Sweet King of PASS Once Again on Milk Bowl Friday

Barre, VT — Barre’s Nick Sweet reigned in the Pro All Star Series (PASS) Super Late Models for the third straight year on Vermont Milk Bowl Weekend as part of Mekkelsen RV Milk Bowl Friday on October 2. Sweet snatched the lead from point leader D.J. Shaw of Center Conway, NH with 29 laps remaining and pulled away late to win the Prelude to the Milk Bowl 150 at Barre’s Thunder Road.

After starting 11th in the 21-car field, Sweet was content to run mid-pack in the early going. Polesitter Travis Benjamin of Morrill, ME set the early pace but surrendered the lead to Shaw following the first caution at lap 18 for Allan Wilson’s turn-one spin.

Hinesburg’s Bobby Therrien then moved to the front, taking the top spot from Shaw on lap 27 after another restart. When the field went green following a lap-39 caution, though, Therrien’s driveshaft failed. Therrien got turned around as he slowed and eventually retired for the night as Shaw re-inherited the lead.

Sweet then made his first big run of the race, moving into the third spot on lap 49. Shaw, Northfield’s Evan Hallstrom, Sweet, and Pittson, ME’s Ben Ashline then rolled away from the field, with Shaw gapping the other three on multiple occasions only for another yellow to close them up once again.

As the race began to wind down, the cards fell into Sweet’s hands. He got around Hallstrom for the second spot just before caution number eight on lap 119 for an incident involving Jason Corliss and Kate Re. Although Shaw led the first lap following the restart, Sweet put the power down and shot around the outside of him. The veteran then survived back-to-back yellows on laps 128 and 129 before saying goodnight for his fifth win of the season.

Shaw went back-and-forth with Hallstrom in the final circuits before securing second. Hallstrom held off Ashline for third. Jeremy Davis, Ryan Kuhn, Kyle Desouza, Benjamin, Ben Rowe, and Anthony Consantino rounded out the top-10.

Gray, ME’s Tyler King moved ever closer to the PASS Modified championship by taking his fifth victory of the season. King started 12th on the grid but quickly cut through the field. A pair of incidents at the front of the pack further helped his cause.

First, on lap 15, Max Cookson got into leader Zach Bowie, bringing out the third caution and sending both the rear. On the restart, new leader Spencer Morse tangled with Justin Larson, with Larson barrel-rolling down the front chute.

When the dust settled, King was restarting second alongside Morse. King stalked him for several laps before the two made contact in turn four on lap 22. Both made great saves with King sliding underneath Morse in the process. The point leader then sped off into the night in an event that was shortened to 40 laps from the scheduled 50 due to the on-track carnage.

North Waterford, ME’s Bill Dixon followed up his win two weeks ago with a second-place finish. Morse, Bobby Nadeau, Jake Madore, Spencer Vaughn, Colby Benjamin, Zach Bowie, Chanler Harrison, and Shawn Night completed the top-10.

Craftsbury Common’s Mike Martin successfully defended his home track in the Honey Badger Bar & Grill Street Stock Series feature. Martin, one of several Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers who entered the event, started third and spent most of the 40-lap feature right in the tire tracks of Jordan Russell

After the race’s only caution on lap 26 when Adam Maynard and Matt Dufault both came to a stop in separate incidents, Martin stalked Russell for several more circuits. The Thunder Road veteran then muscled his way underneath Russell to take the lead.

Russel tried to flex some muscle of his own in return, hounding Martin as the laps wound down. The duo touched multiple times, including in turn two of the final lap. It was Russell getting sideways, though, allowing Martin to escape for the win.

David Greenslit, a Claremont Speedway Street Stock regular and former Thunder Road competitor, made his return worth the trip with a third-place effort. Mark Turner and Devon Mcconologue came home fourth and fifth.

Former North East Mini Stock Tour (NEMST) champion Cody Leblanc of Berlin, NH bested the field in the 50-lap NEMST feature to close out the night. Leblanc took the green deep on the grid but was up to third when the first caution flew on lap 29 after two cars got together while trying to stay on the lead lap.

The slowdown allowed Leblanc to close the gap on leader Emerson Cayer and runner-up Tim Paquette. When the race resumed, Leblanc immediately ducked below Paquette, then spent several laps sizing up Cayer. He finally went beneath his fellow former champion on lap 33 and completed the pass two laps later. A caution for Eric Banks’ stopped machine with two laps to go gave Cayer a final shot, but Leblanc easily got the best of the two-lap sprint to the checkers.

East Thetford, VT’s Matt Sonnhalter snuck past Contoocook, NH’s Cayer on the last restart for second. Desmond Skillings, Jake Rheaume, Erin Aiken, Paquette, Mike Viens, Dan Morris, and Justin Faford also earned top-10 finishes.

Vermont Milk Bowl Weekend continues Saturday, October 3 at 1:00pm with Booth Bros./H.P. Hood Qualifying Day. The Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Models have time trials and 50-lap qualifying races to help set the field for the 58th Vermont Milk Bowl presented by Northfield Savings Bank. The Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers and Allen Lumber Street Stocks also have time trials along with segment one of their “Mini Milk Bowls”. A two-segment Burnett Scrap Metals Road Warrior Mini Milk Bowl rounds out the Saturday afternoon card.

