{"id":1061,"date":"2007-09-02T23:37:10","date_gmt":"2007-09-02T23:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maineracer.com\/wp\/?p=1061"},"modified":"2007-09-02T23:37:10","modified_gmt":"2007-09-02T23:37:10","slug":"donahue-scores-first-win-at-thunder-roads-bond-auto-labor-day-classic-200","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/2007\/09\/donahue-scores-first-win-at-thunder-roads-bond-auto-labor-day-classic-200\/","title":{"rendered":"Donahue Scores First Win at Thunder Road?s Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"left\">&quot;johnkneeling.jpg&quot; &#8211; John Donahue of Graniteville, VT won Sunday&#39;s Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200 at Thunder Road in Barre, VT &quot;top3.jpg&quot; &#8211; Representatives from Bond Auto Parts join third-place finisher Jean-Paul Cyr , winner John Donahue ,and runner-up Randy Potter&quot;bergerflyer.jpg&quot; &#8211; Rusty Berger (59) of Williston, VT and Jimmy Linardy (77) of Malden, MA crashed hard in qualifying. &nbsp;Both drivers walked away uninjured from this spectacular wreck<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;BARRE, VT &ndash; American-Canadian Tour (ACT) stock car racer &ldquo;Irish&rdquo; John Donahue of Graniteville, VT scored an upset first career win in the $50,000 ACTion Super Series 29th Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200 at Barre, VT&rsquo;s Thunder Road Int&rsquo;l Speedbowl on Sunday afternoon. &nbsp;Donahue battled polesitter and race leader Scott Payea of Milton, VT for 94 laps before taking over for good and driving virtually uncontested to a victory worth more than $6,000.<br \/>&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;It seems like we couldn&rsquo;t do anything wrong all day,&rdquo; Donahue beamed in the winner&rsquo;s circle. &nbsp;&ldquo;We finally got a Tour win, and we did it at Thunder Road. &nbsp;Yes!&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;On a day when his main sponsor, the National Guard, swore in a group of new soldiers in a pre-race<br \/>ceremony led by Vermont Adjutant General Michael Dubie, Donahue controlled his Ford Fusion through lapped traffic with ease. &nbsp;Despite three restarts bunching the field after he took the lead, no other driver was able to keep pace with Donahue.<br \/>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Groveton, NH veteran Randy Potter made a late charge after pitting for fresh right side tires on lap 135, and passed perennial ACT Late Model Tour Champion Jean-Paul Cyr of Milton, VT for second place with 14 laps remaining. &nbsp;Cyr earned his ninth top-five finish in ten season starts with a third-place effort. &nbsp;Brent Dragon, also from Milton, VT, finished a strong fourth on the outside lane. &nbsp;Turner, ME&rsquo;s Ben Rowe scored a career-best Thunder Road result in fifth place.<br \/>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Brad Leighton of Center Harbor, NH finished sixth ahead of Payea. &nbsp;Shelburne, VT&rsquo;s Jamie Fisher, David Avery of North Woodstock, NH, and Rowley, MA driver Eddie MacDonald rounded out the unofficial Top 10 drivers in the Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200. &nbsp;All of the top ten finishers were on the lead lap.<br \/>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Hometown rookie Shawn Sicard earned his first career win in the 40-lap NAPA Tiger Sportsman division feature ahead of fellow freshman driver Kyle Tatro of Hyde Park, VT. &nbsp;Tommy &ldquo;Thunder&rdquo; Smith of Williamstown, VT copped the 30-lap Allen Lumber Street Stock victory, while Donny Yates of Barre, VT won the 18-lap Power Shift Online Junkyard Warrior event.<br \/>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The ACTion Super Series is back in action at the state-of-the-art Kawartha Speedway in Fraserville, ON on Saturday, Sept. 15 at 6:00 pm, and back at Thunder Road on Sat.