Donahue Takes 75-lap Feature at Midseason Championship on Thunder Road

Eagle Times Staff
Barre, VT — It was a hot night in the stands and on the track Thursday atop Quarry Hill in Barre, Vt.

All four divisions battled it out to join the win list and take home the FloRacing double purse. Several drivers made their mark on Thunder Road’s Times Argus Midseason Championships for the first time.

The rk Miles Street Stocks started off the evening with longtime stalwarts Mike Gay and Scott Weston leading the charge into turn four. Milton’s Trevor Jaques would take the lead quickly leaving William Henniquin to duke it out with South Hero’s Taylor Hoar. Hoar would make quick work, setting her sights on Jaques as the two would get physical beside each other crossing the line on lap 20. Henniquin went for the spin cycle in turn one to bring out the first caution on lap 21 leaving the two youngsters to face-off at the front of the pack.

Jaques would go backwards on the outside, leaving Josh Lovely to start battling with Hoar just before the second and final caution would come on lap 30 for the dislodged exhaust off the Paul Rocheleau ride. The caution set up a final five lap shootout, with Hoar and Lovely battling side-by-side on each and every lap. Lovely would take the final lab by just 0.010-seconds. It was Lovely’s fourth career Times Argus Midseason Championship, Taylor Hoar would take a birthday runner-up finish with former champion Jamie Davis taking third.

The Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers followed with a flag-to-flag race. Top rookie Tyler Pepin and Williamstown’s Matt Ballard led the early goings, side-by-side for the first 15 laps. After firmly taking the lead, Milton’s Adam Maynard jumped in for some fun, peeking under the #33VT by lap 22. A last ditch move in turn one saw Maynard squeeze between the lapped car of Luke Peters and Ballard to eke out the lead by the end of turn two. While Maynard enjoyed his day in the sun out front, the point leaders were having a wild time in the back of the pack as laps dwindled. Adam Maynard would ride it out under the checkered flag for his first Times Argus Midseason Championship victory followed by Matt Ballard’s first podium finish in second and Kyle Streeter rounding out the podium.

The Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Models took to the track following the annual Autograph Night session with rookie Cody Schoolcraft and Cooper Bouchard heading the field. With the top 18 drivers in line behind them, Bouchard would begin to slip back on the outside allowing Justin Prescott, Nick Sweet and Brandon Lanphear to move up. The first caution would slow the field on lap 11 with Scott Coburn slipping around in turn one. Now a rookie front row with Prescott outside Schoolcraft under the return to green, Prescott would get a run on the bottom as Sweet followed through.

Schoolcraft spun out of the top three on lap 18 and called out the second caution leaving Sweet, Prescott and Marcel Gravel to make the moves out front. Sweet would steal the lead away, closely stalked by Gravel as Stephen Donahue and defending Midseason Champion Chris Pelkey put the outside groove to good use in the back of the pack. With Sweet and Gravel show stayed out front until a caution flag on lap 43 slowed the field as Kyle Pembroke’s busted rear end spilled grease across the racing surface. In the melee, point leader Tyler Cahoon broke a sway bar mount which ended his Midseason Championship run.

Gravel and Sweet would take off with the restart as Lanphear, Donahue and Pelkey trailed not far off their rear bumpers. The final caution flag would wave on lap 57 with a spinning Cody into the turn one grass as Brandon Lanphear spun ahead of him. Sweet and Gravel dueled it out one last time under the final return to green but it was Donahue and Dragon breathing down their necks from behind that put on the show. On lap 68, Donahue would jump to the outside of Sweet and took the lead with five laps remaining right down to the end. Stephen Donahue took down his first Midseason Championship followed by Nick Sweet and Scott Dragon to round out victory lane.

The Burnett Scrap Metals Road Warriors wrapped up the program with their 25-lap blitzer. First year duo Anderson Boyd and Karsen Murphy led the field to green while Brodie Frazier moveed under the pair to steal the lead on the backstretch on lap one. Frazier sped away from the crowd with fellow first-year driver David Wilder in tow. Just after the halfway point, early leader Boyd would plow into the backstretch wall with newcomer Corey Martin to call out the only caution. Frazier and Wilder duked it out at the front over the last 9 laps but it was Ben Bushey who flew in at the last minute to come under Frazier for his first ever Road Warrior win. Brodie Frazier would make it two podiums in a row with David Wilder taking his first to round out the top-three.

Up next is the 44th Vermont Governor’s Cup 150 presented on Thursday, July 13.

