By Justin St. Louis
Correspondent
BARRE, Vt. — Lady Luck finally smiled on Brandon Lanphear on Thursday night.
The Morrisville driver had been snakebitten in the Flying Tiger division in 2019 but turned things around with a convincing win in the 40-lap Vermont Tire & Service feature.
Lanphear started 12th on the field and — like everyone else — trailed Hinesburg’s Cooper Bouchard by a large margin before the complexion of the race changed just after the halfway mark. Lanphear found himself in second place for a lap-26 restart, working the outside of Bouchard.
The duo engaged in an outstanding side-by-side fight for the top spot from that point on, but it all came apart — quite literally — when Bouchard cut a tire with six laps remaining, bouncing off of the Turn 4 “Widowmaker” wall and effectively ending his night.
The feeling might have been all too familiar for Lanphear, who suffered the same fate while leading a race earlier this season — twice.
Craftsbury rookie Stephen Martin, who has been the biggest surprise of the season and is fighting for not only the Rookie of the Year title but also the track championship, gave Lanphear plenty of company in the final laps, but settled for the runner-up finish.
Jason Pelkey and point leader Jason Woodard traded crosschecks in the final few corners with Pelkey winning the race to the finish line for third place. Joe Steffen followed Woodard in fifth. Mike Billado took sixth place ahead of Logan Powers, Mike MacAskill, Mike Martin and Sid Sweet.
The Street Stock division’s regular 25-lap feature race uncharacteristically went green-to-checkers and finished with rookies first and second. Berlin rookie Keegan Lamson led from start to finish but was never more than two car lengths ahead of fellow freshman Tanner Woodard.
The pair started on the outside lane in the first two rows and broke out from the pack early, running nose-to-tail with a large advantage. Kasey Beattie chased them down in the final five laps and made a move on Woodard in the final corner, but settled for third place.
J.T. Blanchard finished fourth with Hunter King fifth. Pole-sitter Royce Lussier dropped to sixth at the finish, followed by Derek Farnham, Bryan Wall, Jamie Davis and Tommy Smith.
With the win, Lamson was immediately disqualified from being allowed to run the annual Marvin Johnson Memorial event. Lamson didn’t mind, either: The memorial race is only for drivers who have previously won a feature event.
Popular Pittsfield racer Juan “Paco” Marshall celebrated his first-ever victory in the 19-lap race. Bryan Wall Jr. was second and Kasey Collins, J.T. Blanchard and Tommy Campbell rounded out the top five.
The 50-lap Late Model feature and the 20-lap Road Warrior race were still to run as of press time.
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