BARRE, Vt. – Jason Woodard put the power down late in the going to take the win in the Myers Container Service Triple Crown opener on Capitol City Auto Mart Night Friday at Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl.
Woodard took the lead from polesitter Tyler Austin on lap 47 of the 75-lap event and never let up en route to his seventh Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tiger win.
Austin set the early pace as the field found its rhythm after a pair of quick caution. After Austin had pulled ahead, Woodard’s daughter Kelsea slowly reeled him in. Kelsea Woodard went to the outside of Austin on lap 23 and led several circuits, but Austin had the top spot back when Brandon Lanphear came to a halt with a bad wheel bearing to bring out the caution on lap 27.
Jason Woodard and Jaden Perry had worked their way up to third and fourth by this time, and the front quartet maintained those positions through another yellow on lap 39 for Colin Cornell’s spin. When Perry began putting the pressure on after the restart, Jason Woodard decided it was time to go. He got around Kelsea Woodard on the outside on lap 45 and pulled in front of Austin two laps later.
Perry got underneath Austin for second after one final caution on lap 67 when Cameron Ouellette and Joe Steffen spun fighting for the sixth position. But while Perry was able to maintain pace in the final circuits, he couldn’t make a run as Woodard roared to the win.
Kelsea Woodard ended up third after a hard scramble in the final laps, giving the Woodard family a bookend of the podium. Kevin Streeter made a late run for fourth while Austin ended up fifth.
Kyle Pembroke took the long way to victory in the 50-lap feature for the Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Models. Pembroke started seventh and steadily worked his way to the front on the outside, eventually getting around early leader Tyler Cahoon on the 23rd circuit.
However, a lap-34 caution for a hard turn-one wreck involving Scott Dragon, Marcel J. Gravel, and Mason Mitchell put Barre’s Cody Blake to Pembroke’s outside. When the caution came out again seven laps later for Cahoon’s stalled machine, Pembroke went to the top line – but Jason Corliss was now sitting in third looking for his fifth straight win.
After running side-by-side with Corliss for several laps, Pembroke found the bite in the high groove that he had earlier in the event, taking the lead back from Blake with three laps to go and beating him by a nose in a shootout to the finish.
Blake came in second while Corliss’s winning streak came to an end in third.
Dean Switser Jr. found a tonic for some tough early-season luck by winning the 25-lap Allen Lumber Street Stock feature. Switser got the jump on the opening circuit from polesitter Tom Campbell, but found himself under attack from Jeffrey Martin and Tommy Smith throughout the second half of the caution-filled event. While both drivers had cracks at Switser following restarts, the veteran held them both off for the win.
Martin finished second while Smith recovered from a scare on the final restart to grab the third-place trophy.
Eric Chase earned a hard-fought first career Burnett Scrap Metals Road Warrior win in their 20-lap feature. Chase quickly got to the lead on the third lap, but faced serious pressure from Brian Putney following a pair of late restarts. While Putney laid a couple love taps on Chase, Chase was able to keep the car straight and take the victory.
Williamstown’s Sean McCarthy completed the podium in third.