Barre, VT — Booth Bros./Hood Vermont Milk Bowl Qualifying Day on Saturday at Thunder Road was a spectacular display of short track racing in preparation for Sunday’s Vermont Milk Bowl. The Toughest Short Track Race in North America isn’t just tough on Sunday, Saturday’s Booth Bros./Hood Qualifying Day is no small feat with time trials and triple-50 heat races determining the start of the feature field with tomorrow’s B-Feature setting the final four spots for the 61st Vermont Milk Bowl. Throw in the start of Mini Milk Bowl action, PASS Super Late Models and the New England Supermodified Series, Booth Bros./Hood Qualifying Day set the exciting pace for Milk Bowl weekend.
North Dartmouth, Massachusetts’ Derek Gluchacki took the Booth Bros./Hood Fast Time Pole Award and the Vermont Milk Bowl pole position on Sunday with a blistering 12.152-second lap over outside polesitter Stephen Donahue’s 12.186-second lap in time trial qualifying. The triple-50 heat races followed with Cody Blake, Gabe Brown and Nick Sweet earning the $1,000 heat race wins and setting the top-17 with seven more added from their fast-time in qualifying. Twenty-four cars are locked in for the Vermont Milk Bowl with the top two finishers in tomorrow’s B-Feature with a provisional on the line for one Thunder Road driver and one American-Canadian Tour driver also on the line.
Fast cars Rich Lowrey and 2023 track champion Kyle Streeter set the pace in segment one of the Mini Milk Bowl for the Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers. While the battle was hot and heavy early, Streeter marched to the lead on the outside lane. As the green flag laps continued, Jason Woodard and Cam Powers driving the Beaver Dragon throwback got physical for third. With ten laps remaining, Jason Pelkey piled in with second through fifth running under a blanket just on the rear-bumper of Streeter before disaster struck. The Streeter machine lost the right front wheel bearing just Woodard dove under the defending champion in turn three.
Lowrey and Woodard went to war under the restart green flag, leaving a show for Powers and Pelkey in third and fourth. Jason Woodard kept his speed up to take the segment win with Jason Pelkey and Rich Lowery rounding out the top three.
Former track champions Dean Switser and Jamie Davis led the rk Miles Street Stock field to green for the first of two segments in their Mini Milk Bowl. While Switser got the jump and the lead in the early stages of their lightning-fast 25 lap segment one, Josh Lovely powered up from his sixth-place starting spot to stalk the leader. The caution-free showdown saw Dean Switser Jr. take the segment win over Josh Lovely and Trevor Jaques at the line, leading into a super competitive segment two during tomorrow's program.
Speaking of lightning fast, the New England Supermodifed Series stole the stage for their 75-lap Milk Bowl weekend spectacular. Ryan Battle back behind the wheel of the #9 machine led from the drop of the green flag, careening around lap traffic within the first fifteen circuits around the ¼-mile Thunder Road bullring. 2023 winners Vern Romanowski and Dan Bowles kept up the pace as best they could, but quickly found themselves half-a-track back in second and third. Matt Swanson powered up through just after the halfway point to take the lead before Duggan’s powerplant let loose coming out of turn four.
Battle and Swanson restarted the field with thirty-five laps remaining as Swanson got shot out of a cannon on on the restart to take the lead from the outside lane before Dave Duggan’s spin in turn two called the caution once more. Swanson powered back up under green to take the Thunder Road win over a hard-charging Ryan Battle in just his second Supermodified start with Dan Bowles rounding out the podium.
Green Mountain Boys Jimmy Hebert and Evan Hallstrom started off the PASS Super Late Model 150 with Gabe Brown and Joey Doiron quickly joining the top three. Hometown Hebert kept the pace out front until Brown swept under to lead lap 18. Perennial PASS runner Dennis Spencer Jr. lost a right front tire on lap 23 before rejoining the field on lap 33. Spencer would continue his string of bad luck by smacking the turn three wall on lap 53 and officially ended his day with wrecked front-end suspension.
