{"id":14746,"date":"2015-05-14T14:29:29","date_gmt":"2015-05-14T18:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maineracing.com\/wp\/?p=14746"},"modified":"2015-05-14T14:29:29","modified_gmt":"2015-05-14T18:29:29","slug":"demers-ready-to-build-on-breakout-florida-run-in-thunder-road-late-models","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/2015\/05\/demers-ready-to-build-on-breakout-florida-run-in-thunder-road-late-models\/","title":{"rendered":"Demers Ready to Build on Breakout Florida Run in Thunder Road Late Models"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"LaFleche\/VLFphotos.com

LaFleche\/VLFphotos.com photo<\/p><\/div>\n

Barre, VT\u2014Thunder Road\u2019s American-Canadian Tour (ACT) Late Models begin their 2015 championship chase on Sunday, May 24 in the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic 100. Montpelier, VT\u2019s Josh Demers, entering his sophomore season, will be looking to build on his unexpected performance at New Smyrna Speedway in Florida this past February.<\/p>\n

Coming off a 12th-place points finish in Demers\u2019 rookie year at Barre, VT\u2019s Thunder Road, expectations were low entering the American Racer Challenge Cup at New Smyrna. At one point, when asked why the team was going to Florida, Demers\u2019 father Randy responded that \u201csomeone has to finish last.\u201d<\/p>\n

But after gaining experience in a standalone 100-lap event on Sunday, February 15, Demers finished fourth overall in the two-segment Challenge. Among others, Demers placed ahead of defending ACT Champion Joey Polewarczyk Jr., two-time Thunder Road Champion Nick Sweet, and former NASCAR All-American Series Champion Keith Rocco.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur team bonded well together down there,\u201d Demers said. \u201cThat track just seemed to suit our style, and we were racing well down there. It seemed to just work out well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event was another milestone for the 25-year-old with competition in his blood. Demers was the Vermont State Division II Hockey Player of the Year his senior year at U32 High School. He also was a perennial all-star baseball player at U32.<\/p>\n

But Demers, who recently welcomed a daughter with wife Ashley, always knew he wanted to be a racer. He began racing go-karts when he was nine, then jumped into a Street Stock in 2005 at Speedway 51 in Groveton, NH at age 15. He moved to Thunder Road a year later and graduated to the Bond Auto Tiger Sportsmen in 2008.<\/p>\n

Demers\u2019 team bought a used Late Model from FastOne Motorsports prior to the 2013 season and competed in select events while continuing to run weekly in the Tigers. His Late Model debut came at the International 500 at Airborne Park Speedway, where Demers won the B-feature and then gave up the $3,000 prize in favor of starting the main event.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that moment in time, we showed up there to race, and that\u2019s what our goal was,\u201d Demers recalled. \u201cIt didn\u2019t really make any difference how we had to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The experience Demers gained aided his move into the weekly Late Model ranks the following season, as did a budding friendship with veteran Thunder Road racer Chip Grenier. The many-time Late Model winner eventually agreed to be Demers\u2019 crew chief.<\/p>\n

\u201cChip is so good at what he does, but you have to be able to communicate what the car is doing on the race track,\u201d Demers said. \u201cThat can be intimidating at times. He\u2019s done very well not to let me get to that point.\u201d<\/p>\n

The increasing chemistry between them was on display in February, catching the eye of racers and industry members in both Vermont and Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did a great job down there,\u201d said Eddie MacDonald, who won all three ACT New Smyrna events. \u201cIt\u2019s always good to be able to go down to a fast track like that and stay out of trouble and have a good run. It sets you up for the rest of the year and sets the tone to have a good season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Demers withdrew from the ACT Tour Merchants Bank 150 after his family\u2019s Meadow Mart store was robbed the previous week, but remains committed to the full Thunder Road weekly schedule. He thinks getting his first Late Model win and finishing in the top-10 in points are both achievable. Anything more is \u201cicing on the cake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Demers will begin the 2015 title chase along with former \u201cKings of the Road\u201d Derrick O\u2019Donnell, Nick Sweet, Dave Pembroke, and Phil Scott at the 53rd Annual Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic on Sunday, May 24. The Thunder Road Late Models will run 100 laps, while the Pro All Stars Series North Super Late Models make their inaugural visit to Barre with a 150-lap event. The Bond Auto Tiger Sportsmen and Allen Lumber Street Stocks will also be in action. Post time is 1:30pm.<\/p>\n

For more information, contact the Thunder Road offices at 802.244.6963, media@acttour.com, or visit www.thunderroadspeedbowl.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Barre, VT\u2014Thunder Road\u2019s American-Canadian Tour (ACT) Late Models begin their 2015 championship chase on Sunday, May 24 in the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic 100. Montpelier, VT\u2019s Josh Demers, entering his sophomore season, will be looking to build on his unexpected performance at New Smyrna Speedway in Florida this past February. Coming off a 12th-place […]<\/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-14746","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\/14746","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=14746"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14748,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14746\/revisions\/14748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}