BARRE – Twenty-one street-legal cars, and a pair of golf cars, took to the high banks for the annual Run-What-U-Brung festivities on Thursday at Thunder Road. Over fifteen rounds of head-to-head matches finally whittled the field down to two; Street Stock standout Tyler Wheatley and third-generation stalwart Howard Stockwell. The tow truck driver went toe-to-toe with the windshield extraordinaire in a finale for the ages with Wheatley taking the overall and Stockwell earning the top four-cylinder honors.
photo by Alan Ward
The Street Stocks kicked off the night with their 25-lap trophy dash. Paige Whittemore and Hayden Morris took off with a spirited side-by-side battle at the head of the field until Morris took full command under the halfway, crossed flags. Behind him, rookies Wheatley and Keegan Tabor kept chase, battling each other lap after lap. In the end, Hayden Morris took down career win No. 1 in a season that started at White Mountain Motorsports Park but has paid off at Thunder Road, followed across the line by Wheatley over Tabor to round out the podium.
photo by Alan Ward
Longtime Flying Tiger veterans Mike Billado and Travis Patnoe charged side-by-side around the Barre high banks for the first half of their 40-lap feature event on Thursday. The rookies took it hard in the opening laps as Brodie Frazier met the turn one tire wall on lap-nine just before Karsen Murphy’s right front wheel left his automobile in the same corner two laps later. Billado and Patnoe continued to have the race of the night before Cam Gadue looked three wide under Billado with laps winding down, sending him sideways across the start/finish line. Remaining under green, Patnoe came under attack by Mike MacAskill with MacAskill taking the upper hand all the way to the win with Derrick Calkins sneaking in for second and Patnoe holding on for his first career podium appearance in third.
photo by Alan Ward
The Late Models went flag to flag Thursday night for a caution-free 50-lap sprint ahead of Sunday’s Labor Day Classic 200. Rookie Kyle Streeter faced off with the winningest competitor of the division, and sitting Vermont Governor, Phil Scott for the first half of the event. The first eight rows remained side-by-side throughout the first half with Streeter finally taking a solo lead with twenty laps remaining as Taylor Hoar and Bryan Wall Jr. began to bear down. Wall made his way underneath Hoar in the final ten laps but neither had anything for Kyle Streeter with Streeter taking career win number-one for both himself and the Robbie Crouch-Ashley Squier-owned team.
The Road Warriors rounded out the night with a slam-bang affair between Taylor Sayers and Mason Frazier bringing out the first caution on lap four. A sliding lap car driven by Paul Phillips Jr. took out Nick Copping and Derrick Mann to call out the second and final caution on lap 13, while the race remained in the control of Cayden Green out front. Green took down the nightcap with last week’s winner Brandon Premont and Zach Garvey rounding out the podium.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
(local competitors)
Late Models – (50 Laps)
6. 01VT, Stephen Martin, Craftsbury Common
11. 86VT, Marcel J. Gravel, Wolcott
Flying Tigers – (40 Laps)
3. 22VT, Travis Patnoe, Wolcott
6. 15NH, Brendan Moodie, Wolcott
Street Stocks – (25 Laps)
13. 32, Kylee Potter, Marshfield
18. 34, Patrick Tibbetts, Plainfield
DNS 18x, Walker Fitch, Marshfield
Road Warriors – (20 Laps)
1. 18, Cayden Green, Marshfield