Brian Whalley earned the lucky dog spot as Doiron, Jeremy Davis, Hallstrom and Bobby Therrien went pit-side for adjustments. Brown and Hebert faced off on the return to green with Brown gaining the upper hand on the low groove. D.J. Shaw creeped up on Hebert to take second away on lap 67 and set his sights on Brown just a split second ahead of him. The final caution flag flew for Trevor Sanborn slowed in turn three on lap 108 just as Shaw began to work over Brown for the lead. The two restarted dead-even but it was Shaw putting the pedal to the metal on the outside groove to lead lap 109. D.J. Shaw kept pace on the field and took his second consecutive PASS win in 2023 over Gabe Brown and Johnny Clark.
Tomorrow, Sunday, October 1 brings the Toughest Short Track Race in North America to Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre, Vermont. The $100,000 61st Vermont Milk Bowl presented by Northfield Savings Bank kicks off with the nail-biting Last Chance B-Feature for the ACT/Maplewood-Irving Late Models at 12:15pm before opening ceremonies begin at 12:40pm and Segment One of the Milk Bowl taking the Green Flag at 1:30pm. The Flying Tigers and Street Stocks will finish out their exciting Mini Milk Bowls alongside the two segment Mini Milk Bowl for the Burnett Scrap Metals Road Warriors. Sunday-Only general admission is available at $30 for adults, $10 for kids 12-6 with children 5 and under free!
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.
-ACT Media Press Release
-Photo credit: Alan Ward
Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl – Barre, VT
Booth Bros./Hood Vermont Milk Bowl Qualifying Day
Saturday, September 30, 2023
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Booth Bros./Hood Vermont Milk Bowl Fast-Time Pole Winner (Car #, Driver, Hometown, Fast-Lap Time) -
92MA Derek Gluchacki N. Dartmouth, MA 12.152-seconds
61s Vermont Milk Bowl presented by Northfield Savings Bank Starting Line-Up
1. 92MA Derek Gluchacki North Dartmouth, MA
2. 29VT Stephen Donahue Graniteville, VT
3. 99VT Cody Blake Barre, VT
4. 60ME Gabe Brown Center Conway, NH
5. 88VT Nick Sweet Barre, VT
6. 14VT Bobby Therrien Hinesburg, VT
7. 86VT Marcel J. Gravel Wolcott, VT
8. 64VT Chris Pelkey Graniteville, VT
9. 77NH #Bryan Wall Jr. E. Kingston, NH
10. 01VT Stephen Martin Craftsbury Common, VT
11. 9VT Chip Grenier Orange, VT
12. 36NH Erick Sands Derry, NH
13. 04VT D.J. Shaw Center Conway, NH
14. 66VT Jason Corliss Barre, VT
15. 0VT Scott Dragon Milton, VT
16. 58VT Jimmy Hebert Williamstown, VT
17. 18VT #Kaiden Fisher Shelburne, VT
18. 91QC Patrick Laperle St-Denis, QC
19. 68VT Brooks Clark Fayston, VT
20. 68NH #Tanner Woodard Waterbury Ctr., VT
21. 04NH Shawn Swallow Groveton, NH
22. 27VT Kyle Pembroke Montpelier, VT
23. 97NH Joey Polewarczyk Hudson, NH
24. 45NY Brian Hoar Williston, VT
