Lyman, Bouchard score Mid-season wins; Point battles tighten
–by T.J. Ingerson (@TJIngerson)
VMM Editor
BARRE — To say Boomer Morris has had a tough season would be an understatement.
The hometown driver has twice seen his car leave Thunder Road Speedbowl on a different vehicle that it entered in after two vicious crashes destroyed his No. 13 car.
But Morris turned a season of hardship around on Thursday night as he dominated the 75-lap Times Argus Mid-Season Championship Late Model event to earn the double point counting win.
“This is huge,” Morris said. “This is a big race for us to win, but to come back after all the hard luck we’ve had this year. We’ve come back and jumped right back into it.
“We’ve been there. We’ve had fast cars. We have all top-fives for the ones we have finished. But we haven’t been able to finish all of them.”
The win for Morris was the fourth win of his Late Model career. He also earned the Maplewood’s Triple Crown bonus after he won his heat race and semi-feature.
Morris led early and often, and remained untouched for the lead for the first 68 laps of the event. However, a caution flag would put five-time race winner Kyle Pembroke to his outside.
Pembroke would give a stiff fight, taking the lead on lap 69. However, Pembroke would make contact with the outside wall on lap 70 and nearly go off the top of turns one and two. He would save it, but handed the lead back to Morris, who claimed the win.
“I really didn’t want to see that caution with seven (laps) to go,” Morris said. “We lost it last week with the last two restarts.
“It was good, hard racing. Kyle (Pembroke) and I ran well and we got together just a little bit. But then we were able to pull away. We went three-wide there with Trampas (Demers), but we were able to pull ahead and cruise on home.”
The win for Morris was an emotional one and thanked many people in victory lane who have stuck with him during the trying season.
“It’s a been a long season,” Morris said. “It’s hard not to get emotional. We had a brand new car that we started the season with and it was fast. And we wrecked real bad and had to put it back together in just six days.
“We came back and just totaled the car. We couldn’t bring it back. We had to go buy another car from (Jason Allen). We’ve been working on it the last three or four weeks making it fast and here we are.
“We have a car back under us.”
Governor’s Cup winner and second place point driver Trampas Demers raced from a 14th place starting spot to finish second while defending Late Model champion Scott Dragon finished third after a trying season of his own. Last week’s feature winner Jason Corliss finished fourth from a 13th place starting spot while Cody Blake completed the top-five finishers.
Bobby Therrien battled back from an early race run-in with the wall and ensuing multiple pit stops to finish sixth and unofficially retain the point lead. Chris Pelkey, Marcel J. Gravel, Eric Badore, and Ricky Roberts finished seventh through tenth, respectively.
Unofficially, Therrien will exit the double point counting mid-season championship event with an 11-point lead over Demers. Corliss narrowed his deficit down to 50 points, while Dragon did the same to 63 points.
Trevor Lyman earned his third feature win of the season in the Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tiger 50-lap feature event.
The Hinesburg driver took the lead on lap nine and held onto the top spot through two restarts to claim the double point counting win.
“This is a huge win, that’s for sure,” Lyman said. “We had some back luck earlier in the year. Brendan (Moodie), Dwayne (Lanphear), and Jason (Woodard) all jumped out (in the standings). So we really needed this.
“I can’t thank my father (Gregg Lyman) enough. He puts a lot of time in on this race car and last weekend he found something that was wrong with it and he made it even better for this week. Without him we wouldn’t be up here, that’s for sure.”
Former division champion Jason Woodard worked from fourth to second over the last 15 laps to finish second while second place point driver Dwayne Lanphear edged out point leader Brendan Moodie for third. Moodie settled for fourth with Robert Gordon fifth.
Joe Steffen, Mike Billado, Jaden Perry, Jason Pelkey, and Jacob Perry completed the top-ten finishers.
Unofficially, Moodie saw his 27-point advantage get cut to just nine points over Lanphear, while Woodard took a big jump in the standings as he cut his 49 point deficit down to just 19 points.
Cooper Bouchard ran from a mid-pack starting spot to claim the win in the 35-lap Allen Lumber Street Stock feature.
The win for Bouchard was the second of his Street Stock career.
Brandon Lanphear entered the night third in the point standings, but rocketed up them with a runner-up finish. Matthew Smith finished third with Alan Mayanrd and Kelsea Woodard fourth and fifth, respectively.
Rookie Logan Powers, Dean Switser Jr., Reilly Lanphear, point leader Jamie Davis, and Kevin Streeter completed the top-ten finishers.
Unofficially, Lanphear took over the point lead in the Street Stocks by five points over Mid-season champion Cooper Bouchard. Maynard sits in third, just eight points back, while point leader Davis fell to fourth, 23 points back.
Thunder Road continues its 2017 season on Thursday, August 3 with WDEV/Calkins Portable Toilets Night. Post time is set for 7:00pm.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS — Times Argus Mid-Season Championships
Thunder Road Speedbowl, Barre, Vt.
Thursday, July 27, 2017
Pos.-Driver-Hometown
(# — denotes rookie)
Late Models (75 laps)
1. Boomer Morris, Barre
2. Trampas Demers, South Burlington
3. Scott Dragon, Milton
4. Jason Corliss, Barre
5. Cody Blake, Barre
6. Bobby Therrien, Hinesburg
7. Chris Pelkey, Barre
8. Marcel J. Gravel, Wolcott
9. Eric Badore, Milton
10. Ricky Roberts, Washington
Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers (50 laps)
1. Trevor Lyman, Hinesburg
2. Jason Woodard, Waterbury Center
3. Dwayne Lanphear, Morrisville
4. Brendan Moodie, Wolcott
5. Robert Gordon, Milton
6. Joe Steffen, Grand Isle
7. Mike Billado, Essex Junction
8. # Jaden Perry, Hardwick
9. # Jason Pelkey, Barre
10. Jacob Perry, Hardwick
Allen Lumber Street Stocks (35 laps)
1. Cooper Bouchard, Hinesburg
2. Brandon Lanphear, Morrisville
3. Matthew Smith, Essex Junction
4. Alan Maynard, Fairfax
5. Kelsea Woodard, Waterbury Center
6. # Logan Powers, Middlesex
7. Dean Switser Jr., Lyndonville
8. Reilly Lanphear, Duxbury
9. Jamie Davis, Wolcott
10. Kevin Streeter, Watisfield
PHOTO: Boomer Morris celebrates his Thunder Road Times Argus Mid-Season Late Model Championship win on Thursday night. (T.J. Ingerson/VMM photo)
