Well we are getting right down to the last few Thunder Road races. It’s one of the saddest times of the year for me since I love racing so much. Winter will be long without the excitement but it just makes me anticipate for next year even more! Sunday’s race proved that the ACT Late Models are in it for the Championship.  As it stands now Eric Williams is still leading Chris Michaud by 15 points with only 3 Points races left. This Thursday we will get to enjoy a Double Feature Late Model night. The Late Models will complete their 50 Lap feature from the rained out Calkins Portables night. All drivers racing for the Championship will need to stay clean the first race to avoid any unfortunate mistakes that could cost them their title.

Now for everyone’s favorites and definitely mine, the ACT Late models. Coming into the race, Hyde Park’s Eric Williams had just 18 Points on past Champion Michaud and left the night with a mere 15. Williams is looking for his FIRST Track Champion title and has raced one of his best years at the track. The 50 Lap feature for the big guys was intense and got quite dirty for some of the racers. Michaud especially, trying for his 5th Championship title even started getting into Phil Scott a few times throughout the race. Rookie Matt White claimed his 2nd win of the year as a Late Model driver after battling with Brooks Clark for the lead. Donahue also looking for the championship had an unfortunate flat tire about halfway through causing him to drop back to 7th in points. Point leaders Michaud and Williams finished 4th and 5th. The boys better be careful though as they come into Thursday night Double Feature night. Any wrong move in the first Feature could cause them to lose their chance at Championship. Should be one of the most exciting nights Thunder Road has seen in a while. Hope to see you all on the high bank for a great night!!

Well as most of you know Thursday night was a bit of a washout! Did you all get as wet as I did? I was smart enough to bring a raincoat, but my bottom half was pretty wet for most of the night. Sad to say also, all my racing notes were ruined in the rain! Most of the Qualifying events were completed clean and quick. Those Flying Tigers though really kept the night dragging on as they continued to cause multiple wrecks and cautions in all the Heats.

With the Late Model Point race so close and exciting, I was really hoping they could get in a Full night of racing. They were lucky enough to get in All Qualifying events for all Divisions and even had a little fun with the Mayor of Barre and Mayor of Montpelier. Each raced the track on bicycles then in cars. In the end Barre Mayor Thom Lauzon won the 2 events.

With Double Points on the line last night, it was clearly a race for points! For some drivers, like Hyde Park’s Eric Williams-#7 and North Field’s Chris Michaud-#6, this race could make or break their chances for Top in points. It was also autograph night at the Road and the stands and Bud hill were FULL!

As Usual the Napa Flying Tigers started off the evening with their Qualifying heats. Heat 1 was run clean with no cautions. Heat 2 found the #99 Black-Flagged after rubbing on #86 due to the Zero Tolerance Policy factoring from the messes they caused last week. In Heat 3, the #15 of Joey Laquerre(also the Late Model #15) took on the outside for the lead. Towards the last lap of the Consi, Wolcott resident Brendan Moodie-#94 and rookie Michael Ziter-#26, battled for the last Qualifying spot of the race. On the last lap, #94 sneaks in and takes the spot. Although the Tigers ran clean Heats the first part of the night, I can’t say that much about their Feature race. Within the first 15 laps there were a handful of Cautions. In the end the #15 of Joey Laquerre had another nice race in one night and took 1st in the Tiger Feature. Followed by Eric Badore-#04, Tom Therrien-#48, Alex Perkins-#11, and Mark Barnier-#0 for the Top 5.

Allen Lumber Street Stocks had pretty low key night at the track. Heat 1 produced no cautions, just a clean, quick race. During Heat 2, the #70 of Paul Giacherio experienced car problems pitting on Lap 1, returning and pitting again on Lap 4. On the Last lap, Morrisville’s Kyle Hess driving Steve Mandigo’s #37 car, lost control on Turn 4 and hit the wall. The 25 Lap Feature started with 30 cars with the first Caution coming at an early Lap 2 when # 77 Dave Whitcomb(not to be confused with Late Model David Whitcomb) hit the wall on Turn 4. At the restart, the #20 of David Greenslit took a large lead ahead of the pack. They managed to go 13 laps before another caution caused by a spin out involving #59-Scott Maynard, #92-Garry Bashaw, #11-David Allen. Maynard pitted for a Rt Front flat tire. A few more cautions were spread out during the final 10 laps of the race. Hardwick’s #38 Greg Adams JR makes another good attempt at his first career win at TRoad but settles for 3rd. #22- Tom Smith claims 1st and #20-David Greenslit, 2nd.

The Power Shift Junk Yard Warriors had a pretty smooth night last night. With a few cautions, Black Flags, and multiple 3-Wide attempts they completed their 2 Qualifying Heats and were the final event of another exciting night of racing. Although it was a fantastic night for the 66 of Travis Hull, it was an unfortunate night for Power Shift sponsored driver, Michael Gay-#30. On Lap 1 of the feature, Gay was spun out by the #27 on the back stretch. Caution was slow to be thrown and the front of the pack was making their way around the track again. Gay took another hard hit on the side from #1-Chad Brown as he couldn’t avoid the warrior car. The race was Red Flagged and finished after cleanup with the Top 3 as Follow: #66-Travis Hull, Neal Foster-#19, Justin Gay-#24.

