard time going through there by myself. I don’t know what it’s going to be like going side by side and traffic. I’ve already tried that out a little bit and try to pass people and getting passed. Put myself in both situations to see what it was going to be like going through 4 but man that wall comes up quick. I think that’s probably where most of the action gonna come. As long as everyone just has a real good smart race. Should be one heck of a show.” Johnny Clark Said
Johnny Clark would finish 23rd in the event on Sunday.
13 year old Rapahel Lessard from St. Joesph Beauce, Quebec would run in the AIM Recycling Pro All Star Series North Super Late Model event. Lessard likes the banking and the speed at Thunder Road. Lessard likes the feeling of the Super Late Model and the power in the Super Late Model. Lessard is very excited to run at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 5th because it’s a NASCAR track. Lessard is hoping to run at New Smyrna Speedway in February 2016 during Speedweeks. Lessard’s goals for 2015 are to finish all the races and hoping to get top 10 finishes. Lessard would finish 24th in the event on Sunday.
The next event for the AIM Recycling Pro All Star Series North Super Late Models will be held on Sunday June 14th at Speedway 95. The next event for the ACT Tour Late Models will be this Saturday at Speedway 51 in Groveton, NH. Thunder Road will resume with their 2015 season on Thursday night June 11th.
Story And Photos By: Matthew Wiernasz/Yankeeracer.com