{"id":23011,"date":"2018-04-20T08:22:35","date_gmt":"2018-04-20T12:22:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/?p=23011"},"modified":"2018-04-20T08:22:35","modified_gmt":"2018-04-20T12:22:35","slug":"thunder-road-set-to-host-new-act-season-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/2018\/04\/thunder-road-set-to-host-new-act-season-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"Thunder Road Set to Host New ACT Season Opener"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Defending “King of the Road” Bobby Therrien will be looking for his first Community Bank N.A. 150 win on Sunday, April 29. (Alan Ward photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

Barre, VT<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 The Community Bank N.A. 150 at Barre\u2019s Thunder Road Speedbowl on Sunday, April 29 has gotten even bigger. With the NH Governor\u2019s Cup at Lee USA Speedway recently postponed for a second time, the track\u2019s 59th<\/sup>\u00a0season opener will now also serve as the opening event for the American-Canadian Tour (ACT), adding further fanfare to the occasion.<\/p>\n

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The cars and stars of the ACT Late Model Tour will take on many of the weekly racers from the Maplewood\/Irving Late Model division at the \u201cNation\u2019s Site of Excitement\u201d for nearly $30,000 in posted awards. Thunder Road has long been the \u201chome track\u201d for ACT and is sure to kick off the sanctioning body\u2019s 33rd<\/sup>\u00a0year of competition in style. And with every driver looking to start 2018 on a high note, a little extra intensity will surely be in the air.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A full field and then some is expected for the 20th<\/sup>\u00a0edition of the 150-lap event. The ACT invaders will be led by reigning U.S. Champion Scott Payea. The Colchester, VT veteran is also the defending winner of the Community Bank N.A. 150. Former Milk Bowl winner Eddie MacDonald of Rowley, MA will surely be hot on his heels. Both are predicted by many to be frontrunners for the 2018 championship.<\/p>\n

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Williamstown, VT\u2019s Jimmy Hebert got his start at Thunder Road and is looking for his first ACT win at the speedway after two prior runner-up finishes. Lebanon, NH\u2019s Rich Dubeau is considered a dark horse ACT title contender and is aiming for a solid Thunder Road performance. A strong Canadian contingent is expected as well with defending S\u00e9rie ACT Champion Jonathan Bouvrette of Blainville, QC highlighting the bill.<\/p>\n

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But they will have to battle a squadron of racers who spend their entire summer turning laps around the Barre high banks. Reigning Maplewood\/Irving Late Model Champion Bobby Therrien dominated last year\u2019s event before a late crash and is looking for redemption. He will be joined by fellow \u201cKing of the Road\u201d Scott Dragon of Milton, who won the Community Bank N.A. 150 back in 2004.<\/p>\n

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Defending Vermont Milk Bowl Champion Jason Corliss of Barre has entered the event, as has 2017 weekly runner-up Trampas Demers of South Burlington. Northfield\u2019s Matt White and Fayston\u2019s Brooks Clark could also break into Victory Lane.<\/p>\n

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Qualifying for the ACT Late Model Tour and Thunder Road season opener begins at\u00a01:30pm<\/span>\u00a0on Sunday, April 29. The Lenny\u2019s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers, Allen Lumber Street Stocks, and Burnett Scrap Metals Road Warriors will kick off their weekly racing series as well. Admission for the 4-division card is $25 for adults and free for kids age 12 and under. The pits will open at\u00a08:00am<\/span>\u00a0and the front gates will open at\u00a010:00am.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Many of the drivers who will be in action\u00a0on Sunday<\/span>\u00a0will also be at the annual Downtown Barre Car Show on\u00a0Saturday, April 28<\/span>\u00a0beginning at\u00a09:00am.<\/span>\u00a0Cars from all classes will line Main Street and a pit stop competition is set to feature last year\u2019s champions. A parade up Quarry Hill to the race track at\u00a012:00pm<\/span>\u00a0will be followed by an afternoon Test & Tune session.<\/p>\n

\nFor more information, contact the ACT\/Thunder Road offices at (802) 244-6963,\u00a0media@acttour.com<\/a>,\u00a0media@thunderroadvt.com<\/a>, or visit\u00a0www.acttour.com<\/a>\u00a0orwww.thunderroadvt.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Barre, VT\u00a0\u2013 The Community Bank N.A. 150 at Barre\u2019s Thunder Road Speedbowl on Sunday, April 29 has gotten even bigger. With the NH Governor\u2019s Cup at Lee USA Speedway recently postponed for a second time, the track\u2019s 59th\u00a0season opener will now also serve as the opening event for the American-Canadian Tour (ACT), adding further fanfare […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,26,16,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-act","category-thunder-road","category-touring-series-news","category-vermont"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23011"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23012,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23011\/revisions\/23012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}