BARRE, Vt. – Sophomore driver Cooper Bouchard set the pace for the entirety of the late model event at Thunder Road International Speedbowl on Friday.
Once polesitter Scott Coburn faltered on the outside from the onset, Bouchard led flag-to-flag in the 11-minute and 59-second event. Behind Bouchard, Marcel Gravel and Brandon Lanphear battled hard to get around Chip Grenier and completed the podium.
Earlier in the evening, the Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Models saw polesitter Scott Coburn once again led the early war but was overtaken by Memorial Day Classic winner Stephen Donahue on lap 15.
Donahue continued to dominate through a lap-22 scramble in turn four between the No. 94VT of Brendan Moodie and the No. 0VT of Scott Dragon that took out contenders Brooks Clark and Bobby Therrien. Donahue started the night on a high note, taking the win over Chris Roberts and Dragon.
The $1,000-to-Win R&R Race Parts Open Street Stock Series 75 morphed into twin-30-lap segments that were both handily won by Tanner Woodard over the invading competition from Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
The Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers was yet another week of exciting side-by-side racing at the front of the pack. Through to the near end, longtime racer Rich Lowrey battled hard against up-and-coming rookie Kaiden Fisher. For 40-laps these two opposite ends of the racing career spectrum battled hard but a late-race over-drive by Fisher allowed Lowery to fully gain the lead and took them both under the checkered flags.
The RK Miles Street Stocks took down another blistering event in 2022. Following a lap 6 dust-up leaving Thomas Peck in the pits and Justin ‘El Chopo’ Blakely starting from the tail end on the restart, the event was relatively smooth. Using some advice from his former racer Father and Late Model Ace Brother, Kyle Gravel took down his first Street Stock win followed by Scott Weston and Luke Peters.
The 8th annual Marvin Johnson Memorial First-Time Winners Race for the Street Stocks followed and was full of drama. With less than five laps to go, race leader Jesse Laquerre tangled with second place runner Trevor Jaques in turn one, also involving third-place pilot Taylor Hoar. Hoar recovered after Laquerre and Jaques ended their run early but was ultimately passed by Zach Audet for the win.