BARRE, Vt. — Mike Martin came out on top of the duel of the season to win round two of the Myers Container Service Triple Crown Series at Cody Chevrolet-Cadillac Night on Thursday at Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl.
Martin went wheel-to-wheel alongside Colchester’s Sam Caron for nearly 20 laps down the stretch before edging him out by a mere .031 seconds as part of a five-car pack rushing to the finish line.
Martin started eighth in the 75-lap feature for the Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers while Caron took the initial green flag in fourth. Caron needed just three laps to slash his way to the front, roaring around Morrisville’s Brandon Lanphear for the top spot. As Caron steadily built a straightaway lead, Martin used a combination of finesse and well-timed aggression to work his way to the runner-up spot.
The 2017 Triple Crown Champion than put a target on Caron’s back, and with the help of some lapped traffic, Martin had caught the leader when the first caution came out on lap 44 for Micheal MacAskill’s spin. When the field went back under the green, Martin got the jump on the outside.
The yellow was back out one lap later, though, when Martin’s son Stephen went through the infield and came to a stop in turn three. Once again, the high line was the place to be on the restart as Caron went back to the point. The veteran paced the field for the next 12 circuits as Martin, Jason Woodard, Lanphear, Rich Lowery, and others duked it out behind him.
A third and final yellow flag flew on lap 57 when Danny Doyle spun out the top-10 and subsequently went up in smoke on the front chute. The 18 heart-stopping laps that followed were some of the hardest-fought, most impressively-driven laps on the high banks in recent memory. Time after time, Caron would put the nose up in the center of the corners, only for Martin to get the drive off turns two and four to maintain the advantage. Ten other cars were staring them down the barrel, making it anybody’s race for the Triple Crown victory.
As the laps wound down, Martin, Caron, Woodard, Lanphear, and Logan Powers broke away from the rest of the pack. Even as they did, the quintet continued to go door-do-door and bumper-to-bumper around the high banks while barely laying a tire mark on each other. As the field entered turn four for the last time, Caron put a full fender out front on the inside. Martin got just enough bite off the final corner, though, and beat Caron to the checkered flag by just a few inches for his 11th career win.
Caron finished a bittersweet second with season-long point leader Woodard completing the podium. Lanphear unofficially maintained the Triple Crown point lead with a fourth-place finish while Powers took fifth. Polesitter Cooper Bouchard, Lowrey, Derrick Calkins, Stephen Martin, and Kelsea Woodard completed the top-10. Thirty-three cars attempted to qualify with 28 starting the main event.
Tyler Cahoon went wire-to-wire for his first win of the season and the fourth of his career in the Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Models. After rebuilding his vehicle following a hard wreck a week ago, Cahoon started on the pole of the 50-lap feature. He easily outgunned Barre’s Jim Morris at the drop of the green and never let up from there.
Kyle Pembroke eventually got around Morris as well and tried to set his sights on Cahoon. But while action heated up late for the third spot, Cahoon was long gone, cruising to a straightway win in the caution-free race.
Pembroke took second while Bobby Therrien drove around Wolcott’s Brendan Moodie with two laps to go for third spot. Barre’s Jason Corliss then nipped Moodie by a radiator cap for fourth to gain ground in the championship chase. Cody Blake, Morris, Marcel J. Gravel, Scott Dragon, and Eric Chase finished sixth through 10th.
Brandon Gray did his best to match the Flying Tiger thrills by using a last-lap pass to snare his second win of the season in the Allen Lumber Street Stocks. The point leader started 16th for the 25-lap feature and steadily carved his way through the field. However, with four laps to go, he seemed stuck in the box in fourth behind Kyler Davis and Juan Marshall as polesitter Justin Blakely of Barre showed the way.
But Gray stuck it out, and as Marshall drifted back a bit, the No. 00 machine found a hole to get to the outside. He dispatched of Davis with two to go then pulled alongside Blakely as they entered turn one on the final circuit. Blakely had the shorter route around the track, but Gray kept his car wound up on the outside groove and snatched the victory away in his signature performance of the season to date.
Blakely wound up second with Davis in third. Tanner Woodard, Marshall, Kaiden Fisher, Jamie Davis, Tim Hunt, Kyle MacAskill and Josh Lovely rounded out the top-10.