For more information, call 802-244-6963 or visit www.thunderroadvt.com.

Results Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Models (75 Laps)Stephen Donahue of Graniteville, VT

Nick Sweet of Williamstown, VT

Scott Dragon of Milton, VT

Marcel J. Gravel of Wolcott, VT

Kaiden Fisher of Shelburne, VT

Chris Pelkey of Graniteville, VT

Cody Blake of Barre, VT

Darrell Morin of Westford, VT

Brendan Moodie of Wolcott, VT

Stephen Martin of Craftsbury Common, VT

Chip Grenier of Orange, VT

Brandon Lanphear of Morrisville, VT

Phil Scott of Berlin, VT

Justin Prescott of of Milton, VT

Chris Roberts of Washington, VT

Cooper Bouchard of Hinesburg, VT

Cody Schoolcraft of Claremont, NH

Blair Bessett of Barnet, VT

Derrick O’Donnell of N. Haverhill, NH

Tyler Cahoon of Danville, VT

Kyle Pembroke of Montpelier, VT

Scott Coburn of Barre, VT

Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers (50 Laps)

Adam Maynard of Milton, VT

Matt Ballard of Williamstown, VT

Kyle Streeter of Waterbury Ctr., VT

Sam Caron of Milton, VT

Brandon Gray of E. Thetford, VT

Jason Woodard of Waterbury Ctr., VT

Michael MacAskill of Williamstown, VT

Chris Laforest of Barre, VT

Cooper French of Northfield, VT

Jason Pelkey of Barre, VT

Kevin Streeter of Waitsfield, VT

Rich Lowrey of South Hero, VT

Robert Gordon of Milton, VT

Colin Cornell of E. Burke, VT

Cameron Ouellette of Barre, VT

Phil Potvin of Underhill, VT

Mike Billado of Grand Isle, VT

Cam Gadue of Highgate, VT

Tyler Pepin of Barre, VT

Luke Peters of Groton, VT

Logan Powers of Middlesex, VT

Zach Audet of Morrisville, VT

rk Miles Street Stocks (35 Laps)

Josh Lovely of Williamstown, VT

Taylor Hoar of South Hero, VT

Jamie Davis of Johnson, VT

Dean Switser Jr. of Waterford, VT

Trevor Jaques of Milton, VT

Kyle MacAskill of Williamstown, VT

Ryan Foster of Waterbury, VT

Cameron Powers of E. Montpelier, VT

James Dopp of Northfield, VT

Jesse Laquerre of Berlin, VT

Todd Raymo of Swanton, VT

Eric Johnson of Randolph, VT

Kyle Gravel of Wolcott, VT

Patrick Tibbetts of Plainfield, VT

Kasey Collins of Berlin, VT

Jeffery Martin of Barre, VT

Logan Farrell of Barre, VT

Derek Farnham of Bethel, VT

Juan ‘Paco’ Marshall of Pittsfield, VT

Thomas Peck of Waterbury, VT

MacLaughlin of Milton, VT

Michael Gay of S. Burlington, VT

Scott Weston of Berlin, VT

Haidyn Pearce of Chelsea, VT

Curtis Franks of Topsham, VT

Shea Wheeler of Waterbury, VT

Paul Rocheleau of Georgia, VT

William Hennequin of Morrisville, VT

DNS, Paige Whittemore of Graniteville, VT

DNS,Christopher Davis of Berlin, VT

DNS,Tyler Whittemore of Barre, VT

DNS,Travis Gay of S. Burlington, VT

Burnett Scrap Metals Road Warriors (25 Laps)

Benjamin Bushey of Springfield, VT

Brodie Frazier of E. Montpelier, VT

David Wilder of Barre, VT

Tyler Wheatley of Brookfield, VT

Neal Foster of Moretown, VT

Nate Brien of Williamstown, VT

Frank Putney of Graniteville, VT

Fred Fleury of Graniteville, VT

Karsen Murphy of Northfield, VT

Zach Garvey of Milton, VT

Jason Kirby of Milton, VT

Keegan Tabor of Williamstown, VT

Dan Garrett, Jr. of Berlin, VT

Corey Martin of Northfield, VT

Jennesta Garrett of Middlesex, VT

Nick Copping of Barre, VT

Brayden Murphy of Barre, VT

Anderson Boyd of Berlin, VT

DNS, Dan Garrett Jr. of Berlin, VT

DNS, Chris Couture of Barre, VT

DNS, Ryan Sayers of Barre, VT

DNS, Kevin Wheatley of Brookfield, VT