Walk-up tickets are available for select seating areas. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for kids ages 12 and under. The event will also be broadcast live on the Northeast Sports Network via pay-per-view at www.NSNsports.net/sponsors/racing.

THUNDER ROAD SPEEDBOWL

MEKKELSEN RV MILK BOWL FRIDAY

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2020

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS

PASS SUPER LATE MODELS

PRELUDE TO THE MILK BOWL 150

Pos., Driver, Car #, Hometown, Laps

1. Nick Sweet  ( 40VT ) , Barre, VT , 150 Laps

2. D.J. Shaw ( 60 ) , Center Conway, NH , 150 Laps

3. Evan Hallstrom ( 1VT ) , Northfield, VT , 150 Laps

4. Ben Ashline ( 99 ) , Pittson, ME , 150 Laps

5. Jeremy Davis ( 09 ) , Tamworth, NH , 150 Laps

6. Ryan Kuhn ( 72 ) , E. Bridgewater, ME , 150 Laps

7. Kyle Desouza ( 1 ) , Turner, ME , 150 Laps

8. Travis Benjamin ( 7 ) , Belfast, ME , 150 Laps

9. Ben Rowe ( 4 ) , Turner, ME , 150 Laps

10. Anthony Consantino ( 14C ) , Auburn, ME , 150 Laps

11. Jason Corliss ( 66VT ) , Barre, VT , 149 Laps

12. Gabe Brown ( 47B ) , Center Conway, NH , 149 Laps

13. Dan Winter ( 81 ) , Windham ME , 149 Laps

14. Scott McDaniel ( 14 ) , Livermore, ME , 145 Laps

15. Johnny Clark ( 54 ) , Farmington ME , 126 Laps

16. Kate Re ( 10 ) , Lovell, ME , 124 Laps

17. Mark Patten ( 07 ) , Belmont, NH , 50 Laps

18. Bobby Therrien ( 5X ) , Hinesburg, VT , 39 Laps

19. Allan Wilson ( 53W ) , Hebron, ME , 37 Laps

20. Logan Melcher ( 41 ) , Fayette, ME , 25 Laps

21. Jerry Gomarlo ( 76 ) , Bernardston, MA , 3 Laps

PASS MODIFIEDS

Pos., Driver, Car #, Hometown

1. Tyler King ( 11 ) , Gray, ME

2. Bill Dixon ( 33 ) , North Waterford, ME

3. Spencer Morse ( 34 ) , Waterford, ME

4. Bobby Nadeau ( 35 ) , Buxton, ME

5. Jake Madore ( 66 ) , Arundel, ME

6. Spencer Vaughn ( 7 ) , Canton, ME

7. Colby Benjamin ( 52 ) , Belmont, ME

8. Zach Bowie ( 00 ) , Greene, ME

9. Chanler Harrison ( 6 ) , Freeport, ME

10. Shawn Knight ( 13 ) , South Paris, ME

11. Justin Larson ( 18 ) , Peru, ME

12. A.J. Cates ( 2 ) , Lyman, ME

13. Max Cookson ( 41 ) , Pittsfield, ME

14. Kevin Durgin ( 12 ) , Scarborough, ME

15. Troy Morse ( 21 ) , Bridgeton, ME

16. Ashley Beyea ( 44 ) , Old Orchard Beach, ME

HONEY BADGER BAR & GRILL STREET STOCK SERIES

Pos., Driver, Car #, Hometown

1. Michael Martin ( 01 ) , Craftsbury Common, VT

2. Jordan Russell ( 4 ) , Norway, ME

3. David Greenslit ( 20 ) , Langdon, NH

4. Mark Turner ( 09 ) , South Paris, ME

5. Devon Mcconologue ( 18 ) , West Newfield, ME

6. Adam Maynard ( 45 ) , Milton, VT

7. Mike Mayberry ( 62 ) , Naples, ME

8. Michael Haynes ( 67 ) , Livermore Falls, ME

9. Matt Dufault ( 61D ) , Naples, ME

10. Lucas Wheeler ( 21 ) , Bradford, VT

11. Kasey Beattie ( 5 ) , St. Johnsbury, VT

DNS Stephen Martin ( 9 ) , Craftsbury Common, VT

NORTH EAST MINIT STOCK TOUR

Pos., Driver, Car #, Hometown

1. Cody Leblanc ( 7NH ) , Berlin, NH

2. Matt Sonnhalter ( 33VT ) , East Thetford, VT

3. Emerson Cayer ( 88 ) , Contoocook, NH

4. Desmond Skillings ( 90 ) , Antrim, NH

5. Jake Rheaume ( 18NH ) , Rochester, NH

6. Erin Aiken ( 33NH ) , Claremont, NH

7. Tim Paquette ( 93 ) , Bennington, NH

8. Mike Viens ( 85 ) , Seekonk, MA

9. Dan Morris ( 33ME ) , Auburn, ME

10. Justin Faford ( 04 ) , Westminster, MA

11. Louis Maher ( 69Z ) , Spencer, MA

12. Dana Shepard ( 43VT ) , Putney, VT

13. Eric Banks ( 5 )

14. Gordon Farnum ( 46NH )

DNS Roger Ducharme ( 34 ) , Foster, RI