Earns top-five in first Late Model start, becomes all-time leader in Flying Tiger wins
–by T.J. Ingerson (@TJIngerson)
VMM Editor
BARRE – Brendan Moodie likely won’t forget Sunday for quite a long time.
The Wolcott veteran racer broke the tie between himself and Joey Laquerre as he won the 40-lap Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tiger feature at Thunder Road to become the sole leader of the division’s all-time wins list.
But Moodie didn’t end it there. Driving for Laquerre in his first career Thunder Road Late Model start, Moodie scored an impressive fifth place finish.
“My plan was to stay out of trouble and come home in one piece,” Moodie said of his Late Model start. “That was my goal. To get a top ten would have been awesome.
“To get a top five? I’m pretty tickled.”
Moodie didn’t race like a newbie to the Late Model ranks in the 100-lap Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic. After starting in the 13th position, Moodie began working his way toward the front of the field and sat in the sixth position on a lap 26 restart.
However, Moodie would slip and fall back through the field in a rapid pace to sit in the 17th spot just ten laps later. Again, though, he would steadily climb back through the field and have moved into the top-ten again by lap 70.
After picking up a few more positions during 27-lap run before the races’ final caution, Moodie would sneak into the top-five following the race’s final restart.
“I’m just happy we didn’t wreck,” Moodie joked. “It’s a lot of respect. Everyone seemed to give me a lot of respect and I tried to give it back.
“It was a lot of fun.”
For Moodie, the opportunity to run his first Thunder Road Late Model race for veteran driver Joey Laquerre came after Moodie piloted that car at Laquerre’s Speedway 51 with success.
“We’re going to run this car at Speedway 51 a few times in their five-race series,” Moodie explained. “We’ve run over there and finished second on opening night and he thought that maybe we’d come down here and try it here.”
In a sense of irony, Moodie was tied with Laquerre on the Flying Tiger all-time wins list with 17 career victories.
“I wonder if (Laquerre) was trying to get me in his Late Model so I couldn’t beat him.”
PHOTOS:
1 – Brendan Moodie, piloting the Joey Laquerre-owned Late Model, posted an impressive fifth place finish in his first career Thunder Road Late Model start on Sunday. (T.J. Ingerson/VMM photo)
2 – Brendan Moodie celebrated his record breaking 18th career Flying Tiger win on Sunday at Thunder Road. (Alan Ward photo)
