{"id":9611,"date":"2012-05-05T09:15:04","date_gmt":"2012-05-05T13:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=9611"},"modified":"2012-05-05T08:37:57","modified_gmt":"2012-05-05T12:37:57","slug":"middlebury-hotshoe-hunter-bates-sets-sights-on-nascar-national-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2012\/05\/middlebury-hotshoe-hunter-bates-sets-sights-on-nascar-national-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Middlebury Hotshoe Hunter Bates Sets Sights on NASCAR National Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Middlebury Hotshoe Bates Sets Sights on NASCAR National Championship
\nTeenager\u2019s long racing season begins Sunday at Devil\u2019s Bowl Speedway<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most teenagers are just beginning to learn how to drive on the street. Not Hunter Bates \u2013 he\u2019s racing toward a NASCAR national championship.<\/p>\n

In between classes at Middlebury (VT) Union High School, where he is an Honor Roll student, Bates will make his first attempt at the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national title. His season begins on Sunday at Devil\u2019s Bowl Speedway in West Haven, VT with the 101.5 \u201cThe Fox\u201d Spring Green.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going for it,\u201d Bates said with a grin. \u201cHopefully we can get some wins together and make a run at the national championship. I think it\u2019s going to be fun.\u201d
\n
\nBates, who turns 17 on July 3, will campaign two very different race cars at tracks in two states as he chases down NASCAR national short track stars Keith Rocco of Wallingford, CT and defending Whelen All-American Series champion Philip Morris of Ruckersville, VA. Bates will race an open-wheel car in the Bond Auto Parts Modified class at Devil\u2019s Bowl Speedway and a full-fender Late Model at Canaan Fair Speedway in New Hampshire.<\/p>\n

The NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national championship is based on each driver\u2019s best 18 results in \u201cDivision I\u201d competition \u2013 Devil\u2019s Bowl\u2019s Modified class awards NASCAR \u201cDivision I\u201d points, while Canaan\u2019s top class is the Late Models. Even at his young age, Bates has already seen success in both cars. He was the Sportsman Modified champion on the former Champlain Valley Racing Association circuit at age 15 and won the Devil\u2019s Bowl Late Model title last year in his first season in the division.<\/p>\n

Bates was more comfortable in his Late Model during pre-season testing than he was in 2011. \u201cI feel a lot better about the Late Model because I\u2019ve got that experience under my belt from last year,\u201d he said. His Modified \u2013 the car he started his stock car career in \u2013 was very quick. \u201cI like [Devil\u2019s Bowl] a lot, and I think we\u2019ve got a pretty good car. I\u2019d like to think we can pick up a couple wins this year and maybe have a shot at least a track championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bates will start his year off by pulling double-duty at Devil\u2019s Bowl Speedway on Sunday at the 101.5 \u201cThe Fox\u201d Spring Green, racing the 35-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Modified feature and his Late Model in a 112-lap American-Canadian Tour (non-NASCAR) event.<\/p>\n

Visit NERacingForum.Com<\/a> for latest New England Racing community News and updates.<\/p>\n

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Middlebury Hotshoe Bates Sets Sights on NASCAR National Championship Teenager\u2019s long racing season begins Sunday at Devil\u2019s Bowl Speedway Most teenagers are just beginning to learn how to drive on the street. Not Hunter Bates \u2013 he\u2019s racing toward a NASCAR national championship. In between classes at Middlebury (VT) Union High School, where he is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[201,45,126,200],"tags":[14980,15069],"class_list":["post-9611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devils-bowl","category-nascar","category-new-england","category-vermont","tag-devils-bowl-speedway","tag-hunter-bates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9611\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}