Late Models Begin Two Championship Battles At Memorial Day Classic
More Than a Dozen Racers Aiming for “King of the Road” and Challenge Cup Titles
Barre, VT — The 58th Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic goes green at Barre’s Thunder Road this Sunday, May 30. For many Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Model racers, the 125-lap battle on FloRacing is the opening round of two championship campaigns that will captivate regional stock car racing fans all summer long.
Sunday’s Memorial Day Classic, the first since 2019, begins the 2021 “King of the Road” battle. Fourteen point-counting events lie ahead, concluding with Efficiency Vermont Championship Night on September 17. With the weekly field expected to increase in size this year, the competition will be frenetic each time out as teams aim to reach the top.
A second title will be on the line for two-time defending track champion Jason Corliss, 2017 champion Bobby Therrien, multi-time Late Model winner Matt White, and 10 others. All 14 events also are eligible for the American-Canadian Tour (ACT) New England Late Model Challenge Cup, a new regional championship that lets top weekly racers go head-to-head.
Memorial Day Classic Finally Returns to High Banks on May 30
Barre, VT — The high banks of Barre’s Thunder Road roar back to life on Sunday, May 30 with the 58th Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic. After a one-year hiatus due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, the historic event returns for a full afternoon of holiday action that can be seen live worldwide on FloRacing.
The Memorial Day Classic at Thunder Road goes back to 1961, the second year of the track’s existence. The 2020 cancellation marked the first time since 1981 the event wasn’t held. Now, with the country moving back towards normal, modern Thunder Road heroes such as Trampas Demers, Jason Corliss, Brooks Clark, Bobby Therrien, and Scott Dragon will battle for a spot on the event’s granite monument.
“The history of Thunder Road is very important as far as the track itself,” Shelburne’s Demers said. “The Memorial Day Classic gets you on the granite, and that’s what ultimately matters, because you’re etched in stone at that point. It’s an important race for everybody. It kicks off the season for Thunder Road weekly racing, so it’s also an important event from that standpoint — because as we know, the weekly competition is super-competitive.”
PRACTICE NOTES: Massive Field Turns Out for Thunder Road Practice Day
Barre, VT — A huge field of cars filed through the pits for the Thunder Road Car Show and Practice Day on Saturday, May 1. When all was said and done, 119 drivers across 4 divisions took to the track in preparation for the Community Bank N.A. 150 on FloRacing this Sunday, May 2. The speeds were as big as the fields with racers storming out of the gates after a long, cold Vermont winter.
The American-Canadian Tour (ACT) and Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Models saw 32 drivers on-hand. For many, it was their first session on the new Hoosier Racing tire. Whether it was the tire, the track conditions, or the eagerness to go racing again, the Late Models set a blistering pace. Times were noticeably quicker than last year with several drivers setting marks in the sub-12.3 second bracket.
Triple Crown Entries Pouring in for White Mountain & Thunder Road
Triple Crown Event Highlights White Mountain Season Opener on May 8
N. Woodstock, NH & Barre, VT — The Flying Tigers are about to take center stage for the first of half a dozen times in what’s shaping up as a tremendous 2021 for the class. Entries have been pouring in for both the Myers Container Service Triple Crown Series at Barre, VT’s Thunder Road and the J.P. Sicard Triple Crown Series at North Woodstock, NH’s White Mountain Motorsports Park as the racers of “North America’s Best Support Division” get ready for their time in the sun.
The White Mountain Motorsports Park season opener this Saturday, May 8 is also the first round in the J.P. Sicard Triple Crown. On Sunday, May 30, the Myers Triple Crown gets underway as part of the 58th Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic. Racers such as Jason Woodard, Jaden Perry, Joel Hodgdon, Colin Cornell, Russell Clark, and Brandon Gray will do battle in long-distance races that are never short on thrills.
“It’s just so competitive,” East Burke, VT’s Colin Cornell, a Triple Crown winner at both Thunder Road and White Mountain, said. “The plus-minus qualifying is a lot of fun for me, because it gives me that much more motivation to qualify well and pass more cars. Other than that, I love having more laps, and it’s very competitive as result — you get the best of the best.”
“I like that it’s at both tracks,” Cornell added. “White Mountain was my home track where I started out racing in the Kids Trucks. Then I brought (the team) over to Thunder Road, but I can still go back to White Mountain for these Triple Crown shows.”
ACT & Thunder Road Honor Best of 2020 at Banquet of Champions
American Canadian Tour
Barre, VT — The American-Canadian Tour (ACT) and Thunder Road Speedbowl honored the top performers of their 2020 seasons at the Banquet of Champions on Saturday, May 1. Drivers, crews, officials, and special guests gathered at Thunder Road prior to the track’s season-opener for a night of celebration before throwing the green flag of 2021.
Williamstown, VT’s Jimmy Hebert was recognized as the 2020 ACT Champion. In his ninth season with the ACT Late Model Tour, the Hebert Excavation team had 2 wins and 7 podium finishes in 9 point-counting events.
Despite challenges from both fellow competitors and from navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, Hebert and team were able to put everything together for their first ACT title. In his acceptance speech, Hebert credited the series for getting a season in despite the challenges and for taking care of its competitors, which helped sway his decision to defend the title in 2021.
Clark Gets First ACT Victory in Wild Community Bank N.A. 150
Perry, Martin, and Fleury Earn Wins in Support Division Action
American Canadian Tour
Barre, VT — Fayston, VT’s Brooks Clark roared from deep in the field to get his first American-Canadian Tour (ACT) victory in a wild Community Bank N.A. 150 at Barre, VT’s Thunder Road on Sunday, May 2. Clark took the lead for good from Shelburne, VT’s Trampas Demers with 21 laps to go and held him off for the victory after starting 21st on the grid.
The biggest victory of Clark’s career came in an event with more twists and turns than a campfire mystery tale. Several early contenders were sidelined by a spate of midrace carnage before Clark and Demers, two accomplished locals, put on a show down the stretch for both the Barre crowd and a worldwide audience on FloRacing.
