First Time Winner Taylor Sayers Takes Nolato Road Warrior Challenge

Pembroke, Johnson and MacAskill Also Join the Nolato Winners Circle

Barre, VT — On yet another Thursday night in Central Vermont, rain played her part at Thunder Road International Speedbowl. Delayed by thirty minutes, the Nolato Night activities took off at 7:30pm with four divisions of action and over 90 cars in attendance wrapping the night up at seven-seconds past 10:00pm. In the end, another week of first time winners in 2022 stood in victory lane while many others put some extra padding in their track championship standings.

The Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers were first to take the stage after Tyler Austin and Mike MacAskill took dominating qualifying wins. Trouble started early as the 45VT machine of Milton’s Adam Maynard slammed into the turn three retaining wall, ending his night and bringing out the first caution on lap 1. On the restart, Randolph’s Eric ‘Teapot’ Johnson took off with Williamstown’s MacAskill to his outside. The side-by-side duo led the field till lap 13 when the caution flag reared up again for the flat right front tire of Kaiden Fisher as he came to a halt in turn three.

The Johnson versus MacAskill battle began all over again on the restart, neither giving each other an inch before Johnson pulled away in the low groove. In the closing laps, MacAskill gave it his all, taking his 3VT Monte Carlo to the extreme outside groove on the straightaways for even the slightest advantage on Johnson to no prevail. Eric Johnson took down his first Thunder Road win of the season followed closely by Michael MacAskill and Tyler Austin. In post race technical inspection, Austin was stripped of the finish with unapproved steering components giving Milton’s Robert Gordon the 3rd-place finish.

Alan Ward photo

In the rk Miles Street Stocks, a different MacAskill was cashing in on a hard-charging day. After winning his heat race, Kyle MacAskill took his pole starting position and ran with it, chased by 28 other four-cylinder competitors. Under the green, MacAskill got the break on the outside of Paige Whittemore and took off like a rocket. Before long, ‘The Biffer’ Mike Gay followed MacAskill on the outside and stayed tight with two orange rigs leading the way.

The first and only caution would fly on lap 12 when Taylor Hoar went sliding through the wet infield after the tap from leading rookie Zach Audet. Both cars would restart on the tail end of the field as a result. On the restart MacAskill took off with Tyler Whittemore glued to his rear bumper and stayed that way till the very end. Kyle MacAskill turned around a hard year with a win on Nolato Night followed by Tyler Whittemore and Jeffery Martin to round out the rk Miles Street Stock podium. Martin and Justin ‘El Chopo’ Blakely took the two other heat race wins.

Alan Ward photo

After taking off with the first Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Model heat race win, Danville’s Tyler Cahoon also took off with the early race lead in the Nolato 50-lap trophy dash. Followed by rookie Stephen Martin and Phil Scott, it was the side-by-side race for fourth between Chris Roberts and Cooper Bouchard that was turning heads. Unfortunately, after leading the first half of the 50-lap event, Cahoon’s car went soft and slowed hard on the backstretch as he limped to the pit area for repairs. Worse still, a big pile-up in turn two brought out the first caution and ended the night for Laci Potter, Eric Chase, Marcel Gravel and Brandon Lanphear.

On the restart, the all time division wins leader Phil Scott used his expertise on the outside and claimed the top spot quickly over Stephen Martin. With ten laps to go, Scott had a shrinking lead as Martin creeped closer and Kyle Pembroke used the outside groove to his advantage. Coming to lap 43, Martin and Scott had contact allowing Pembroke to charge past the two of them for the lead. Kyle Pembroke would cross the line first just seven laps later followed by Phil Scott and Stephen Martin.

Alan Ward photo

Lastly came the epic, 4th annual Nolato Road Warrior Challenge. Following full driver introductions to the crowd on hand and those at home watching on FloRacing, the mayhem of the Burnett Scrap Metal Road Warriors began. At the start it was a neck-and-neck duel between Milton’s Jason Kirby and Waterbury’s Ryan Foster until a lap car forced Kirby to concede the inside lane. The first caution came out at lap 24 with a massive pile-up in turn two as everyone tried to avoid the spinning youngster Keegan Tabor. On the restart Barre’s Chris ‘Critter’ Couture took off followed by Tayler Sayers, Foster, Ryan Sayers and Nate ‘Tater’ Brien.

The top-5 lead pack duked it out amongst themselves as they carefully navigated lap traffic on the Thunder Road highbanks. On lap 33, Taylor Sayers punched a hole underneath ‘Critter’ coming out of turn four and it was lights out. Taylor Sayers took down his first Thunder Road victory to the tune of $500 for the Nolato Road Warrior Challenge win followed by Ryan Foster and Nate Brien to round out the podium.

Alan Ward photo

Next up on the Thunder Road schedule is Vermont Tire & Service Night on Thursday, August 18th. Vermont Service & Tire Night is the second Double Purse event courtesy of our Streaming Partners at FloRacing with all four divisions in action including the Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Models, Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers, rk Miles Street Stocks and Burnett Scrap Metals Road Warriors. The annual Kids Poster Contest is also on the docket so parents, grab your paper and pencils! Full schedule and race day information will soon be available online at www.thunderroadvt.com/schedule.

