Barre, VT – Thunder Road hosts its June finale this Thursday, June 25 with North Country Federal Credit Union Night. Tight point battles are shaping up in all three weekly divisions as they enter the heart of the 2015 season.
A win on Thursday would mean a little extra to Thunder Road Late Model drivers Cody Blake and Boomer Morris, who both carry North Country Federal Credit Union sponsorship on their cars. Blake and Morris currently sit seventh and ninth in the Late Model point standings.
“I wouldn’t say there’s any more pressure, but I would definitely want to win this race out of any other race,” Blake said. “It’s be kind of cool to win on the sponsor’s night, and I think everybody thinks the same way.”
Blake has been up-and-down to start the Thunder Road Late Model weekly season, with finishes of 12th, 3rd, and 22nd. Despite last week’s showing, Blake believes his team is making progress with their new car.
“We’ve been trying a lot of different things (on the car), and I think we’ve found the sweet spot,” he said. “The car went better last week than it’s been going in the previous races. I think it’s going to go pretty good this Thursday.”
The Thunder Road Late Models have a tie for the point lead between Milton’s Scott Dragon and Barre’s Nick Sweet. Sweet is seeking his third “King of the Road” crown after winning in 2010 and 2012. Dragon, a former Flying Tiger Champion at Airborne, is chasing his first Late Model title.
Two-time defending Champion Derrick O’Donnell sits 12 points back of Dragon and Sweet with two wins already to his name in 2015. John Donahue and Trampas Demers round out the top-five.
Craftsbury Common’s Mike Martin has taken the point lead in the Bond Auto Tiger Sportsmen and holds a four-point edge over previous leader “Double-O” Joe Steffen. Martin, a former Junkyard Warrior Champion, has improved his spot in the final Tiger standings each year in the division and finished fourth in 2014.
“We’re just trying to be consistent,” Martin said. “We’ve been struggling to find the setup with this new big right-front slick; it’s throwing everybody off a little, but we’re gaining. Last week we might have hit on something, but we’re not sure yet. It worked good last week though.
“We’ve got to remain consistent and make a bad day into a good day,” Martin added. “You can’t have any bad days. It’s hard to make up points, and it’s hard to get ahead.”
The standings are close throughout the Tiger Sportsmen field, with defending Champion Jason Woodard 10 points off the lead in fourth and seventh-place Brendan Moodie just 26 markers behind. Rookie Stephen Donahue jumped to sixth after last week’s feature win and strengthened his hold on the Rookie of the Year battle as well.
Tyler Austin continues to top the Allen Lumber Street Stock standings, but his margin over second-place Jamie Davis is down to three points. Kyle Streeter sits another three points back in third, while Alan Maynard’s victory on Casella Night moved him up to fourth overall.