BARRE, Vt. — A beautiful, summer-like day greeted the fans and teams of Thunder Road Speedbowl to set the scene for a history-making Vermont Milk Bowl.
Three segments of racing awaited the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour / Maplefields-Irving Late Models Sunday morning with Marcel Gravel pacing the pack early in Segment No. 1. It started with a bang on lap one, in turn one as Brandon Gray, Bryan Wall Jr. and Erick Sands saw their days end early in a crashing of steel and concrete. Gravel set the pace but fell under attack from current Touring point leader Raphael Lessard at lap 10.
Gravel regained the high ground on lap 19 and kept the hammer down for the Segment No. 1 win.
The start of Segment No. 2 mirrored that of the first round as an incredible seven car pile-up stacked Jimmy Hebert and Scott Dragon three-high against the turn one wall but after lengthy clean up the Milk Bowl continued. Rookie Trevor Jaques paced the field in battle with sophomore touring driver Cole Littlewood until again Gravel made his way to the front and took the Segment No. 2 win.
Going into Segment No. 3 with a perfect score meant Gravel was the man to beat and in the early stages of the final segment it looked like Jason Corliss was giving it his all to topple the Wolcott driver. Aside from the earlier stages, Segment #3 was a calm affair with just one caution on lap 12 for Derek Gluchacki and Lessard in turn one slowing the pace. Gravel again worked his magic to get as high as third in the final segment to take an overall total of just five points, earning him the additional $5,000 score bonus for winning with under six points.
Marcel Gravel was crowned the 2025 Vermont Milk Bowl champion with the help of Northfield Savings Bank as the first back-to-back victory since Jason Corliss in 2018, while his $21,900 victory is unofficially the biggest winner’s payout in Milk Bowl history.
Not to mention, Gravel’s score of just five points is the lowest winning score since Brian Hoar’s 4-point win back in 1998.
After winning Saturday’s opening segment in the Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers Mini Milk Bowl, Jason Woodard started Sunday’s 40-lapper dead last alongside fellow Milk Bowl hopeful Luke Peters. The two methodically made their way up through the pack, with the aid of a couple cautions no doubt, but Woodard finally broke away and stole the lead with ten laps remaining. Woodard would go on to take the win and the perfect Mini Milk Bowl score of ‘2’ to take the emotional win and return to Northfield Savings Bank victory lane.
The rk Miles Street Stocks returned to also finish out their Mini Milk Bowl action on Northfield Savings Bank Sunday. While Derek Farnham dominated the final segment out front, all eyes were on Nick Pilotte and Jacob Roy after the two broke away from Saturday’s hotshoes Hayden Morris and Hayden Bushey. The two fought neck and neck through the final stages with Pilotte unable to gain the last crucial spot to secure the tie as White Mountain Motorsports Park regular Jacob Roy nailed down the Mini Milk Bowl honors.
The Burnett Scrap Metals Road Warriors put on a rough and rowdy affair for the end of season honors at Thunder Road. Cayden Green’s on-track win in Segment No. 2 was enough to take the overall until an illegal tire was discovered in post-race technical inspection. Taylor Sayers was handed the win afterwards with a first and third, respectively.
The Dad’s 4 By Tool & Supply Kids Division also made the trip over to Vermont Milk Bowl weekend for a pair of 12-lap segments on Sunday. Hometown boy Evan Folsom put on a clinic to win the opening round before coming home second in a door-to-door finish with Owen Dupuis to take the overall in his first career Kids Division win.
The finish:
Marcel J. Gravel, Jason Corliss, Kaiden Fisher, Christopher Pelkey, Raphael Lessard, Patrick Laperle, Derek Gluchacki, Jesse Switser, Stephen Martin, Logan Powers, Justin Prescott, Brandon Lanphear, Taylor Hoar, Brooks Clark, Keegan, Lamson, Trevor Jaques, Scott Coburn, Cody Blake, Cole Littlewood, Brian Hoar, Jimmy Hebert, Scott Dragon, D.J. Shaw, Gabe Brown, Stephen Donahue, Jonathan Bouvrette, Darrell Morin, Remi Perreault, Brandon Gray, Bryan Wall Jr., Erick Sands.