The ACT Late Model Division had an exciting night last night racing for Double Points. It is clearly a battle between former King of the Road Chris Michaud and Eric Williams. Headed into the race the two were 18 Points in separation. Last week’s feature winner #42-Matt White jumped ahead at the start of Heat 1 and held on taking 1st in the Qualifying for a spot in the Semi for Bonus points. Heat 2 includes “Beatle” Bailey- #00 taking the lead right away and for the majority of the race, Joey Becker-#16 & Pete Fecteau-#75 to battle for 2nd and 3rd.  Becker escapes the fight taking the 2nd place spot leaving Fecteau to next battle John Donahue-#26 for the Final Qualifying spot in Heat 2. Donahue wins that spot and #6-Chris Michaud running 2nd in Points fails to make it to Semi. Heat 3 gave us a great show with some fast cars. The #7 of Williams starting last, quickly moved up the pack finishing 3rd , Pembroke 2nd and Demers claimed 1st, all headed to the Semi for Bonus points.  9 Cars make up the group for the Semi, Matt White looking for a Triple Crown finds himself in the front of the pack again finishing 1st followed by Demers, Becker, Grenier and Williams. Going into the 50 Lap Feature there was a 28 Point lead on Michaud for Williams. At the start Bailey-#00 and Clark-#68 both try to claim 1st and Bailey takes it. On the restart of a later Caution, a handful of cars including #42-Matt White piled up on the front-stretch. After taking the wrong Pit row turn and colliding with Fecteau, White is disqualified from the remainder of the feature.  2nd place driver #68 is loose on the restart and drops back to 12th. Michaud makes his way up the group into 4th place followed by 1st place #00 losing control on Lap 26 and losing his spot. #6-Michaud continues to work his way closer to the front and finds himself in 1st place finishing the Double Points Mid Season Feature. Top 5 were: #6-Michaud, #85-Demers, #14-Scott, #7-Williams, #44-Pembroke.

See you at TRoad next Thursday for Fisher Auto Parts Night. Remember to visit up frequently for updates, and be sure to Post your own Forums and Photos! Want an EXCLUSIVE Budhill.com T-Shirt?? Post your photos of your Good Times at Thunder Road, or any photos taken at Thunder Road for your chance!

It was Charter Communications Night last night at Thunder Road and it felt good to be back at the track. My sister has been Guest Blogger for a few weeks now, but I’m back. The weather during the day looked a little iffy but it cleared off perfectly for the Races and was a beautiful night. Some may have even had to put their Sweatshirts on like me, but it was nice.

The Napa Flying Tigers started off the evenings Qualifying events. Though there wasn’t much excitement during the 3 Qualifying rounds or B Feature, the excitement came in their Feature race. With 3 major wrecks causing cautions within the first 2 Laps, Tom Curly stopped the race to bring them in the Pits for a chat allowing the Junk Yard Warriors to begin their Feature. After the Junk Yard feature, they came back out to Complete their 30 Lap Feature where the Top 3 were (18)Lance Allen, (58)James, Hebert, and (36)Joel Hodgdon.

During all the Allen Lumber Street Stock events there was quite a bit of action on the Track. During the Qualifying rounds a lot of drivers were nudged and spun out losing their spots to the rear. The Street Stock Feature carried more Action than any other race last night. The cars were making their turn around Turn 4, all the sudden on the front stretch, the 82 of Josh LaCourse Hit Steve Mandigo in the the37. Mandigo’s car jumped the Widow Maker which caused it to flip several time before coming to a stop on its roof. A Red Flag was dropped and thankfully, Mandigo was left unharmed! The same wreck also caused the 75 of Joe Fecteau to be sent 20 Feet into the air over the Turn 1 Bank. Fecteau also was unharmed during this wreck. The Race came to an end at 25 laps with The Top 3 of (73)Vern Woodard, (30)Lloyd Blakely and (11)David Allen.

The Power Shift Online Junk Yard Warriors started the night with an interesting twist. The Qualifying was an unconventional Qualifying event. I never did hear the exact Set up but it allowed only the Top cars after so many laps to race for Points. The first part of the Junk Yard Warrior Feature went pretty well until Lap 9 when the 90 of Alex MacLean spun around between Turn 3 & 4 causing the Yellow Flag to drop. A few laps later the 24 of Justin Gay spun out another driver on the track which resulted in a Black Flag for him and wasn’t allowed to return to the race. The 19 of Neal Foster who took 1st was Disqualified during Tech, leaving the Top 3 (04)Scott Weston, (1)Chad Brown, (66)Travis Hull. Points Leader Jamie Davis came from Dead last to 7th which was pretty impressive!

Now comes the event most people go to the Road to watch, the ACT Late Models. There was a lot of Battles for places during the Qualifying events as well as the 50 lap Feature. In Heat 1 14 and 68 battled it out for 1st and 2nd and the Points Leader Williams(7) passed his way to the 3rd position. In Heat 2, there was another Battle for 1st and 2nd the entire race between Rookie Matt White(42 and the 75 of Pete Fecteau. Becker took 3rd trying to push the 42 up for 2nd but Fecteau got it by a hair at the finish. During the Semi things were heated as racers tried for more points. Another Battle goes on as the 7 of Williams takes to the outside for 4th. Here, Fecteau and Williams battled for 3rd and 4th but Williams gets the 3rd place spot in the end. Now it’s on the Charter Communications 50 Lap Feature. As the 7 of Williams and 6 of Michaud battle for Point leads there were 22 cars to start the Race, with no Cautions the entire race, the entire 22 were able to finish. The 6 of Michaud bumped a couple cars to move up in position. As the 26 car got loose, it gave Willaims(7) a chance to sneak up 3 positions. This was a really clean run race with No cautions. The front end had to work around Lapped Traffic and the final race ended with Rookie, Matt White(42) Claiming his first Late Model Victory, 31 of Shawn Fleury and 86 of Dennis Demers. It was there on Victory Lane that the 86 of Demers announced his Retirement.