BARRE – Saturday saw the Thunder Road family of race teams come together one final time to celebrate the 2025 season at the annual Banquet of Champions. The Banquet returned to the famed Barre Auditorium after decades away, much to the delight of most attendees. Catering was courtesy of Jockey Hollow, with Good Measure Brewing providing bartending services for the evening’s festivities.
photo by Alan Ward
Along with the top 10 drivers in the rk Miles Street Stocks, including champion Kyler Davis, ‘Flyin’ Fred Fleury was awarded the annual Ed Carroll Memorial Sportsmanship Award for the division while Hayden Bushey accepted his Rookie of the Year honors. Bushey would later return to the stage as the 2025 recipient of the Gordon ‘Doc’ Nielsen Memorial Award for Outstanding Rookie in his dominant performance as a freshman racer on the highbanks. Defending champion Dean Switser Jr. accepted his Vermont Agency of Transportation Triple Crown, joined by top-three chasers Kyle MacAskill and Kylee Potter.
Sam Caron led the Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tiger top-ten teamsters while Cameron Ouellette earned the division’s Sportsmanship Award. Jason Woodard was on hand to accept ACT Tri-State Flying Tiger Series championship accolades alongside top-three runners Caron and Mike Martin while Milton’s Robert Gordon accepted his Myers Container Service Triple Crown championship trophy with fellow top runners Ouellette and Brendan Moodie.
After Justin Prescott was surprised to earn Thunder Road’s Most Improved Driver Award, Tanner Woodard was just as stunned to be called up for the Late Model division’s Sportsmanship Award.
photo by Alan Ward
The Maplefields/Irving Late Models were well represented beginning with Brandon Gray’s acceptance of his hard-earned Rookie of the Year honors, followed by the top-ten in points. Jason Corliss was happy to return to the Barre Auditorium to collect his fourth King of the Road championship, several years removed from high school state basketball games the champ once played at the hallowed institution.
For the first time, two winners earned the Pete Hartt Memorial Media Award in Connecticut duo Connor Sullivan and Stephen McLaughlin. The pair are the leaders of the weekly FloRacing broadcasts from Thunder Road since 2022 and have grown their roles to now include the North East Short Track Network (NESTN) with exciting additions coming to the Network in 2026 and beyond.
While unable to attend with family commitments, Barre’s Mike Foster earned the annual Ken Squier Award for contributions to the Nation’s Site of Excitement. Named in honor of Thunder Road’s iconic founder, Foster was named the 2025 recipient after years of hard work as Pat Malone’s right-hand man and on-site manager of the many upgrades to Thunder Road these past several seasons.
photo by Alan Ward
Rounding out the evening’s celebrations came the annual Tom Curley Memorial Award for outstanding contributions to the ACT franchise, including Thunder Road and beyond. Nick Sweet was awarded the annual recognition, named in honor of the legendary New England promoter, for his many contributions to Thunder Road including a career of climbing Curley’s famed ‘Ladder System’ of divisions to rise as a multi-time King of the Road and eventual Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour champion. Along with his top driving honors, Sweet’s roles as crew chief, car builder and business owner continue to grow his commitment to the sport, especially at his Thunder Road homebase.
The Banquet of Champions is the official wrap on the 2025 season at Thunder Road International Speedbowl.
Officials expect to release the 2026 Schedule of Events and updated rulebooks in the coming days. Keep tabs on all the winter happenings online at thunderroadvt.com or on social media as new partnerships, drivers and programs are announced for the upcoming season.
For more information, contact the Thunder Road offices at (802) 244-6963, [email protected]. Follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @ThunderRoadVT.
