Granite Stater Gabe Brown Earns Vermont Milk Bowl Pole Position Following Disqualification in Tech

Starting off the 62nd Vermont Milk Bowl weekend in style, Booth Bros./Hood Qualifying Day set the tone for the annual end-of-season extravaganza at Barre’s Thunder Road. Forty-seven American-Canadian Tour / Maplefields-Irving Late Models took on the highbanks in the once-a-year single car time trials with Kaiden Fisher and Derek Gluchacki taking fast time before technical inspection stripped them of their efforts with tread width deemed too wide by officials. ACT point leader Gabe Brown and Championship Night winner Darrell Morin inherited the front row prior to the start of the Triple 50s qualifying heat races.

Marcel Gravel, Chris Pelkey and Jimmy Hebert took claim to the three Triple 50 heat race wins, each pocketing a cool $1,000 for their triumphs as part of the special $4,300 purse available to the top-ten finishers in each of the three qualifiers. Among those forced into Sunday’s show-starting Last Chance Race, four-time Milk Bowl champion Nick Sweet, Thunder Road Rookie of the Year Jesse Laquerre, former Flying Tiger champion Joel Hodgdon, former Serie ACT Quebec champion Jonathan Bouvrette and more expected to make one final push to join the Vermont Milk Bowl.

Following group time trials, the Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers saw an extremely spirited battle between Brandon Gray and Logan Powers, each sporting fan-favorite throwback schemes for their Mini Milk Bowl. The two swapped the lead over ten times in just the first twenty-one laps before the first caution flag flew on lap 27 as Mike MacAskill came to a slow-rolling stop on the backstretch. Back under green, Gray had a handful of car while facing off with Brendan Moodie over the final thirteen circuits but ultimately prevailed to the Segment #1 win. Gray, Moodie, Powers, Shawn Fleury and Jason Pelkey will be among those at the tail of tomorrow’s Segment #2 looking to march to the front and collect the coveted Mini Milk Bowl prize.

The rk Miles Street Stocks also completed their first segment on Booth Bros./Hood Qualifying Day. Following group time trial qualifying, White Mountain Motorsports Park Rookie of the Year Connor Rueda blew the field away to take the pole position at the head of the pack. Rueda kept his #17 CDR Concrete Mustang out front with a mirror full of returning hard-charger Kyler Davis and Road Warrior phenom Nate ‘Tater’ Brien breaking ranks and moving up the ladder. Things began to turn ugly on lap 17 with the first caution seeing ‘The Flying Farmer’ Gary Mullen, Justin ‘El Chopo’ Blakely and Travis Gay block turn four with turned-around rigs.

Heartbreak took Rueda out of competition with a torn throttle cable on the restart ahead of a series of restart yellows that thinned-out the middle of the pack. Kyler Davis motored on to take the Segment #1 victory over Derek Farnham and ‘Tater’ Brien with Todd Raymo and White Mountain track champion Patrick Switser rounding out the top-five.

Making the haul from across the region, the New England Supermodified Series returned for their second visit of the 2024 season just before wrapping up their championship next weekend at the Sunoco World Series at Thompson Speedway. The lightning-fast feature event saw Rob Summers take his first win of the season for the inaugural division champion with point leader Bobby Timmons and rookie Jim Storace joining the podium.

The PASS Modifieds also joined the show with one of the night’s most spectacular wrecks as fans sat stunned with Zach Bowie climbing the widowmaker frontstretch wall before coming to rest on his roof atop turn one. After a lengthy clean-up effort, Dan Brown buried his foot in the firewall to take on the highbanks and earn the win on Booth Bros./Hood Qualifying Day followed by Tom Oliver and Ryan Ripley in victory lane.

The Pro All Stars Series (PASS) Super Late Model 150 rounded out the evenings racing activities on the big track. 2024 King of the Road Kaiden Fisher jumped aboard a PASS Super Late Model for the night and started off with a dominant performance at the front of the pack. Racing hard with former ACT champion Jimmy Hebert, Fisher really felt the pressure just before the halfway point as DJ Shaw’s machine began to make hay as the two battled side-by-side for the lead. After the lap 97 caution for Pat Corbett’s spin in turn one, the battle resumed in earnest between Fisher and Shaw.

While that battle fizzled out, Jimmy Hebert began the chief adversary to Shaw with Hebert nabbing the lead following the lap 140 caution. Stalking just inches from his rear bumper, Shaw dove back underneath to lead with five laps remaining as the two got physical. An oil spill on the track saw Johnny Clark, Kasey Beattie and Trevor Sanborn pile into the turn one retaining wall to end their days on a low note with two laps remaining. Jimmy Hebert easily took the green-white-checkers victory, his first PASS Super Late Model victory right here at his hometrack with Alex Quarterly taking second and Rusty Poland rounding out the top three.

