{"id":7457,"date":"2012-05-16T16:15:01","date_gmt":"2012-05-16T20:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maineracing.com\/wp\/?p=7457"},"modified":"2012-05-16T16:15:02","modified_gmt":"2012-05-16T20:15:02","slug":"thunder-road-prepares-50th-mekkelsen-rv-memorial-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/2012\/05\/thunder-road-prepares-50th-mekkelsen-rv-memorial-classic\/","title":{"rendered":"Thunder Road Prepares for 50th Mekkelsen RV Memorial Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Pembroke.jpg \u2013 Dave Pembroke celebrates his third Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic win in 2010. (Photo by Eric LaFleche)<\/p>\n

Barre, VT \u2013 As the month of May winds down, the race teams of Barre\u2019s Thunder Road prepare for the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic, the first race of the Vermont State Late Model Championship Series. After a three-week break, the event is the second point-counting race for the Bond Auto Tigers and Allen Lumber Street Stocks, but for the Late Model Sportsmen it serves as their first. It represents the beginning of a grueling summer-long battle for track championships, but in 2012 the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic has a special number attached.
\n<\/p>\n

This year marks the 50th Annual Memorial Day Classic at Thunder Road. The legendary Roy \u201cPappy\u201d Forsythe, who now is forever commemorated by Thunder Road\u2019s \u201cForsythe Hill\u201d in turn three, won the first event in 1961. The race has been won by, and created, legends of Northeast Late Model racing with names like Jean-Paul Cabana, Bobby Dragon, Robbie Crouch, and Dave Dion, who have all notched victories in the prestigious race. The Memorial Day Classic continues to be legendary today.<\/p>\n

2011 Thunder Road Track Champion David Pembroke finished second in last year\u2019s event, but has already recorded three wins in the race. He only trails Cabana (4 wins) and Dion (9 wins) for overall victories. He was humbled to hear his place in Memorial Day Classic history. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is pretty crazy to hear that. I can remember watching those guys growing up and thinking about how good they were. To hear that I\u2019m right there with them as far as wins for this race, that\u2019s a pretty neat thing to hear,\u201c remarked Pembroke. \u201cThe Memorial Day Classic is right up there, it\u2019s one of the big ones. It always starts the year off, so it\u2019s a great one to win to get yourself a little momentum,\u201d he finished.<\/p>\n

The quest to become the 50th Champion of the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic begins on May 27 at 1:30 pm. It will also be the first race of the Vermont State Championship Series, a four race series with two events each at Thunder Road and at Devil\u2019s Bowl Speedway in West Haven, VT. Tickets for Adults are $15, Children 6-12 $3, Family Fare is $30, Children 6 and under are free. <\/p>\n

For additional information head to www.thunderroadspeedbowl.com or contact us at media@acttour.com or call the Thunder Road office at (802) 244-6963.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pembroke.jpg \u2013 Dave Pembroke celebrates his third Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic win in 2010. (Photo by Eric LaFleche) Barre, VT \u2013 As the month of May winds down, the race teams of Barre\u2019s Thunder Road prepare for the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic, the first race of the Vermont State Late Model Championship Series. […]<\/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":[7,18,6,65,4],"tags":[42,1347],"class_list":["post-7457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-canadian-tour","category-maine-racing-news","category-new-england-racing-news","category-thunder-road","category-latest-touring-news","tag-act","tag-thunder-road"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7457","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=7457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7457\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}