BARRE, Vt. — The Pro All Stars Series (PASS) invaded Thunder Road International Speedbowl on Saturday night, opening the 64th season of stock car racing at the Vermont race track.
The PASS Super Late Models once again stirred the bowl at Thunder Road, along with the PASS Modifieds and R&R Race Parts Open Street Stock Series for a thrilling tripleheader.
The modifieds brought Thunder Road to life in more ways than one.
Young Evan Roy became the first victim of the Widowmaker frontstretch wall in his heat race, meeting Thunder Road for the first time behind a tow truck. Come feature time, Brandon Varney showcased himself as class of the field, leading his fellow modifieds the whole way through. But it wasn’t a run-away by any means.
Spencer Morse and Spencer Vaughn were all over his rear bumper from green to checkers. Varney took down his first Thunder Road win in a very excited victory lane, followed by former Thunder Road winner Morse and Vaughn rounding out the podium.
After several weeks of rainouts for the Maine-based super late model series, the PASS North and National Series troupe were finally able to continue their season. By taking the two heat race wins, Gabe Brown and Derek Griffith led the field to green, with Griffith quickly taking control.
The Hudson, N.H., native maintained his leading position all while Brown, D.J. Shaw and Evan Hallstrom put on the pressure from behind. A late race spin by Dennis Spencer brought Hallstrom to battle with Griffith as the former Thunder Road weekly racer went toe-to-toe with the nationally recognized hot-shoe.
Through multiple caution periods, the battle between Griffith and Hallstrom continued to heat and cool as the two switched positions on the restart constantly — one not quite getting the edge over the other.
On the final restart with just over 10 laps remaining, Griffith showed his veteran capabilities and charged away from Hallstrom to claim the PASS Super Late Model 150 and his second-career Thunder Road victory. D.J. Shaw fought the good fight all race long to come home second followed by Hallstrom who took down a third-place finish in Pro All Stars Series competition.
The R&R Race Parts Open Street Stock Series returned to Thunder Road to assist the PASS pros on lid-lifter Saturday.
Twenty-two V-8 Street Stocks from across New England converged on Thunder Road as they were led to green by longtime twin state racer Chris Riendeau and defending Stafford Speedway champion Adam Gray. Riendeau took the jump, but was quickly chased down by defending Thunder Road champion Sam Caron before Kris Watson and Brian Caswell tangled on the front stretch.
The battles up front continued to grow physical between Riendeau, Caron and Jason Woodard, concluding on laps 58 and 59 as the Thunder Road regulars came to blows with the invader. After muscling his way around, Sam Caron went on a tear through the final 15 circuits to take the R&R Race Parts Open Street Stock 75.
Chris Riendeau came home second, followed by Woodard for third.