\/Sun., Sept. 29\/30 for the 44th Annual Chittenden Milk Bowl. &nbsp;For more information, call (802) 244-6963 or visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.acttour.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" onclick=\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\"><u>www.acttour.com<\/u><\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thunderroadspeedbowl.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" onclick=\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\"><u>www.thunderroadspeedbowl.com<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>UNOFFICIAL FINISH &ndash; ACTion Super Series 29th Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200<br \/>Thunder Road Int&rsquo;l Speedbowl &ndash; Barre, VT &ndash; Sunday, Sept. 2, 2007<\/p>\n<p>Finish-(Start)- Driver-Hometown-Laps Complete-Reason Out, if any<br \/>1. (3) John Donahue, Graniteville, VT, 200<br \/>2. (20) Randy Potter, Groveton, NH, 200<br \/>3. (4) Jean-Paul Cyr, Milton, VT, 200<br \/>4. (25) Brent Dragon, Milton, VT, 200<br \/>5. (17) Ben Rowe, Turner, ME, 200<br \/>6. (12) Brad Leighton, Center Harbor, NH, 200<br \/>7. (1) Scott Payea, Milton, VT, 200<br \/>8. (10) Jamie Fisher, Shelburne, VT, 200<br \/>9. (14) David Avery, North Woodstock, NH, 200<br \/>10. (11) Eddie MacDonald, Rowley, MA, 200<br \/>11. (22) Roger Brown, II, Lancaster, NH, 199<br \/>12. (8) Kip Stockwell, Braintree, VT, 199<br \/>13. (5) Mike Rowe, Turner, ME, 199<br \/>14. (6) Rich Lowrey, Charlotte, VT, 199<br \/>15. (21) Brian Hoar, Williston, VT, 199<br \/>16. (9) Dave Whitcomb, Essex Junction, VT, 199<br \/>17. (7) Chip Grenier, Northfield, VT, 199<br \/>18. (18) Dennis Demers, Shelburne, VT, 198<br \/>19. (13) Ron Henry, New Gloucester, ME, 198<br \/>20. (19) Marc Curtis, Jr., Worcester, MA, 198<br \/>21. (15) Dwayne Lanphear, Morrisville, VT, 198<br \/>22. (23) Dave Pembroke, Montpelier, VT, 197<br \/>23. (27) Joey Becker, Jeffersonville, VT, 196<br \/>24. (30) Mike Gosselin, Derby, VT, 194<br \/>25. (24) Marcel Gravel, Wolcott, VT, 190<br \/>26. (29) Jamie Aube, Bow, NH, 186<br \/>27. (28) Joey Polewarczyk, Jr., Hudson, NH, 184<br \/>28. (2) Eric Williams, Hyde Park, VT, 183, Handling<br \/>29. (16) Mike Bailey, South Barre, VT, 144, Handling<br \/>30. (26) Robbie Crouch, Tampa, FL, Sway Bar<\/p>\n<p>Cautions: (4) Laps 49, 136, 147, 149<br \/>Leaders: (5 lead changes among 2 drivers): Scott Payea 1-48, 50, 53-93; John Donahue 49, 51-52, 94-200<br \/>Time of race: 1:03:52<\/p>\n<p>NAPA Tiger Sportsman<br \/>1. Shawn Sicard, Barre, VT<br \/>2. Kyle Tatro, Hyde Park, VT<br \/>3. Mark Barnier, Essex Junction, VT<br \/>4. Pete Ainsworth, Middlesex, VT<br \/>5. Rick Garand, Middlesex, VT<br \/>6. Trevor Lyman, Hinesburg, VT<br \/>7. Chuck Beede, Williamstown, VT<br \/>8. Joey Laquerre, East Montpelier, VT<br \/>9. Joe Steffen, Essex Junction, VT<br \/>10. Nick Sweet, Barre, VT<\/p>\n<p>Allen Lumber Street Stock<br \/>1. Tommy Smith, Williamstown, VT<br \/>2. Mike Martin, Craftsbury Common, VT<br \/>3. Maynard Bartlett, Sr., Wolcott, VT<br \/>4. Bobby Therrien, Hinesburg, VT<br \/>5. Tim Campbell, Topsham, VT<\/p>\n<p>Power Shift Online Junkyard Warrior<br \/>1. Donny Yates, Barre, VT<br \/>2. Scott Weston, Barre, VT<br \/>3. Chad Brown, Jeffersonville, VT<br \/>4. Mike Gay, South Burlington, VT<br \/>5. Bunker Hodgdon, III, Hardwick, VT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&quot;johnkneeling.jpg&quot; &#8211; John Donahue of Graniteville, VT won Sunday&#39;s Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200 at Thunder Road in Barre, VT &quot;top3.jpg&quot; &#8211; Representatives from Bond Auto Parts join third-place finisher Jean-Paul Cyr , winner John Donahue ,and runner-up Randy Potter&quot;bergerflyer.jpg&quot; &#8211; Rusty Berger (59) of Williston, VT and Jimmy Linardy (77) of Malden, MA [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-canadian-tour"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1061\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}