The Nation’s Site of Excitement hosts the 62nd running of the Vermont Milk Bowl presented by Northfield Savings Bank tomorrow, Sunday October 6! Already locked in through Saturday’s qualifying, Gabe Brown, Marcel Gravel, Alexendre ‘Fireball’ Tardif, Brian Hoar, Patrick Laperle and a host of others are set to battle hard for the $12,000 grand prize, the career defining moment of a Vermont Milk Bowl victory and, of course, the once-in-a-lifetime chance to kiss a genuine Vermont Dairy Cow! Sunday’s events begin with the Last Chance B-Feature at 12:15pm with Opening Ceremonies set to begin at approximately 12:40pm and racing set to start at 1:30pm. Single day general admission is available on Sunday at $35 for adults and $10 for kids 12-6 while all children five and under are free!

For more information, contact the Thunder Road offices at (802) 244-6963, media@thunderroadvt.com, or visit www.thunderroadvt.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @ThunderRoadVT.

Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl – Barre, VT
Saturday, October 5, 2024
Booth Bros./Hood Milk Bowl Qualifying Day
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS

American-Canadian Tour / Maplefields-Irving Late Models –
62nd Vermont Milk Bowl presented by Northfield Savings Bank Starting Line-Up

1. 78NH Gabe Brown Center Conway, NH
2. 17VT Darrell Morin Westford, VT
3. 86VT Marcel J. Gravel Wolcott, VT
4. 64VT Christopher Pelkey S. Barre, VT
5. 58VT Jimmy Hebert Williamstown, VT
6. 21QC Alexendre Tardif Notre Dame des Pins, QC
7. 66VT Jason Corliss Barre, VT
8. 46X Brian Hoar South Hero, VT
9. 99VT Cody Blake Barre, VT
10. 77NH Bryan Wall Jr. E. Kingston, NH
11. 16VT Brandon Lanphear Morrisville, VT
12. 68VT Brooks Clark Fayston, VT
13. 36NH Erick Sands Derry, NH
14. 91QC Patrick Laperle St-Denis, QC
15. 18VT #Kaiden Fisher Shelburne, VT
16. 7AK Derek Gluchacki Dartmouth, MA
17. 68NH Tanner Woodard Waterbury Ctr., VT
18. 00VT Brandon Gray E. Thetford, VT
19. 48VT #Taylor Hoar South Hero, VT
20. 04NY Justin Prescott Fairfax, VT
21. 0VT Scott Dragon Milton, VT
22. 48QC Raphael Lessard St-Joseph, QC
23. 9VT Chip Grenier E. Barre, VT
24. 04VT DJ Shaw Center Conway, NH
25. 01VT Stephen Martin Craftsbury Common, VT
26. Winner of Sunday’s B-Feature
27. Runner-Up in Sunday’s B-Feature
28. Thunder Road 100% Year-Long Driver in 2024
29. American-Canadian Tour 100% Year-Long Driver in 2024
30. Canadian Driver Provisional

Vermont Milk Bowl Last Chance B-Feature Starting Line-Up

1. 36VT Joel Hodgdon Craftsbury Common, VT
2. 45NH #Kasey Beattie St. Johnsbury, VT
3. 8VT Chris Roberts Washington, VT
4. 92VT Jaden Perry Hardwick, VT
5. 71VT #Jesse Laquerre E. Montpelier, VT
6. 40VT Nick Sweet Williamstown, VT
7. 41QC Jonathan Bouvrette Blainville, QC
8. 23ME Dave Farrington, Jr. Lewiston, ME
9. 7MA #Jeremy Sorel Westfield, MA
10. 57VT Trevor Jaques Milton, VT
11. 25NH Jesse Switser W. Burke, VT
12. 33QC Remi Perreault St. Paul, QC
13. 27NH Cam Huntress Rochester, NH
14. 48X Kyle Streeter Waterbury Ctr., VT
15. 4VT Scott Coburn Barre, VT
16. 54VT #Colin Cornell East Burke, VT
17. 25VT Michael Rubalcaba Barre, VT
18. 49VT Reilly Lanphear Waterbury, VT
19. 4NH Jamie Swallow Jr. Lancaster, NH
20. 2VT Stephen Donahue Graniteville, VT
21. 7VT Cooper Bouchard Hinesburg, VT
22. 88NH Jimmy Kidder Norwich, VT

Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers – Segment #1 Finish – (40 Laps)

1. 5 Brandon Gray E. Thetford, VT
2. 15NH Brendan Moodie Wolcott, VT
3. 5A Logan Powers Middlesex, VT
4. 10ME Shawn Fleury Middlesex, VT
5. 64VT Jason Pelkey Barre, VT
6. 01VT Michael Martin Craftsbury, Common, VT
7. 90VT Cameron Ouellette Barre, VT
8. 36NH Jason Woodard Waterbury Ctr., VT
9. 13VT Ty Delphia Waterbury, VT
10. 20VT Robert Gordon Milton, VT
11. 45VT Adam Maynard Milton, VT
12. 26VT Luke Peters Groton, VT
13. 9VT #Logan Farrell Barre, VT
14. 77VT Issac Spaulding Wolcott, VT
15. 23NY Cam Gadue Highgate, VT
16. 5VT Tyler Austin East Calais, VT
17. 92VT Jamon Perry Hardwick, VT
18. 5RI #Kyle Gravel Wolcott, VT
19. 3VT Michael MacAskill Williamstown, VT
DNS 55VT Parker Gagne Fairfax, VT

rk Miles Street Stocks – Segment #1 Finish – (25 Laps)

1. 74 Kyler Davis Berlin, VT
2. 39 Derek Farnham Bethel, VT
3. 16VT Nate Brien Williamstown, VT
4. 24 Todd Raymo Swanton, VT
5. 16NH Patrick Switser Woodsville, NH
6. 8 Paul Rocheleau Georgia, VT
7. 99 #Fred Fleury Graniteville, VT
8. 2 Haidyn Pearce Chelsea, VT
9. 08 Ryan Foster Waterbury, VT
10. 6 Terry Pearce Jr Chelsea, VT
11. 3 Michael Gay S. Burlington, VT
12. 04 Scott Weston Berlin, VT
13. 9 Zach Audet Johnson, VT
14. 13 Travis Gay S. Burlington, VT
15. 6NH Connor Charbonneau Groveton, NH
16. 2VA Cameron Ruggles Richmond, VA
17. 54 Josh Lovely Williamstown, VT
18. 17 Connor Rueda Orange, VT
19. 5BM Trevor Jaques Milton, VT
DNS 17x Justin Blakely Graniteville, VT
21. 32 #Kylee Potter Marshfield, VT
22. 29 Gary Mullen Tunbridge, VT
23. 22 Thomas Smith Williamstown, VT
24. 5 Terry Pearce Sr. Berlin, VT
25. 94 Trevor Rossi Northfield, VT
26. 18 #Walker Fitch Marshfield, VT
DNS 8NH Jaiden Del Toro Barre Town, VT
DNS 50 Adam Murray E. Calais, VT
DNS 69 Jeffrey Martin, Jr. Barre, VT

Pro All Stars Series (PASS) Super Late Models – (150 laps)

1. 58VT Jimmy Hebert Williamstown, VT
2. 32Q Alex Quarterly Westfield, MA
3. 19 Rusty Poland Naples, ME
4. 18VT Kaiden Fisher Shelburne, VT
5. 45NH Kasey Beattie St. Johnsbury, VT
6. 44 Trevor Sanborn E. Parsonsfield, ME
7. 54 Johnny Clark Hallowell, ME
8. 5x Bobby Therrien Hinesburg, VT
9. 60 D.J. Shaw Center Conway, NH
10. 18 Michael Scorzelli Feura Bush, NY
11. 5VT Pat Corbett Williamstown, VT

New England Supermodified Series (NESS) – (50 laps)

1. 5 Rob Summers Manchester, CT
2. 13 Bobby Timmons Windham, ME
3. 47 Jim Storace Kingston, NH
4. 41 Russ Wood Pelham, NH
5. 97 Matt Swanson Harvard, MA
6. 51 Dave Duggan Milford, NH
7. 45 Mike Mayberry Naples, ME
8. 11 Ben Seitz Bourne, MA
9. 22 Mark MacIver Stafford, NH

PASS Modifieds – (40 laps)

1. 83 Dan Brown Turner, ME
2. 63 Thomas Oliver Raymond, ME
3. 09 Ryan Ripley Thomaston, ME
4. 7 Spencer Vaughn Canton, ME
5. 66 Jacoby Maines Hollis Center, ME
6. 34 Spencer Morse Naples, ME
7. 33 Danny Morris Lewiston, ME
8. 6 Zach Bowie New Gloucester, ME

-Thunder Road International Speedbowl Press Release
-Photo credit: Alan Ward