N. Woodstock, N.H. – The final Saturday night program of the 2024 season at White Mountain Motorsports Park started with the King of the Kids special for the Kid’s Division. Once again split into two 15-lap feature events with the large number of teams in the pit area, feature one saw Khloe Goodbout lead the troops from the onset with only one caution slowing her pace. The young native of Lincoln led all fifteen laps with renewed confidence en-route to her first-ever win in round one of the King of the Kids program with Chloe Doyle and Cooper Benoit rounding out the podium. Round two was lightning fast, flag-to-flag with Jackson Hunt holding off all comers to take his second win of the season followed by Hayden Bushey and Colby Stygles across the line.
The first of Saturday’s championship-crowning events brought the Dwarf Cars on track for their 20-lap main event. Point leader Andy Hill quickly took over the lead from top rookie Mitchell O’Brien with all eyes on the battle for third. Chad Dufour and Jeff Ainsworth swapped the third-place position seven times in their five-minute showdown with a last-lap, by-inches pass giving Dufour the podium third-place finish behind Jason Wyman in second and Hill’s win officially securing his 2024 track championship.
While Brandon Gray already clinched the Flying Tiger championship last Saturday, he still had the goal of winning every event on the calendar to finish out the season. Starting just outside the top-10 in the expanded field, Gray methodically worked his way to the front, stalling out several times in side-by-side traffic as Nate Hamblett and Brandon Lambert showed the way early. Gray, with a rear-view mirror full of invader Brendan Moodie, nabbed the lead on lap 19 just before the field slowed for the Austin Sicard’s spin in turn four on lap 21. Two more quick spin cautions gave Moodie, Luke Peters and Matt Potter the opportunity but Gray prevailed to win all fourteen Flying Tiger events at White Mountain this season and cap his title run. Moodie took home second place with Mike Clark coming home third.
The Strictly Stock Minis were next on the field with championship hopefuls Todd Derrington and Patrick Switser tied at the top of the chart following incredible qualifying competition. Their chief rival Jacob Roy would be taken out of contention with a hard lick against the turn two wall, leaving it to a two-car race in a fifteen car field. Switser took the advantage out front, claiming the lead on lap 13 while Derrington struggled to push his Cavalier through dense mid-pack traffic. Switser maintained the lead to the very end, taking his third win of the season and the track championship with Donnie Baumgardner and Tyler Thompson joining him on the victory lane podium.
Similarly tight, Nick Miller gained a two point advantage over Nick Anderson in qualifying for the Mini Late Models with one final 40-lap feature event set to close their title chase. Outside pole sitter Jim Paquette almost took out the field with a first-lap spin, broadside in front of the field with Miller taking heavy right-side damage in the melee. Soldiering on, both Miller and Anderson marched in step through the field as Garrett Labounty launched ahead of the pack and stretched his lead away from the championship hot-shoes. In the final lap, with a year’s worth of effort on the line, both Miller and Anderson started making contact along the back straightaway and through the grass before returning to turns three and four, fighting for inches as Garrett Labounty took down the win ahead of them.
Nick Anderson’s second place finish placed him in a dead-heat tie with Nick Miller at 426 points each. Officials then moved to the tiebreakers based on year-long finishes in each of the Mini Late Model events at White Mountain in 2024. Both had two wins and both had one second-place finish, cancelling out the first two tiebreakers. By virtue of his third-place finish, Nick Miller earned two third-place finishes in 2024 compared to Nick Anderson’s lone third one week ago, breaking the points tie and giving Miller the 2024 Mini Late Model championship.
The Late Models rounded out Championship Night at White Mountain with rookie hopeful Thomas Smithers VI and Oren Remick leading the charge under the green flag. Mechanical woes ended a great season for Mike Jurkowski during pace laps while Remick took charge early. The lone caution for Jaden Perry’s backstretch spin on lap 9 reset the field for the last charge of the season. Motoring his way up from an eleventh-place starting spot, defending track champion Kasey Beattie took the lead from Tyler Cahoon on lap 21 with Tanner Woodard following the former champ in hot pursuit. All seemed well for Woodard’s title hopes as Quinny Welch’s early speed fizzled into a holding pattern back in fourth.
Kasey Beattie took the championship night victory as Tanner Woodard claimed his King of the Mountain Late Model track championship with a second-place run. Woodard joins Barrington, N.H.’s Fulton Mountain as the only drivers to claim a track championship in White Mountain’s two top-tiered divisions and White Mountain’s seventeenth different King of the Mountain in thirty-two seasons. With a third place finish, Thomas Smithers VI capped off the season with a podium spot and the 2024 Rookie of the Year title for the former Kid’s Division phenom.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (local competitors)
Late Models – (50 Laps)
2024 King of the Mountain
Track Champion: Tanner Woodard
15. 92VT, Jaden Perry, Hardwick, Vt.
Flying Tigers – (35 Laps)
2. 15NH, Brendan Moodie, Wolcott, Vt.
5. 23VT, Matt Potter, Marshfield, Vt,
9. 92VT, Jaden Perry, Hardwick, Vt.
14. 77VT, Ryan Field, Wolcott, Vt.
16. 22VT, Travis Patnoe, Wolcott, Vt.
King of the Kids Round No. 1 –
6. 23, Madison Potter, Marshfield, Vt.