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

4 Annual Nolato Road Warrior Challenge

Thursday, August 11, 2022

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS

Nolato Road Warrior Challenge – 50 Laps

1.         95        Taylor Sayers               Barre, VT

2.         8          Ryan Foster                 Waterbury, VT

3.         16        Nate Brien                   Williamstown, VT

4.         44        Chris Couture              Barre, VT

5.         68        Jamie York                   Graniteville, VT

6.         77        Josh Vilbrin                 Northfield, VT

7.         94        Ryan Sayers                 Barre, VT

8.         93        Karl Sheldon                St. Johnsbury, VT

9.         54        Dan Garrett Jr.           Berlin, VT

10.       99        Fred Fleury                  Graniteville, VT

11.       50        Nick Copping               Barre, VT

12.       28        Jared Blakely               Graniteville, VT

13.       10        Rodney Campbell       Worcester, VT

14.       97        Nick Deblois                Barre, VT

15.       88        Frank Putney               Graniteville, VT

16.       53        Kris Russell                  St. Johnsbury, VT

17.       31        Tyler Wheatley            Brookfield, VT

18.       13        Janelle Hodgdon             Waterville, VT

19.       71        Jason Kirby                  Milton, VT

20.       74        Keegan Tabor                     Milton, VT

21.       R2R                 

DNS     44VT    Jesse Bundy                 Hinesburg, VT

DNS     03        Robert Catchapaw      Waterbury, VT

DNS     19        Neal Foster                  Moretown, VT

Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Models – 50 Laps

1.         27VT    Kyle Pembroke            Montpelier, VT

2.         14VT    Phil Scott

3.         01VT    #Stephen Martin         Craftsbury Common, VT

4.         3VT      Chris Roberts               Washington, VT

5.         0VT      Scott Dragon               Milton, VT

6.         9VT      Chip Grenier               Orange, VT

7.         64VT    Chris Pelkey                 Graniteville, VT

8.         17VT    Darrell Morin              Westford, VT

9.         7VT      Cooper Bouchard        Hinesburg, VT

10.       55VT    #Keegan Lamson         Berlin, VT

11.       2VT      Stephen Donahue       Graniteville, VT

12.       8VT      Andy Hill                     Waterford, VT

13.       4VT      Scott Coburn               Barre, VT

14.       55TL    Blair Bessett                Barnet, VT

15.       48VT    Mike Bailey                 S. Barre, VT

16.       38VT    Tyler Cahoon               Danville, VT

17.       40VT    Eric Chase                   Milton, VT

18.       86VT    Marcel J. Gravel          Wolcott, VT

19.       16VT    Brandon Lanphear      Morrisville, VT

20.       55NH   Laci Potter                   Danville, VT

Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers – 40 Laps

1.         2VT      Eric Johnson                Randolph Ctr., VT

2.         3VT      Michael MacAskill      Williamstown, VT

3.         20VT    Robert Gordon            Milton, VT

4.         8VT      Mike Billado                Grand Isle, VT

5.         64VT    Jason Pelkey                Barre, VT

6.         56VT    Chris LaForest              Barre, VT

7.         44VT    Justin Prescott             Williston, VT

8.         08VT    Phil Potvin                   Underhill, VT

9.         31VT    Logan Powers              Middlesex, VT

10.       67VT    Kevin Streeter             Waitsfield, VT

11.       07VT    Sam Caron                   Milton, VT

12.       8NH     Rich Lowrey                 South Hero, VT

13.       15VT    Derrick Calkins             Hinesburg, VT

14.       68NH   Tanner Woodard         Waterbury Ctr., VT

15.       01VT    Michael Martin           Craftsbury, Common, VT

16.       90VT    Cameron Ouellette     Barre, VT

17.       18VT    #Kaiden Fisher             Shelburne, VT

18.       33VT    #Matt Ballard             Williamstown, VT

19.       45VT    Adam Maynard           Milton, VT

20.       35DG   Colin Cornell               E. Burke, VT

DSQ     5VT      Tyler Austin                 East Calais, VT**

**Disqualified for Unapproved Steering Components

rk Miles Street Stocks – 25 Laps

1.         7          Kyle MacAskill             Williamstown, VT

2.         74        Tyler Whittemore       Barre, VT

3.         8          Jeffery Martin             Barre, VT

4.         26        Luke Peters                 Groton, VT

5.         16        Dean Switser, Jr.         Waterford, VT

6.         54        Josh Lovely                  Williamstown, VT

7.         0          James Dopp                 Northfield, VT

8.         3          Michael Gay                S. Burlington, VT

9.         68        Kyler Davis                  Berlin, VT

10.       71        Jesse Laquerre             Berlin, VT

11.       98        Kasey Collins               Berlin, VT

12.       17        Justin Blakely              Graniteville, VT

13.       43        Jamie Davis                 Johnson, VT

14.       34        Patrick Tibbetts           Plainfield, VT

15.       30        #Cameron Powers       E. Montpelier, VT

16.       79        Juan 'Paco' Marshall   Pittsfield, VT

17.       33        #Curtis Franks             Topsham, VT

18.       9          #Zachary Audet           Morrisville, VT

19.       48        Taylor Hoar                 South Hero, VT

20.       73        #Paige Whittemore     Graniteville, VT

21.       29        Gary Mullen                Tunbridge, VT

22.       24        Todd Raymo                Swanton, VT

23.       5VT      Derek Farnham           Bethel, VT

24.       2          Haidyn Pearce             Chelsea, VT

25.       04        Scott Weston               Berlin, VT

26.       12        Mekaylah Bowen        Morrisville, VT

27.       96        Thomas Peck               Waterbury, VT

28.       55        Parker Gagne              Fairfax, VT

29.       47        William Hennequin     Morrisville, VT

DNS     6          Eric MacLaughlin        Milton, VT