BARRE – Mother Nature may have said her peace on Thursday but she brought a beauty of a day for Friday making the program one of the best in recent memory at Thunder Road.
photo by Alan Ward
While Patrick Tibbetts and Nate Brien were putting on a clinic at the head of the Street Stock feature, the middle of the pack kept things more than interesting for the fans in the stands and those watching at home. With the field straightening out by the halfway point, young Riley Morris began to make his presence known up front as he swooped in to fight for third against Brien. Time ran out with Tibbetts earning the win after a rough and tumble season followed across the line by Nate Brien and rookie Zachary Garvey rounding out the top three in his first podium appearance.
photo by Alan Ward
Barre’s Jason Corliss earned the pole position with a plus-3 to Brooks Clark’s plus-2 with the two veterans leading the Late Models to green. A pair of slam-bang affairs agitated the early goings with Kyle Streeter taking severe damage to the rear of his car while Scott Dragon was left with no-place to go and sent hard into the turn two wall. It was a green-flag affair with Bobby Therrien left only to watch from ten car lengths back as Jason Corliss dominated and found himself atop the record books, surpassing Phil Scott as the winningst Late Model driver in the history of the Nation’s Site of Excitement. Therrien would come home second with Christopher Pelkey holding on for third a straightaway behind.
Like Corliss, Flying Tiger point-leader, Brendan Moodie, earned the pole starting position in plus-minus qualifying alongside Chris Laforest to lead the field to green. Moodie, LaForest and double feature winner Cooper French led the train of Tigers around the Barre highbanks as the field settled in for their 100-lap distance. Both Moodie and French held a straightaway lead through lap traffic before the lap 66 caution for the spinning Kasey Collins in turn three.
Moodie used the veteran move to power off with the restart but French held tough, keeping it side-by-side out front before deciding to follow off his rear-bumper for a spell. Back to side-by-side racing, French nabbed the lead on lap 83 and try as he might, a sideways move for the lead in turn one sealed the fate of the race. Cooper French put the power down to take the $2,000 check over Brendan Moodie and Jason Woodard at the line.
The Road Warriors rounded out Friday’s racing card for one of the most memberable showdowns of the evening. While Nick Copping ran away with an early lead, Mike Slingerland and “Fast Eddie” Thompson waged battle for second. The two swapped lanes and paint all the way to the end, even as Copping slid back into a five car battle under the checkered flags with Ben Bushey and lap car Sierra Wilds. Thompson earned the win over Slingerland with Bushey’s third-place charge disqualified for a suspension infraction in post-race inspection giving Copping the third-place trophy.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
(local competitors)
Flying Tigers – 2nd annual Tiger $2K (100 Laps)
2. 94VT, Brendan Moodie, Wolcott
27. 22VT, Travis Patnoe, Wolcott
Late Models – (100 Laps)
5. 86VT, Marcel J. Gravel, Wolcott
13. 01VT, Stephen Martin, Craftsbury Common
Street Stocks – (30 Laps)
1. 34VT, Patrick Tibbetts, Plainfield
4. 18VT, Walker Fitch, Marshfield
Road Warriors – (20 Laps)
11. 18, Cayden Green, Marshfield
