by Jay | May 19, 2016 | New, Thunder Road, Vermont
Waterbury, VT – Thunder Road International Speedbowl announces the continuation of a thirty-seven thousand ($37,000.00) point fund program for their weekly competitors’ 2016 season. Started in 2014, the three divisions – ACT Late Models, Bond Auto Tigers, and Allen Lumber Street Stocks – have enjoyed one of the largest weekly point funds in the country.
The Thunder Road Late Model Champion is awarded $7,500.00 at the end of the season. The top 15 positions in both the Late Model and Tiger divisions battle throughout the race season for positions in the point standings. The Late Models receive a total payout of $25,000.00; the Tiger division has a total of over $7,500; the 4-cylinder Street Stock division has a point fund through 20 positions that will pay over $4,400.00 in post season awards.
“Thunder Road has been known for paying some of the best weekly purses around the country, and certainly some of the best point funds. When I was racing the purse for Late Models was around $6,000 on the quarter mile. When you added in the year-end point fund, together it really helped with the expenses to race at the level we raced at. I think the same thing applies to the two other divisions,” said former three time-track champion and current ACT race director, Cris Michaud.
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by Jay | May 11, 2016 | ACT, New, Thunder Road, Touring Series News, Vermont
photo by RPM 360
By Dick Casey
Eddie MacDonald battled a tight race car on Sunday, May 8 in the 18th Annual Merchants Bank 150 at Thunder Road in Barre, Vermont to post an eighth place finish in the American Canadian tour’s race at the famed speedway. The event originally scheduled for last weekend but postponed due to rain, was again delayed by morning rain and blustery cold weather prevailed throughout the day.
“I don’t really know what happened to the car during the race,” said Eddie Mac. “We were really happy with it in practice and in the heat. Even during last Saturday’s practice here, we felt like the car was going good and we would have solid shot at the win. I don’t know if it was the cold or something else but the car was tight right from the start of the race and just didn’t have any speed.”
Eddie Mac drew the sixth starting position in the second heat but actually started second when cars in front of the Rowley, Mass. veteran dropped out. The Exit Realty/Hancock Electric Chevy easily won the heat earning a plus one rating forcing a 12th place start in the feature with Eddie Mac saying, “We started on the outside and there were a number of cars in front of us that just couldn’t run out there. I fell back in the pack and with the car not handling, it just kept getting worse. It was a struggle during the race to get the car going.”
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by Jay | May 9, 2016 | ACT, New, Thunder Road, Touring Series News, Vermont
American Canadian Tour
Barre, VT – Local racer Nick Sweet fended off Williamstown’s Jimmy Hebert on a trio of late restarts to win the 18th American-Canadian Tour (ACT) Merchants Bank 150 at Barre’s Thunder Road on Sunday, May 8.
Sweet, driving the #40VT Mad Dog Motorsports Chevrolet in place of his familiar #88VT Buick, first took the lead from Brook Clark on lap 14 and dominated the middle stages of the race. But a series of late spins allowed Hebert to draw alongside, and the former Tiger Sportsman track champion nosed ahead following restarts on laps 133 and 143.
But the two-time Thunder Road “King of the Road” was able to come back each time, and he easily cleared Hebert on the race’s final restart with three laps to go. Sweet became the second three-time winner of the Merchants Bank 150.
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by Jay | May 4, 2016 | ACT, New, Thunder Road, Touring Series News, Vermont
Local Stars Looking to Make Noise at Thunder Road on Sunday. (Alan Ward Photo)
Barre, VT—With the 18th running of the Merchants Bank 150 rescheduled for Sunday May 8, there are plenty of local race teams with hopes of carrying the checkered flag around the high banked ¼ mile oval. The American Canadian Tour (ACT) race is expecting well over 40 Late Models trying to qualify for just 26 starting spots at the “Nation’s Site of Excitement”.
Hinesburg, VT’s Bobby Therrien currently holds the top spot in the ACT Points Championship race, with defending three-time Champion Wayne Helliwell, Jr. just 2 points behind. Barre’s Nick Sweet, Emily Packard of Berlin, VT and Jimmy Hebert of Williamstown, VT are all regular Competitors on the ACT Tour who started their racing careers at Thunder Road. Of this group, Sweet has had the most success earning the “King of the Road“ title in 2010, 2012, and finishing as the runner-up in 2015, to go along with his four feature victories last season. The 21 year-old Hebert has also won a track Championship on the high banks, claiming the Flying Tiger Sportsman Division in 2009, and the 19 year-old Packard who finished fourth in the ACT Points Championship last season would love to get her first ACT win at her home track.
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by Jay | May 2, 2016 | ACT, New, Thunder Road, Touring Series News, Vermont
Rescheduled for Sunday May 8
Waterbury, VT –The dismal forecast for Sunday May 1 has forced Thunder Road Speedbowl to postpone the Merchants Bank 150. The race has been rescheduled for Sunday May 8, post time set for 2:00pm.
More than 40 ACT Late Model teams were expected to try and qualify including defending 2015 ACT Champion Wayne Helliwell Jr. of Dover, NH, along with 2015 Merchants Bank champion Brad Babb and multi-feature winner Nick Sweet.
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by Jay | Apr 28, 2016 | New, Thunder Road, Vermont
Therrien, Helliwell Open Thunder Road on Top. (Alan Ward photo)
Barre, VT—Hinesburg, VT’s Bobby Therrien heads to the “Nations Site of Excitement” as the American Canadian Tour (ACT) points leader this weekend for the 57th season opener of Barre, VT’s Thunder Road. Therrien, with a dominating win in the season opener at Oxford Plains Speedway and a 7th place finish last Sunday at Lee USA Speedway, leads three-time ACT Tour Champion Wayne Helliwell Jr. by just two points heading into the 18th Merchants Bank 150 on Sunday at 1:00pm. Helliwell, with a fourth place finish in the opener at Oxford and a strong second last week at Lee, is looking to carry the checkered flag around the high banked ¼ mile track again like he did in 2014. Brad Babb, driving the Joey Laquerre owned 15NH, stole the show in last year’s Merchants Bank 150 with Helliwell settling for second place. Babb became the 12th different winner in 17 editions of the event.
The ACT Tour drivers will not only be competing against each other but will also have to battle many of the weekly Thunder Road Late Model competitors. Second generation driver Cody Blake, Jason Corliss and Trampas Demers have filed entries to compete and Lt. Governor Phil Scott attended an open practice session at Thunder Road on April 20th.
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