BARRE, Vt. — Jamie York picked the best time to get his first Thunder Road victory in the annual Road Warrior Challenge at NorthCountry Federal Credit Union Night on Sunday.
York dominated the 50-lap special for the Burnett Scrap Metals Road Warriors as part of a special Sunday twilight show.
York started third in the season’s biggest event for the Thunder Road entry level division. After Neal Foster led the first three circuits, York went to the high side and rolled past Foster for the lead. Fred Fleury followed him around, with the two of them walking away until the halfway break at lap 25. That allowed Sean McCarthy, Dan Garrett Jr., Josh Vilbrin, and others to close on the leaders while also getting a quick intermission to catch their breath.
Calamity struck on the restart with Jason Kirby and Rodney Campbell taking a hard hit in turn two. Once the field got back underway, York continued to assert his dominance. McCarthy got around Fleury but was unable to run down the leader. Vilbrin then came alive, slinging past Fleury and McCarthy for second with laps winding down.
The big dogs got one more chance at York when Foster and Cole Badger tangled right in front of the leader with five laps to go. York took evasive action, then held serve again on the restart before blowing a gasket in his engine while celebrating the victory.
Vilbrin took second while McCarthy held off a late bid by Garrett for third. Nate Brien, Fleury, Chris Couture, Foster, Zach Audet, and Matt Ballard completed the top-10.
Cooper Bouchard pulled one of the year’s biggest upsets by winning the Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Model feature. The rookie started outside Chris Roberts on the front row and was able clear him for the lead seven laps into the 50-lap feature. Phil Scott was right on his bumper, and after the two put some distance on the field, Scott went to work on the high side.
They spent the next 10 laps side-by-side before Scott, the winningest driver in Late Model history, appeared to put the lead away at the halfway mark. Bouchard wasn’t done, though, and as Scott’s car started to tighten up, Bouchard stepped through the open door on the inside. All the while, the battle had allowed Chip Grenier and Scott Dragon to make it a four-car shootout.
Bouchard got the lead back with 16 laps to go as Grenier tried to get below Scott. Back-to-back cautions on laps 44 and 45, for Stephen Donahue and then Brendan Moodie looping it off turn two, gave the pack a break from the torrid pace. Both times, Bouchard got away from Scott, and it was the rookie — who had only one top-10 finish all season to start the night — bringing home the win.
Grenier floated underneath Scott at the finish line for second. Dragon, Marcel J. Gravel, Jason Corliss, Kyle Pembroke, Tyler Cahoon, Christopher Pelkey, and Trampas Demers rounded out the top-10. Unofficially, Pelkey’s point lead over Corliss shrunk to 10 points with four weekly events remaining.
Brandon Gray made it three first-time winners on the night by capturing the 40-lap Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tiger feature. Gray ran down polesitter Michael MacAskill and Colin Cornell with 12 laps down. After putting a crossover move on Cornell for second just before halfway, Gray went to the outside line and grabbed the lead as he completed lap 24.
Gray then ran away from the herd as Jason Pelkey, Justin Prescott, Sam Caron, and Michael Martin joined the battle for second. After a little wiggling and bumping — which included Cornell making a miraculous sliding save through the turn-four grass — Pelkey secured the second spot. The Barre racer was starting to gain on Gray as the laps wound down, but he didn’t have enough time catch the winner in a caution-free feature.
Caron charged from 11th to finish third while point leader Mike Martin came from 16th to take fourth. Prescott beat MacAskill by a whisker for fifth. Tanner Woodard, Stephen Martin, Logan Powers, and Cornell chased them to the checkered flag.
Kyle MacAskill picked up his second career RK Miles Street Stock victory in an eventful 25-lap feature. MacAskill was up to the number two position when the second yellow flew on lap 12 after Taylor Hoar, Luke Peters, and point leader Tommy “Thunder” Smith were part of a multi-car melee in turn three.
The restart brought a double dose of drama. First, Jared Rouleau lost it in turn four and clipped the right rear of Todd Raymo, sending Raymo driver’s side first into the front stretch wall. A red flag came out for Raymo, who was able to climb out of his vehicle. Then when the field went under yellow, polesitter Haidyn Pearce was forced to pit out of the lead after developing vapor lock in his fuel cell.
That handed the lead to MacAskill with Tommy Campbell, Patrick Tibbetts, Jamie Davis, and Josh Lovely breathing down his neck. Williamstown’s Lovely made his way to second and got a chance at MacAskill with a green-white-checkered finish after Trevor Jaques broke a right-rear hub. MacAskill had enough on the inside and beat Lovely by half a car length for the victory.
Tibbetts completed the podium in third. Davis, Campbell, Dragon, Jeffrey Martin, Chris Davis, Scott Weston, and Dean Switser Jr. finished fourth through 10th.