NOTEBOOK: Dragon Scores Another Thunder Road Podium
Posted By Tj Ingerson On May 27, 2015
Categories: Thunder Road
PHOTO: Scott Dragon (#16) goes three wide with Jason Corliss (#66) and Brad Babb (#15) on Sunday at Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl. Dragon would end up with a runner-up finish in the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic 100. (Alan Ward photo)
Donahue, Fleury score strong finishes
--by Ricky St. Clair (@Ricky_StClair)
VMM Correspondent
BARRE -- Three weeks removed from a third-place finish in the American-Canadian Tour Merchants Bank 150, Scott Dragon returned to Thunder Road and earned runner-up honors in the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic.
The Milton native led laps 56 and 57 before finishing 0.797 seconds off O’Donnell’s back bumper in second.
“We wanted to win, of course, but anytime you can get a top three, I’m always pretty satisfied with that,” Dragon said. “One of these days, I’d really like to get my name on the granite (monument) here, but maybe next year.”
Just past the halfway mark of the event, O’Donnell was forced to ride behind lapped traffic, which allowed Dragon to close in. Dragon, who dropped to the inside lane, crossed the start-finish line as the leader on laps 56 and 57 as the two raced side-by-side.
“I know we were running pretty even,” Dragon said. “I just kept thinking, ‘Eventually, he’s going to start coming to me.’ I was surprised at how quick we caught lap traffic.”
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Graniteville racer John Donahue, who started sixth in the 30-car field, advanced one position to earn a fifth-place result.
Donahue was involved in a competitive on-track battle with Brad Babb. One spot separated the two since lap 20.
“Oh, I was having a lot of fun,” Donahue said. “We bumped, and you’re going to have that in racing. We’ve raced before. I was hoping, I figured he wouldn’t get too mad. I was just having a lot of fun racing with him side-by-side.”
The event, which went flag-to-flag, saw 18 cars go down a lap. Six competitors were lapped on two or more occasions.
But Donahue wasn’t hoping for a yellow flag to slow the race and reset the field.
“I just wanted to stay where I was just to get it over because we were having a good day (considering) our electrical problems,” Donahue said. “Top five with the day we had, I’m ecstatic.”
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Shawn Fleury, of Middlesex, was able to bounce back from a 16th-place finish in the Merchants Bank 150 and fend off Brooks Clark for the sixth position.
“The top side had the most grip (Sunday),” Fleury said. “Brooks got a run up on me on the outside, so I dropped to the bottom. He went by. For whatever reason, he dropped to the bottom. I went back by him. But we really had to run the top (Sunday). There really wasn’t much going on the bottom.”
Like Donahue, Fleury was hoping the event stayed green inside the final 20 laps.
“Honestly, the race stayed green; I was hoping it stayed green…just (keep) going and finish it off,” Fleury said. “About 20 to go, I got into the fence pretty hard. I thought I messed the car up, but it stayed under me, and we were able to bring it home in sixth.”