{"id":13056,"date":"2014-05-13T22:35:04","date_gmt":"2014-05-14T02:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maineracing.com\/wp\/?p=13056"},"modified":"2014-05-13T22:35:04","modified_gmt":"2014-05-14T02:35:04","slug":"memorial-day-classic-doubleheader-returns-thunder-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/2014\/05\/memorial-day-classic-doubleheader-returns-thunder-road\/","title":{"rendered":"Memorial Day Classic Doubleheader Returns to Thunder Road"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"troad\" Waterbury, VT<\/em> \u2013Thunder Road International Speedbowl will host the 52nd<\/sup> running of the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic on Sunday, May 25<\/span>. The double-header program will once again feature 100 laps for the ACT Thunder Road Late Model division, and a special 50 lap main for the NASCAR Modified division that competes regularly at both Devil\u2019s Bowl Speedway in Fair Haven, VT and Airborne Park Speedway in Plattsburgh, NY.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Derrick O\u2019Donnell from North Haverhill, NH won the \u201cKing of the Road\u201d title in 2013 and also the 2013 Mekkelsen Memorial Day Classic. \u201cWe had a great year in 2013.\u00a0 I sure like starting our title defense at the opening Classic event again. A good finish can really jumpstart your season,\u201d said O\u2019Donnell. O\u2019Donnell and two-time Thunder Road Champion Nick Sweet were both in contention racing each other for the opening day Merchants Bank 150 win before they were sidelined in a late race wreck.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donnell will face lots more competition in 2013. The ACT Late Model division at Thunder Road has added a number of new teams, and the competition appears to have been equalized with the 2014 introduction of the new American Racer tires and Koni front shock option.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2013 Modified Labor Day Classic defending winner, Jessey Mueller, from Olmsteadville, NY, Middlebury, VT\u2019s Todd Stone, Brandon, VT\u2019s Vince Quenneville, Jr., and 2012 Devil\u2019s Bowl Champion Ron Proctor from Charlton, NY are all expected to lead over 20 ground pounders to the \u201cNation\u2019s Site of Excitement\u201d in Barre, VT for the Modified portion of the Memorial Day double-header.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Young new stars Emily Packard, in just her second season of Late Model racing at Thunder Road, along with Williamstown, Vermont\u2019s Jimmy Hebert finished third and second respectively in Thunder Road\u2019s opening event. After three outstanding qualifying and great main event efforts, graduating Thunder Road Bond Auto Tiger drivers Mike Ziter, Eric Badore, and Shawn Fleury each had impressive opening day runs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Former Memorial Day Classic winners Trampas Demers and Phil Scott look to be in championship form going into the first point race of the year. \u201cI think everybody who races at Thunder Road wants to see their name on one of the tribute race monuments around the race track. That alone is motivation, let alone getting a great start to the championship chase,\u201d said Shelburne Vermont\u2019s Trampas Demers, who etched his name in the Memorial Day monument with his 2005 win.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Mekkelsen Memorial Day Classic is the first of four Vermont State Championship events which will hop-scotch between the two Vermont asphalt tracks, Thunder Road and Devil\u2019s Bowl throughout the season.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Gates will open on Sunday, May 25th<\/sup> at 10:00 am. Admission for the Mekkelsen Memorial Day Classic double-header is just $20 for adults, and kids twelve and under are free. Post time is 1:30<\/span>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For additional information contact the ACT office at 802.244.6963<\/a>, or visit media@acttour.com<\/a>, acttour.com<\/a>, or thunderroadspeedbowl.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Waterbury, VT \u2013Thunder Road International Speedbowl will host the 52nd running of the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic on Sunday, May 25. The double-header program will once again feature 100 laps for the ACT Thunder Road Late Model division, and a special 50 lap main for the NASCAR Modified division that competes regularly at both […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,65,4],"tags":[42,1347],"class_list":["post-13056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-canadian-tour","category-thunder-road","category-latest-touring-news","tag-act","tag-thunder-road"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13056","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=13056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13056\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}