2022 Championship Spotlight – Dean Switser, Jr. and the rk Miles Street Stocks
Barre, VT — The 63rd season of stock car racing at Barre, Vermont’s Thunder Road International Speedbowl was one for the record books with three deserving drivers each winning their first track championship at ‘The Nation’s Site of Excitement.’ Each of these three drivers had a very unique way of earning their first championship at The Road, valuable stories worth sharing to better understand their respective triumphs. In our first installment we begin with a former Bolduc Metal Recycling Enduro 200 winner who later returned to Thunder Road in the rk Miles Street Stocks. Over the last decade, Dean Switser, Jr. has worked his way to the top of one of the most competitive four-cylinder weekly racing divisions in the country.
Week two of the 55 th year of consecutive racing at Bear Ridge Speedway sponsored by Forward’s Garage & Forwards Plumbing LLCs succumbs to Mother Nature, leaving a packed pit of competitors and loyal fans disappointed, despite the efforts of Promoter C.V. “Butch” Elms to make every effort, as is our way, to get the show in.
Thunder Road Fireworks Coming from All Directions at Holiday Spectacular
Barre, VT — Thunder Road celebrates the nation’s independence this Thursday, July 1 with the annual Preston’s Kia Holiday Spectacular. The fireworks will be on display literally and figuratively at the “Nation’s Site of Excitement” for a night of the country’s best stock car racing at the track or live on FloRacing.
All four Thunder Road divisions are on the card with four extra laps to honor Independence Day. Following the final race of the night, the sky above will come alive with the state’s best firework show put on by Northstar Fireworks.
The firecrackers had to take a break in 2020 due to COVID-19 safety guidelines and attendance restrictions. This year, they are back with a bang as the country gets closer to normal life. The Independence Day special has long been one of the most popular events of the year at Thunder Road, and 2021 should be no exception as fans get to enjoy being at a racetrack once again.
“I think it’s fantastic,” Danville’s Tyler Cahoon said. “Without the fans, you don’t have a place to race. We are entertainment in a sense, so the more people that come out and watch, and can actually walk away and say, ‘hey, that was a good time’, that keeps them coming back…I’m really hoping to see a big crowd as people can get out and enjoy the little things in life that we used to before this past year came upon us.”
Barre, VT — Graniteville’s Stephen Donahue scored the closest win of the Maplewood/Irving Oil season Barre’s at Thunder Road on Thursday, June 24. “Little Irish” went back and forth with Jim “Boomer” Morris for the final 13 laps before earning the victory by a mere 0.025 seconds as part of Community College of Vermont Night. It was the third career Late Model win at Thunder Road for Donahue, who also has multiple victories at New Hampshire’s White Mountain Motorsports Park.
Donahue started eighth in the 50-lap feature and spent the first half of the event staying out of trouble. He eventually got racy and was locked in a three-car battle for second with Roberts and Brandon Lanphear when Phil Scott spun in turn one to bring out the third caution with 36 laps complete.
Morris led the field to the restart with Donahue perched on his rear decklid. The youngster nabbed the second spot from polesitter Roberts just before Andy Hill spun exiting turn four to bring out another yellow.
Richie Simmons joins elite winners cirle in the DIRTcar Sabil & Sons Sportsman Modifieds Cary Hunter gets his first win in the Peanuts Auto LLC Four Cylinders
Bear Ridge Speedway
JTB Towing & Recovery night Feature winners: Sabil & Sons DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds Richie Simmons; Wells River Chevrolet DIRTcar Sportsman Coupes Ricky Sanville; USAC DMA Midgets (from Albany Saratoga Friday) Seth Carlson; C.A. Miller Limited Late Models Todd Dunham; LaValley Building Supply Dirt Stocks Mike McClay Peanuts Auto LLC Four Cylinders Feature #1 Cary Hunter & Feature #2 Buddy Welch, WYKR Sprint Cars of New England Caleb Lamson, Granite State Mini Sprints 600cc Anthony MarVuglio, 500cc Donny Sharp.
Richie Simmons gets the monkey off his back making it back to victory lane in top position breaking his streak of four visits in the third-place spot this season in the Sabil & Sons DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds. Coming from mid pack he worked his way to the front, and after several laps of a hard-fought battle with rookie Max Dolliver who was riding on point, he was able to get by him to take over the lead. Dolliver in his best finish yet held on for second holding off veteran Jason Gray who was unable to make a move to get by him. Jordan Fornwalt and James Fadden completed your top five.
DeGasparre & Ovitt Continue to Pace Challenge Cup Standings
Corliss Already into Top-10 After Sizzling Start at Thunder Road
Waterbury, VT — Even after a busy week in the New England Late Model Challenge Cup (NELMCC), two drivers continue to stand above the rest. Seekonk Speedway’s Gerry DeGasparre Jr. and White Mountain Motorsports Park’s Alby Ovitt sit one-two as the top weekly American-Canadian Tour (ACT) Late Model racers of 2021 thus far.
East Providence, RI’s DeGasparre, a seven-time Seekonk Speedway champion, has led the NELMCC standings for five of the last six weeks. Raymond, NH’s Ovitt, an 8-cylinder Street Stock legend in his first full season running Late Models at White Mountain, was the only driver to interrupt that streak. Both remain players in the battle for a $5,000 top prize plus contingency awards from Port City Racecars/Crazy Horse Racing, Five Star Race Car Bodies, and ARBodies.
Both have gotten where they are by sticking to one track and putting up consistently excellent results. Ovitt has scored 40 or more points four times, more than any other driver so far. This includes last Saturday’s event where he came from eighth to second in a 19-car White Mountain Late Model field. DeGasparre, meanwhile, has three 40-plus point outings of his own. The latest was also this past Saturday where he charged from ninth on an 18-car Seekonk grid to finish runner-up.
