American-Canadian Tour Community Bank NA 150 Victory Lane (LR) Marcel Gravel (3rd), winner Jason Corliss, Jimmy Hebert (2nd). (Alan Ward photo)
BARRE, Vt. – As if Saturday night’s fight between Derek Griffith, DJ Shaw and Evan Hallstrom wasn’t enough, the 25th Community Bank NA 150 was blown up as the bookend of the 64th season opening weekend for Thunder Road.
Hometown racer Jason Corliss was able to overcome mechanical issues and tie on Nick Sweet as a four-time American-Canadian Tour Community Bank 150 winner as the Thunder Road weekly divisions kicked off their season.
The crowd of weekly Maplewood/Irving Late Models racers taking on the traveling teams of the American-Canadian Tour made their presence felt with every full-time Late Models rider from last year who attended the event and signed up for the Main event qualified.
Former Flying Tiger winner Bryan Wall Jr. strode through the field of 30 cars to join former Flying Tiger track champion Jimmy Hebert to start the 150 lap event. Wall, Hebert and former King of the Road Bobby Therrien drove the doors off their rigs at the head of the field.
On the front row at Thunder Road, Hebert and Therrien took heat from Cody Blake and defending King of the Road Christopher Pelkey all over their rear bumper.
Tough and tumultuous racing would ensue, but it was a hometown rider at the forefront of the touring stars. With a completely slipped power steering pump and a flat tire that forced him to drive through the field twice, former three-peat track champion Corliss bested Cody Blake on the last restart to take his fourth Community Bank 150, which equals Sweet’s four-time win -record.
Hebert held onto second place while an attacking Marcel Gravel finished third.
rk Miles Street Shares
The rk Miles Street Stocks continued to impress early in the season with 34 cars flooding the pit area to continue their 2022 season average of over 30 cars per event.
Fan favorite Juan ‘Paco’ Marshall led the opening laps from pole but it was former winner James Dopp who had the advantage. Slowed only by a yellow phase, second contender Cam Powers used the restart to track down Dopp and Tyler Whittemore also used the slow to jump up.
In the end, James Dopp would take the Street Stock win, followed by Powers and Whittemore to round out the podium.
The Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers started their thirty-first year strong to put on a show for the swollen opening-day crowd. After two rounds of qualifying, Kyle Streeter and Phil Potvin led the field to start the season as a duo.
In a related story, the Flying Tigers put on a barn burner, with Streeter and third-place starter Jason Pelkey calling the shots for much of the race. The two ran nose to tail in and around the lapped traffic before defending Tigers champion Sam Caron got into the mix.
With five laps to go, Caron moved into second place and was aiming for the lead. Streeter edged closer to the start/finish line with each pass, taking the win and the Community Bank bonus just ahead of Caron while Powers pushed into third place.
Burnett Scrap Metal Road Warriors
The Burnett Scrap Metal Road Warriors may have wrapped up the afternoon’s celebrations, but it was far from quiet.
‘Flyin’ Fred Fleury led the field on green as a collection of fan favorites and new faces dotted the novice four-cylinder division.
Lap traffic became a factor early on, but it wasn’t enough to slow Fleury. He weaved in and out of round cars while defending Mini Milk Bowl winner Taylor Sayers chased him through traffic.
In the end it was too little too late as Fleury took his first win of the season followed by Taylor Sayers and Auto Show winner Ben Bushey rounding out the podium.
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