Barre, VT — Day two of the 60th Vermont Milk Bowl weekend showcased the best and brightest Late Model stars in the American-Canadian Tour ranks along with some of the most competitive support divisions in the twin-states of Vermont and New Hampshire. Teams and drivers flooded the pit area Saturday morning for the all-important Booth Bros./Hood Milk Bowl Qualifying Day. The stakes were high and the hard-nosed racing in all divisions showed it leaving it all hang out en route to Sunday’s Vermont Milk Bowl.
Between Friday and Saturday, 43 American-Canadian Tour teams entered the Thunder Road gates with 40 cars competing in Time Trials for the iconic Booth Bros./Hood Milk Bowl Pole Award. While young Kaiden Fisher shocked the crowd early, tying multi-time Milk Bowl champion Patrick Laperle, it was 2022 King of the Road Christopher Pelkey who showed the way. Pelkey set a blistering 12.283-second lap halfway through the Time Trial round to earn the $1,000 Booth Bros./Hood Pole Award while Wolcott’s Marcel Gravel claimed the outside pole and the $500 bonus with a 12.343-second circuit.
With the new heat race payouts to the top 1- and with just five spots up for grabs in each of the Triple-50 lap heat races, it was all or nothing. Christopher Pelkey dominated heat one to take the $1,000 winners share while Cody Blake, Brendan Moodie, Scott Dragon, Kasey Beattie and Nick Sweet qualified through. Tragedy would strike Stark, New Hampshire’s Jamie Swallow Jr. after an overheating motor began pushing water heavily and ended a strong top-10 qualifying run.
Although Marcel Gravel brought heat two to green, he opted to save his tires for the bigger Sunday battle and took his option to bow out after the halfway point. After running side-by-side dangerously throughout the middle of the event, Matt Smith and Cooper Bouchard would tangle going into turn one, sending Stephen Martin into the turn two wall and ending his day. On the restart Flying Tiger Rookie of the Year Kaiden Fisher handily pulled away from the pack to earn his first Late Model victory. Shawn Swallow, Stephen Donahue, Brandon Lanphear and Jesse Switser would also qualify behind Fisher into tomorrow’s Milk Bowl.
The final round of heat race qualifying for the Late Models was a barn burner as the Black Night of the White Mountains, Derrick O’Donnell, fought valiantly to steal away the win, but Jimmy Hebert had other plans. Both O’Donnell and Hebert battled hard at the front before Hebert pulled away with the lead as the fight for the last transfer spot heated up between Kyle Pembroke and Joey Pole. The second-place points chaser went toe-to-toe with the former Milk Bowl champion but ultimately the 97NH snuck by to take the spot. Hebert would claim the win to qualify into tomorrow’s event along with D.J. Shaw, O’Donnell, Pole and Brooks Clark.
Following the heats, Patrick Laperle, Kyle Pembroke, Erick Sands, Jimmy Renfrew Jr. and Alex Labbe were transferred into the 60th Vermont Milk Bowl presented by Northfield Savings Bank as the fastest five cars from time trials yet to be qualified. Tomorrow’s Last Chance B-Feature will feature some heavy hitters including Thunder Road top rookies Keegan Lamson and Stephen Martin and former Kings of the Road Bobby Therrien and Jason Corliss among the 18-car field. Laps will be determined in the morning.
After White Mountain Motorsports Park Flying Tiger champion Tanner Woodard set down the fast time of 13.818-seconds over the 27-car Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel field, things went downhill fast. Their first segment went off with a rocky start as a huge lap one pileup in turn three collected the top runners and ended the day for Colin Cornell. On the restart, Logan Powers quickly took off with the lead in his Ralph Baldwin-throwback #11NC. All over the tail of Powers was the 1999 Brian Hoar throwback schemed Justin Prescott machine, both setting the fast pace out front.
The second and final caution would fly on lap 29 as rookie Cam Gadue’s right rear wheel broke, sending his Hoosier Race Tire barreling down turns three and four all on its own. On the restart, Logan Powers again powered by Prescott and stole away the Segment One win on Booth Bros./Hood Milk Bowl Qualifying Day. Justin Prescott would claim second to start tomorrow with two-points and 2022 Thunder Road Flying Tiger champion Sam Caron would post third with three points to start out with tomorrow.
The rk Miles Street Stocks were not so friendly after former track champion Jeffrey Martin claimed the fast-lap of 14.379-seconds in the car normally piloted by Kasey Collins. Unfortunately for Martin, the speed didn’t last with mechanical issues forcing the #98 pitside on lap 8. The same lap would see the first caution as the #30 driven by Danny Doyle made contact with ‘The Biffer’ Mike Gay in turn two. The caution would fly on the restart once more as Bert Duffy and Haidyn Pearce went for a ride together in turn one.
Finally able to restart cleanly, the field took off ferociously under the green flag. Luke Peters, Taylor Hoar, 2022 champion Dean Switser Jr. and a host of others battled at the front before the spinning Jesse Laquerre and Eric MacLaughlin went spinning in turn two. The final caution came out just as the white flag was being unfurled as Christopher Davis and Bert Duffy stopped dangerously broadside in turn three, blocking the turn completely. Race Control moved to a Green-White Checkered restart which Luke Peters handily won as Hoar and Switser battled for second. Dean Switser Jr. would take down second just 0.058-seconds over Taylor Hoar.
For the second consecutive season, White Mountain Motorsports Park has sent over the Woodsville Guaranty Savings Bank Strictly Stock Minis and the Dad’s 4 By Tool & Supply Kids Division and 2022 didn’t disappoint. The Strictly Minis included several White Mountain track champions alongside a few Thunder Road Warrior teams that jumped in on the action. 2022 Road Warrior winner Taylor Sayers quickly took over Segment One for the win followed by a strong Gavin McGinnis after a struggling season in New Hampshire.
Segment Two in the Strictly Stock’s Mini Milk Bowl saw things heat up a bit with the inverted field pushing the early leaders to drive back through the field. The second of two caution-free events for the Strictly Stock Minis saw Nick Pilotte easily take control of the field while Sayer and McGinnis drove hard to push through the mid-pack. For the second consecutive year, Nick Pilotte took down the Strictly Stock Mini’s Mini Milk Bowl on Booth Bros./Hood Qualifying Day, this year followed by Ryan Sayers and Adam Sicard on the podium.
The Dad’s 4 By Tool & Supply Kids Division proved to be a highlight of the day’s action. Invaders from Riverside Speedway’s DareDevil division showed the way in Segment One as young Brandon Sheldon motored away with the win followed by Karson Murphy and Connor Charbonneau. As Kyle Goodbout and McKenna Merchant brought the field underneath the green flag, it was seemingly all over. The lightning fast 15-lap segment proved to play into Merchant’s favor as the youngster nabbed her second consecutive Mini Milk Bowl win followed by Brandon Sheldon and Carson Theraux to round out the podium.
Keyword: Pelkey On Pole For Milk Bowl