With 65 laps on the board for the McGee Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Barre Trophy Dash, Darrell Morin and Brandon Lanphear brought the Maplefields/Irving Late Models to green. The two beautiful blue cars showed the way side-by-side before Lanphear gained the upper hand in the outside groove. A caution at lap 24 for the blown engine under Stephen Donahue’s hood set up a new battle at the front between Justin Prescott and Brandon Gray. Lanphear held back in fourth to watch defending champion Jason Corliss line up to take on the two front runners with all four under a blanket.
Brandon Lanphear’s turn three spin and pile-up would call out the final caution with five laps remaining. East Thetford’s Brandon Gray would get the jump on the restart and lead all the way home for the opening Thursday Night win at Thunder Road over Justin Prescott and Jason Corliss at the line.
After holding out hope for Monday’s original postponement, the weather forecast has become just as gloomy in Central Vermont for Memorial Day. Officials with Thunder Road have made the decision to postpone the 63rd running of the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic to Sunday, June 21.
With the summer calendar already filling up quickly for the American-Canadian Tour family of tracks and series, June 21 was singled out as the next available option on Father’s Day weekend. With the move, officials have earmarked the schedule to include pit gates opening at 10:00am, grandstands opening at 11:30am, and a post time of 2:00pm on Sunday, June 21.
“Unfortunately, the rain is against us this weekend,” said Thunder Road managing partner Cris Michaud. “We’re looking forward to an exciting Father’s Day weekend for our family of tracks starting with Five Star Roofing Night on Thursday, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at White Mountain on Saturday and now the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic on Sunday, June 21.”
Thursday nights at Thunder Road are fast approaching with McGee Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Barre presenting the annual Super Thursday opener on Thursday, June 4! The New England Supermodified Series (NESS) returns to the Barre highbanks along with the Maplefields/Irving Late Models, Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers and rk Miles Street Stocks! Be there for the start of Thursday Night Racing at Thunder Road with a 7:00pm post time.
With all forecasts for Central Vermont pointing towards wet weather throughout the day Sunday, Thunder Road officials have made the decision to push the 63rd Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic to Monday, May 25.
All times from Sunday’s original schedule will be in place for Memorial Day Monday.
Gates will open Monday morning at 8:30am with grandstands opening promptly at 10:00am and racing action to begin at 1:30pm. The originally posted schedule of events will remain in the same order for Monday’s Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic rescheduled date.
“The forecast flipped back and forth all week and they all finally pointed to rain for Sunday,” said Thunder Road managing partner Cris Michaud. “We thankfully have this built in date for Memorial Day Monday and it only makes it that much more special.”
Thunder Road is back in action on Monday, May 25 for the 63rd running of the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic! The Maplefields/Irving Late Models begin their King of the Road track championship charge with 125 laps in Race #1 of the Squier Cup presented by Milton CAT. The Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers, rk Miles Street Stocks, Burnett Scrap Metals Road Warriors, and Dads 4 By Tool & Supply Kids Division join in for a stellar holiday spectacular with a 1:30pm Post Time on Monday, May 25.
Grandstands open at 10:15am on Monday with Adult General Admission set at $20, Kids 6-12 are $10 and children five and under are free! The Family Four Pack (two adults, two kids) will also be available for $50.
Barre, VT – In a rare turn of events at the Nation’s Site of Excitement Sunday afternoon, three traveling members of the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour shocked the usually dominant hometown defenders at Thunder Road International Speedbowl with a sweep of the victory lane podium!
Thirty-five Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour drivers entered the Thunder Road pit area vying for starting position in the 28th annual Community Bank, n.a. 150 on Sunday. Three rounds of qualifying events whittled them down to twenty-nine starters on the grid. Current number-two point man Jake ‘The Jet’ Johnson earned the pole position with a ‘+4’ handicap alongside 2025 Serie ACT Quebec champion Jeff Côte in just his first visit to the Barre highbanks.
Côte quickly shot to the top spot from the outside pole with Thunder Road regulars Justin Prescott, Taylor Hoar and front-running ACT point man Gabe Brown riding in the top five. Meanwhile, the two most recent Thunder Road Kings of the Road, Kaiden Fisher and Jason Corliss, waged a side-by-side battle for seventh throughout the early goings.
NASCAR Star Daniel Suárez Joins 44th Vermont Governor’s Cup at Thunder Road
Barre, VT — Officials have announced today that NASCAR Cup Series star Daniel Suárez will be making his debut at Thunder Road as part of the 44th Vermont Governor’s Cup presented by the Vermont Lottery on Thursday, July 13th. While he’ll be taking on the local Maplewood/Irving Late Model stars on July 13th, Suárez will be taking all the notes he can in preparation for his return to Quarry Hill just one week later as part of the bombastic line-up of Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) stars ready to make their world debut at Thunder Road on July 20th.
Daniel Suárez hails all the way from Monterrey, Mexico and has been competing competitively in the three NASCAR national series since 2015 after multi-year success on the NASCAR Mexico Series circuit. After earning the 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship with Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), Suárez made the jump to the NASCAR Cup Series with JGR before driving for Stewart-Haas Racing. In 2021 Suárez joined the new-found Trackhouse Racing team headed by Justin Marks and has been in the 99-ride ever since.