25. 1st-Place B-Feature
26. 2nd-Place B-Feature
27. Thunder Road 100% Provisional
28. ACT Tour 100% Provisional
Pro All Stars Series (PASS) Super Late Models - (150 Laps)
1. 60 D.J. Shaw Center Conway, NH
2. 47B Gabe Brown Center Conway, NH
3. 54 Johnny Clark Hallowell, ME
4. 58VT Jimmy Hebert Williamstown, VT
5. 1VT Evan Hallstrom Northfield, VT
6. 39 Max Cookson Pittsfield, ME
7. 73D Joey Doiron Berwick, ME
8. 44 Trevor Sanborn E. Parsonsfield, ME
9. 5x Bobby Therrien Hinesburg, VT
10. 02 Brian Whalley Laconia, NH
11. 09 Jeremy Davis Tamworth, NH
12. 12 Dennis Spencer, Jr. Oxford, ME
New England Supermodified Series (NESS) - (75 Laps)
1. 97 Matt Swanson Acton, MA
2. 9 Ryan Battles Dunstable, MA
3. 25 Dan Bowles Epping, NH
4. 11 Ben Seitz Bourne, MA
5. 5 Rob Summers Manchester, CT
6. 41 Russ Wood Pelham, NH
7. 45 Mike Mayberry Naples, ME
8. 51 Dave Duggan Mason, NH
9. 13 Bobby Timmons Windham, ME
10. 52 Vern Romanowski Strong, ME
Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers Mini Milk Bowl Segment #1 - (40 Laps)
1 68VT Jason Woodard Waterbury Ctr., VT
2 64VT Jason Pelkey Barre, VT
3 8NH Rich Lowrey South Hero, VT
4 7VT Logan Powers Middlesex, VT
5 15VT Derrick Calkins Hinesburg, VT
6 4ME Cooper French Northfield, VT
7 90VT Cameron Ouellette Barre, VT
8 65VT Robert Gordon Milton, VT
9 8VT Mike Billado Grand Isle, VT
10 07VT Sam Caron Milton, VT
11 01VT Michael Martin Craftsbury, Common, VT
12 52VT Brad Bushey Fairfax, VT
13 2NY Cam Gadue Highgate, VT
14 54VT Colin Cornell E. Burke, VT
15 08VT Phil Potvin Underhill, VT
16 45VT Adam Maynard Milton, VT
17 78VT #Tyler Pepin Barre, VT
18 2VT Craig Bushey Fairfax, VT
19 5NH Kyle Gravel Wolcott, VT
20 77VT Ryan Field Stowe, VT
21 37VT Kyle Streeter Waterbury Ctr., VT
22 33VT Matt Ballard Williamstown, VT
23 93FL Jeff Oeschger Dover, FL
24 31NH Shawn Fleury Middlesex, VT
25 6VT Kyler Davis Berlin, VT
rk Miles Street Stocks Mini Milk Bowl Segment #1 - (25 Laps)
1. 16 Dean Switser, Jr. Waterford, VT
2. 54 Josh Lovely Williamstown, VT
3. 57 Trevor Jaques Milton, VT
4. 16NH Nick Pilotte Bethlehem, NH
5. 48 Taylor Hoar South Hero, VT
6. 43 Jamie Davis Johnson, VT
7. 16x Patrick Switser Waterford, VT
8. 9 #Logan Farrell Barre, VT
9. 55 Parker Gagne Fairfax, VT
10. 66 Robert Audet Morrisville, VT
11. 08 #Ryan Foster Waterbury, VT
12. 0 James Dopp Northfield, VT
13. 57NH Todd Derrington Littleton, NH
14. 88 Danny Doyle Northfield, VT
15. 3 Michael Gay S. Burlington, VT
16. 24 Todd Raymo Swanton, VT
17. 2 Haidyn Pearce Chelsea, VT
18. 98 Kasey Collins Berlin, VT
19. 90 Kyle Goodbout N. Woodstock, NH
20. 2x Cameron Ruggles Richmond, VA
21. 33 Curtis Franks Topsham, VT
22. 04 Scott Weston Berlin, VT
23. 17x Connor Rueda Barre, VT
24. 50 Eric MacLaughlin Milton, VT
25. 13 #Travis Gay S. Burlington, VT
26. 8 Jeffery Martin Barre, VT
DNS 17 Justin Blakely Graniteville, VT
