by Jay | Apr 27, 2012 | ACT, New England, Thunder Road, Touring Series News, Vermont
RPM Motorsports: ACT Late Model Tour
Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl Race Preview
THE STORY
Brian Hoar of Williston, Vt., will try and go 2-for-2 to open the ACT Late Model Tour season when the series competes in the Merchants Bank 150 at Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre, Vt., on Sunday, April 29. Hoar, who won his 34th career ACT race in the season opener at Lee USA Speedway two weeks ago, finished fifth in this event last season. Though Hoar has had mixed results at Thunder Road recently – winning the season-ending Milk Bowl last September, but posting his worst finish of 2011 in the Labor Day Classic 200 at the track – RPM Motorsports has dominated the last two Late Model events there. Local driver Nick Sweet won the Labor Day Classic for car owner Rick Paya in September, while Hoar capped his championship year with his second career Milk Bowl.
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by Jay | Apr 24, 2012 | ACT, Canada, New England, Thunder Road, Touring Series News, Vermont
Two-time and defending Serie ACT Castrol Champion Patrick Laperle has filed his entry for the 14th Annual Merchants Bank 150 at Thunder Road. The former ACT US star, who won the ACT Championship in 2008, will make his return to the Barre Highbanks to kick off the 2012 season.
Laperle’s resume at Thunder Road makes him an early favorite for the Merchants Bank 150. His 19 ACT wins, four of which have been at Thunder Road, is third overall on the All-Time ACT Win List. He is a multi-time Thunder Road Milk Bowl Champion as well as the 2010 Labor Day Classic winner.
Laperle is enthusiastic about starting the 2012 racing season.
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by Jay | Apr 24, 2012 | New England, Thunder Road, Vermont
Barre, VT — Thunder Road has announced a new ‘starter’ division for the 2012 season. The Rough Riders will be a division unlike any other created at the “Nation’s Site of Excitement”.
The Rough Riders will include an array of cars that must be 10 years or older, and will be encouraged to be painted in ‘character’ paint schemes like Spider Man, Terminator, Daffy Duck, Tweetie Bird, Mad Max, etc. The first of these cars will be built by Tom Curley, long-time promoter of Thunder Road. It will be known as the “Killer Bee”, painted yellow and black, and Curley is trying to get one of the most famous, under developed, names in Northeastern Motorsports to be his driver. Andrew Boritis will be the designated driver of the “Killer Bee”, and will be nicknamed “Andy B The Bumble Bee”. The car will be displayed at the Inaugural Vermont State Championship Mekkelsen Memorial Day Classic on Sunday, May 27th.
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by Jay | Apr 23, 2012 | ACT, New England, Thunder Road, Touring Series News, Vermont
Barre, VT — The long offseason has finally come to a close as drivers prepare for the first race at “The Nation’s Site of Excitement” Thunder Road in Barre, VT. The Late Model stars of the Northeast will be looking to send a message in their respective championship hopes at The Merchants Bank 150.
After a fierce battle for the win at the ACT season opener at Lee USA Speedway, the pressure heats up at Thunder Road for the second race of the 2012 ACT season. Many drivers will have a chip on their shoulder from missed opportunities in the opener, and will look for vengeance at The ‘Road.
After following up his record breaking eight ACT Championships with a win at Lee USA Speedway in the 2012 ACT season opener, Brian Hoar of Williston, VT will look to continue his march towards the ACT Championship. However, there will be stout competition waiting for him on the Barre high banks on Sunday, April 29.
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by Jay | Apr 9, 2012 | ACT, New England, Thunder Road, Touring Series News, Vermont
14th ANNUAL MERCHANTS BANK 150 OPENS THUNDER ROAD SEASON
BARRE’S NICK SWEET LOOKS FOR THREE IN A ROW
Barre, VT – The ‘Nation’s Site of Excitement’, Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl will open for the 53rd year of stock car racing with the traditional Merchants Bank 150 on Sunday, April 29, 2012. There has been over $30,000.00 in purse and prize money posted for the event, with the winner receiving $3,000.00 for the 150 lap contest. Defending event champion Nick Sweet from Barre, VT has an opportunity to become the first driver to win three in a row. The St J Auto team has back-to-back wins in 2010 and 2011 already in the record books.
“The opening Merchants Bank 150 has become really special for our family team. I was born and raised in Barre, I live and work in Barre, and winning at Thunder Road in front of a home town crowd is about as good as it gets in racing for us,” said Sweet.
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by Jay | Apr 7, 2012 | Devils Bowl, New England, Vermont
Rookie rosters growing at Devil’s Bowl Speedway
New racers trying out Vermont’s fastest half-mile
WEST HAVEN, VT — Rookie stock car drivers from around the northeast will learn their craft on the asphalt half-mile at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in West Haven, VT this summer. The track’s weekly NASCAR Whelen All-American Series program has more than a dozen rookies registered to date, with several more expected to enter by the season opening Spring Green event on Sunday, May 6.
The headline Bond Auto Parts Modified class has freshman racers Joey Roberts, Andy Smith, and Jeff Haskins, each with vastly different racing backgrounds. After success in Sportsman and Renegade cars, Roberts, of Georgia, VT, will make his open-wheel debut in the No. 50x Bicknell chassis sponsored by Vermont Life Safety. South Glens Falls, NY driver Smith was a frequent winner on both the clay and asphalt Devil’s Bowl surfaces in the former Duke Stock class, and will pilot the No. 91 E-Z Marine & Storage/Weller’s Auto Parts Bicknell. Haskins, of Wells, VT, ran the first five stock car races of his career last season and earned an impressive seventh-place finish at Devil’s Bowl in his Dirt Wheels-built No. 95 Fuller Sand & Gravel/Concrete Professionals, Inc. car.
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