May 3, 2017 | ACT, NE Racing News, Thunder Road, Touring Series News
Alan Ward photo
Barre, VT – Thunder Road officials have announced a series of schedule revisions for the 2017 season. The revisions include a make-up date for the weather-delayed Merchants Bank 150 along with a new season opener for the “Nation’s Site of Excitement”.
The Memorial Day Classic presented by Mekkelsen RV Sales & Rental will now open the 58th year of competition at Thunder Road on Sunday, May 28 at 1:00 pm. It will be the first racing event at the Barre high banks following completion of the recently announced track repaving project, as well as the first time since 1995 that the speedway has opened its season on Memorial Day weekend. The Harvest Equipment event originally scheduled for Sunday, May 21 has been moved to Sunday, June 4 with a special 3:00 pm post time.
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May 3, 2017 | ACT, Maine Racing News, NE Racing News, Thunder Road
Barre, Vt. – Unexpected rain storms arrived early in the afternoon of Sunday, April 30, forcing the postponement of the Merchants Bank 150 at Barre’s Thunder Road for the American-Canadian Tour (ACT). The event will be made up on a date to be determined.
Thirty-five ACT Late Models were in the pits for Sunday’s event, which was scheduled to be the season opener for Thunder Road. Jimmy Hebert and Bobby Therrien had topped ACT practice sessions before the rains rolled in.
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Apr 28, 2017 | ACT, NE Racing News, Thunder Road, Touring Series News
Barre, Vt. – Thunder Road Speedbowl opens the doors for its 58th season of competition this Sunday, April 30 with the 19th Merchants Bank 150. The stars of the American-Canadian Tour (ACT) will take on the weekly Thunder Road Late Model standouts, while the Flying Tigers and Allen Lumber Street Stocks begin their 2017 championship battles.
The event will be the first at the “Nation’s Site of Excitement” since former track champion Cris Michaud and local businessman Pat Malone officially purchased the speedway. Thunder Road had been run since 1982 by founder Ken Squier and partner Tom Curley, who are both members of the New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame.
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Apr 24, 2017 | ACT, New England Motorsports North, Thunder Road, Touring Series News
Barre, Vt. – The American-Canadian Tour (ACT) returns to Barre, Vt.’s Thunder Road Speedbowl this Sunday, April 30 for the 19th Merchants Bank 150. The event kicks off the 58th season of competition on the quarter-mile oval and is the first of two visits this year for the ACT Late Model Tour.
A pair of multi-time Merchants Bank 150 winners will lead the charge into this year’s event. Three-time and defending event champion Nick Sweet of Barre will look to go back-to-back, while two-time event champion Scott Payea of Colchester is attempting to match Sweet in the record books.
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Apr 19, 2017 | ACT, Thunder Road, Touring Series News
Barre, VT – Thunder Road officials have announced that the sale of Thunder Road Speedbowl to former racer Cris Michaud and local businessman Pat Malone has been completed. The duo has assumed day-to-day operations of the famed quarter-mile oval, which had been owned and operated since 1982 by Ken Squier and Tom Curley.
Michaud is a three-time “King of the Road” and has spent 22 years at and around the high banks as a driver and race director. Malone is the owner of Malone Properties, a Montpelier-based commercial real estate company that has sponsored a number of Thunder Road race teams in previous seasons.
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Oct 2, 2016 | American Canadian Tour, Maine Racing News, More Maine Racing News, NE Racing News, Thunder Road, Touring Series News
Nick Sweet of Barre drinks from the Milk Bowl after winning the 54th edition of the race for the second straight year, and the third time overall, at Thunder Road. (Alan Ward photo)
Barre, VT – Nick Sweet of Barre successfully defended his title in the Northfield Savings Bank Milk Bowl at Thunder Road, using a pair of wins in the three 50-lap segments to claim a two-point victory in the combined standings over Jason Corliss of Barre. It was the third Thunder Road Late Model Sportsmen Milk Bowl victory of Sweet’s career.
Corliss needed to finish within three positions of Sweet in the final race to earn the victory. He had a chance to move into fourth place, and claim the Milk Bowl crown, in the final laps of the third race, but couldn’t find his way through traffic and ended up in seventh place in the segment, and second place overall.
Trampas Demers of South Burlington finished in third place, and was followed in the top 10 by Cody Blake of Barre, Kyle Pembroke of Montpelier, 2016 King of the Road Scott Dragon of Milton, Jimmy Hebert of Williamstown, Scott Payea of Milton, Shawn Fleury of Middlesex, and Alex Labbe of St-Albert, Quebec.
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