Barre, VT — The traditional Thunder Road Thursday Night opener in 2022 was a little more wet than anyone planned for and when the rains came, they came hard. With the constant threat of rain forcing officials to push the show along, Casella Waste Management Night schedule bobbed and weaved with the forecast. When it was all said and done, monsoon rains finally descended on high banks just after lap 35 of the Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers feature leaving two teams from Williamstown very happy, albeit wet, campers.

The New England Antique Racers started the night off early in attempt to outrun the threating clouds with 18 coupes, early modifieds and outdated late models making two fields for their annual visit in two caution free events. Mike Rollins in the #44MA took the Sportsman win while Curt Snow in the #110 took the Modified win along with the Cho Lee Memorial Award. Cho Lee was a longtime researcher, statistician and historian for stock car racing in the state of Vermont, particularly for Thunder Road. We are honored NEAR gave out his annual Memorial Award last night at The Road.

Following hasty qualifying events for the three Thunder Road house divisions, the rk Miles Street Stocks led the feature list for their 25-lap main event on Casella Night. After being pulled off the track twice when rains deemed too dangerous for racing arrived, everyone held their breath. With clouds closing and after successful track drying completed, the Street Stocks returned to the track once again, making it through the all important halfway-point.

The mix of wiley veterans and hungry young guns at the front made for tight racing and exciting moves. Through it all, Tommy ‘Thunder’ Smith battled up through with Justin ‘El Chopo’ Blakely following close behind. Taylor Hoar finally broke away from the three-car tangle of William ‘Wiener’ Hennequin, Josh Lovely and Jeffery Martin, who beat and battled for every inch of racing real estate until the last second. At lap 21, rains once again returned, and the race was deemed official as the yellow flag was joined by the checkered.

Williamstown’s Tommy ‘Thunder’ Smith added to his Street Stock all-time wins list, making it 35 wins over his long 4-cylender career at The Road. Justin ‘El Chopo’ Blakey followed behind in second to break away from last week’s DNF after a tough late-race wreck in turn three. Taylor Hoar made a big statement by backing up last week’s bronze with her second consecutive third place finish in her second year behind the wheel.

The Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers took the field with rains again subsiding and after another successful round of track-drying. With dark threatening clouds still filling the skies above, the halfway mark was once again on everyone’s mind. Charging from a fourth-place start, Williamstown’s Michael MacAskill battled hard against pole-sitter Kevin Streeter of Waitsfield. The two red-and-black rigs battled it out for 35 laps, MacAskill hard-charging on the outside of Streeter nearly the entire time.

Behind them the action was just as thick. Tanner Woodard didn’t make any friends on his hard charge to the front, making moves around Sam Caron and Rich Lowrey along the way. In the blink of an eye heavy monsoon rains poured over the track as the drivers came out of turn four and were promptly greeted by the yellow flag, ending the night.

Michael MacAskill made it two wins in 2022 with the lucky throwback paint scheme from his 2010 rk Miles Street Stock Championship. Streeter took second on his best run of the season so far and sophomore Tanner Woodard cracked his first Thunder Road podium of the year in third.

The heavy rain ended the night with the Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Model portion of the Casella program set to run next Thursday, with a special 6:30pm Post Time for the epic Community College of Vermont Night. Starting promptly at 6:30pm, the Casella Waste Management Late Model event will start the night with Scott Coburn and Chip Grenier set to take the field to green.

The epic Community College of Vermont Night will feature the $1,000-to-win R&R Race Parts Street Stock Open Series 75, double-feature action for the Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Models with regular distance events for the Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers and rk Miles Street Stocks. Also included is the 8th Annual Marvin Johnson Memorial Non-Winners Race for the Street Stocks. CCV Night starts with a special 6:30pm Post Time with full schedule and pricing information to be released within the coming days.

For more information, contact the Thunder Road offices at (802) 244-6963, media@thunderroadvt.com, or visit www.thunderroadvt.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @ThunderRoadVT.

Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl – Barre, VT

Casella Waste Management Night

Thursday, June 16, 2022

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS

Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers – Ended at Lap 35 Due to Rain

1 3VT Michael MacAskill Williamstown,VT

2 67VT Kevin Streeter Waitsfield, VT

3 68NH Tanner Woodard Waterbury Ctr., VT

4 07VT Sam Caron Milton, VT

5 8NH Rich Lowrey South Hero, VT

6 92VT Jaden Perry Hardwick, VT

7 15VT Derrick Calkins Hinesburg, VT