{"id":23647,"date":"2018-07-12T13:20:47","date_gmt":"2018-07-12T17:20:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/?p=23647"},"modified":"2018-07-11T22:21:24","modified_gmt":"2018-07-12T02:21:24","slug":"top-runners-lead-tigers-into-round-two-of-triple-crown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/2018\/07\/top-runners-lead-tigers-into-round-two-of-triple-crown\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Runners Lead Tigers into Round Two of Triple Crown"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Top Runners Lead Tigers into Round Two of Triple Crown<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barre, VT \u2013 The Thunder Road season motors on this Thursday, July 12 with a Consolidated Communications Night program that will feature the biggest names at the speedway ready to do battle. With round 2 of the Myers Container Service Triple Crown Series on the card, all eyes will be on a trio of Lenny\u2019s Shoe & Apparel Tiger drivers that have been the talk of the division in 2018.
\n<\/p>\n

Not a week can go by at Thunder Road this year without two names being uttered. The Lanphear name is one that was expected to make a splash. Morrisville\u2019s Dwayne Lanphear won the first two Flying Tiger events and has topped the standings ever since. His son Brandon snagged a surprise victory in the Triple Crown opener on June 8, and has since proven it was no fluke, going on a torrid run that has him third in the season-long tally.<\/p>\n

Sandwiched between them is Craftsbury Common\u2019s Joel Hodgdon, a name that not many fans anticipated hearing in 2018. But the multi-time Thunder Road Flying Tiger winner is having a career year. Hodgdon sits just eight points behind Dwayne Lanphear entering Thursday\u2019s 75-lap Triple Crown showdown and is confident about his chances.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can stay out of trouble, I think it\u2019s going to be pretty hard to beat us,\u201d Hodgdon said. \u201cEverybody seems to use their equipment up pretty early, and then we can just ride it out. We\u2019ve been a contender this year because I\u2019ve got the crew for it. I\u2019ve got four guys that come to the shop, help on the car, and go to the track every week, and we can joke and have fun and run well doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trio won\u2019t be the only ones ready to challenge for the win. Grand Isle\u2019s Joe Steffen was one of the fastest Tigers in June and is looking to bounce back after a rough Independence Day doubleheader that included a rollover. Hinesburg\u2019s Trevor Lyman and Barre\u2019s Cameron Ouellette are proven winners and have been solid in recent weeks. Craftsbury Common\u2019s Mike Martin has been coming around after a slow start, and a victory would put him in contention for back-to-back Triple Crown championships.<\/p>\n

Consolidated Communications Night will also feature a full card for the Maplewood\/Irving Oil Late Models and Allen Lumber Street Stocks. The Late Model \u201cKing of the Road\u201d battle is getting more crowded every week, as just 36 points separate the top-5. Barre\u2019s Cody Blake surged to the top spot after his win last Thursday. But he\u2019s just three points ahead of South Burlington\u2019s Trampas Demers, who is hungry to reclaim the top spot.<\/p>\n

Milton\u2019s Scott Dragon sits third and remains a serious contender for a second track championship. Barre\u2019s Jason Corliss slipped to fourth overall after a tough outing on Thursday. Fifteen-year-old Evan Hallstrom of Northfield rounds out the top-5. Stephen Donahue, Brendan Moodie, Darrell Morin, and Jim \u201cBoomer\u201d Morris sit just outside the front five and are each one hot streak away from being title contenders.<\/p>\n

In the Allen Lumber Street Stocks, Essex Jct.\u2019s Matthew Smith has reasserted himself atop the standings with a 44-point advantage over Dean Switser Jr. of Lyndonville. Derby\u2019s Tim Hunt, Middlesex\u2019s Logan Powers, and Craftsbury Common\u2019s Stephen Martin ride third through fifth. Defending champion Jamie Davis of Wolcott sits 66 points behind Smith in his quest for three titles in four years, but has time left to make up ground.<\/p>\n

The Consolidated Communications event gets underway at 7:00pm this Thursday, July 12. The pits open at 3:30pm and the front gates open at 5:15pm. Admission is $12 for adults, $3 for kids ages 6-12, and $25 for a family of four (2 adults, 2 kids).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Top Runners Lead Tigers into Round Two of Triple Crown Barre, VT \u2013 The Thunder Road season motors on this Thursday, July 12 with a Consolidated Communications Night program that will feature the biggest names at the speedway ready to do battle. With round 2 of the Myers Container Service Triple Crown Series on the […]<\/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":[26,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thunder-road","category-vermont"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23647","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=23647"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23648,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23647\/revisions\/23648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}