Lyman takes second straight win, Streeter wins Street Stocks

–by T.J. Ingerson (@TJIngerson)
 VMM Editor

BARRE – Matt White and Kyle Pembroke scored the first 50-lap Late Model wins on the new pavement on Thursday night at Thunder Road.

White earned the win in the Harvest Equipment 50-lap feature that was postponed from June 3 while Pembroke scored the win in the regularly scheduled Casella Waste Management 50 lapper.

White may have started on the pole position in the first feature event but it was not easy goings for the Northfield driver.

The driver of the No. 42 White’s Heating Toyota was forced to hold off a stiff challenge from sitting Vermont Governor and multi-time Thunder Road champion Phil Scott. Scott’s hope ended, however, in a plume of smoke and a trail of fluids at the midway point.

White would surrender the lead to Josh Demers on the restart, but White stayed close as Demers’ No. 10 car began to lose grip on the new surface. White would slip underneath Demers off of turn two on lap 36 to take the lead for keeps.

“We wrecked hard at Memorial Day and it took a lot to get it back together,” White said in victory lane. “I have to thank all the crew, as well as Derrick O’Donnell and (Pete) Duto for helping us get back together.”

It was White’s sixth career Thunder Road Late Model win.

A five-lap shootout after the caution flew saw Eric Chase move from fourth to second to claim the runner-up spot while Demers settled for third. Defending champion Scott Dragon moved from a 15th place starting spot to finish fourth with Boomer Morris fifth.

Shawn Fleury and Trampas Demers finished sixth and seventh, respectively, while Bobby Therrien came back after a mid-race trip to pit road to finish eighth. Rookie pilot Stephen Donahue and Jason Corliss completed the top-ten finishers.

A six-lap run to the finish saw Pembroke go from fourth to first to claim his fifth career Late Model win.

Christopher Pelkey lined up as the leader on the lap 44 restart with Marcel J. Gravel, who had led much of the event to that point, to his outside. Corliss held down the third spot with Pembroke fourth. Gravel would take the advantage on the restart and zoom into the lead and Pembroke tagged along on the outside.

Gravel would take the lead on lap 45, but Pembroke continued his run on the outside to get next to Gravel on lap 46. The two would battle side-by-side when Pembroke to the lead for good on lap 48 and ran to the win.

Gravel, of Wolcott, settled for second with Trampas Demers of South Burlington third. Pelkey held on for fourth with Corliss running to the fifth finishing position. Dragon, Chase, Josh Demers, Mike Bailey, and Scott Coburn completed the top-ten finishers.

Trevor Lyman earned his second straight Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tiger feature win in their 40-lap main event.

The Hinesburg driver worked his way from a ninth place starting spot to take the lead on lap 19 from Jason Woodard, who would spin and lose his right-rear tire one lap later.

Lyman would hold the top spot until a lap 28 restart when former division champion Brendan Moodie took command of the lead. However, Lyman fought back and reclaimed the lead on lap 32.

The most recent race winner would then hold off Lyman on a green-white-checker restart to claim his seventh career Flying Tiger win.

Moodie, of Wolcott, finished second while Dwayne Lanphear missed a lap 38 melee to finish third. Joe Steffen and rookie Kyle Streeter completed the top-five finishers.

Former Airborne Park Speedway Renegade ace and Flying Tiger newcomer Robert Gordon finished sixth with Mike Billado seventh. Jaden Perry and Mike Martin, two drivers in the lap 38 incident, finished eighth and ninth, respectively. Rookie Burt Spooner completed the top-ten finishers.

Kevin Streeter went wire-to-wire to claim his second career Allen Lumber Street Stock win.

The Waitsfield driver started on the outside pole position and zoomed out to the early race lead over Jamie Davis. From there, Streeter was forced to hold off recent race winner Garry Bashaw for the win.

“I probably used Jamie (Davis) up a little harder in the first few laps,” Streeter said in victory lane. “But I knew I had to get down (to the bottom).

“And then I saw a lot of the 4 (of Bashaw) in my rear view mirror so I just had to protect the whole race.”

Bashaw, of Lincoln, finished second. Apparent third place finisher Dean Switser Jr. was disqualified in post-race technical inspection, which handed the final spot on the podium to veteran Will Hennequin.

Tommy Smith and Jamie Davis completed the top-five finishers with Gary Mullen, Kelsea Woodard, Greg Collette, and Reilly Lanphear sixth through ninth, respectively. Brandon Lanphear inherited the tenth position in the final unofficial finish.

Thunder Road continues his 2017 season on Thurday, Jun 22 with North Country Federal Credit Union night. The Flying Tigers will run two features, with the first being their June 3 Harvest Equipment event makeup 75-lap event as the first race of their Triple Crown series. Post time is set for 7:00pm.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS – Casella Waste Management Night
Thunder Road Speedbowl, Barre, Vt.
Thursday, June 15, 2017

Pos.-Driver-Hometown
(# — denotes rookie)

Late Models (50 laps – 6/3 Harvest Equipment makeup)
1. Matt White, Northfield
2. Eric Chase, Milton
3. Josh Demers, Montpelier
4. Scott Dragon, Milton
5. Boomer Morris, Barre
6. Shawn Fleury, Middlesex
7. Trampas Demers, South Burlington
8. Bobby Therrien, Hinesburg
9. # Stephen Donahue, Graniteville
10. Jason Corliss, Barre

Late Models (50 laps – 6/15 Casella Waste event)
1. Kyle Pembroke, Montpelier
2. Marcel J. Gravel, Wolcott
3. Trampas Demers, South Burlington
4. Chris Pelkey, Graniteville
5. Jason Corliss, Barre
6. Scott Dragon, Milton
7. Eric Chase, Milton
8. Josh Demers, Montpelier
9. Mike Bailey, South Barre
10. Scott Coburn, Barre

Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers (40 laps)
1. Trevor Lyman, Hinesburg
2. Brendan Moodie, Wolcott
3. Dwayne Lanphear, Morrisville
4. Joe Steffen, Grand Isle
5. Kyle Streeter, Waitsfield
6. Robert Gordon, Milton
7. Mike Billado, Essex
8. Jaden Perry, Hardwick
9. Mike Martin, Craftsbury
10. # Burt Spooner, East Montpelier

Allen Lumber Street Stocks (25 laps)
1. Kevin Streeter, Waitsfield
2. Garry Bashaw, Lincoln
3. Will Hennequin, Hardwick
4. Tommy Smith, Williamstown
5. Jamie Davis, Wolcott
6. Gary Mullen, Tunbridge
7. Kelsea Woodard, Waterbury Center
8. Greg Collette, Milton
9. Reilly Lanphear, Duxbury
10. Brandon Lanphear, Morrisville
DQ – Dean Switser Jr., Lyndonville

PHOTO: Matt White (left) and Kyle Pembroke (right) split the Thunder Road Late Model wins on Thursday night. (Alan Ward photos)