BARRE, Vt. — Hometown racer Jason Corliss left absolutely no doubt about who would be the 2020 Thunder Road “King of the Road” by winning the Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Model feature Friday at Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl.
Corliss took the lead from Danville’s Tyler Cahoon on lap 42 of the 61-lap anniversary main event and held on the rest of the way to secure his second straight track championship.
The veteran started the main event 13th needing only a 14th-place effort to clinch the championship. Knowing the situation, Corliss stayed calm early, waiting out the mid-pack traffic as Cahoon ran away off the outside pole.
Once the holes opened, though, Corliss went to work filling them. He moved into the fifth position on lap 17, then swung around fellow Barre driver Jim “Boomer” Morris for fourth not long after. It took some time for Corliss to run down Marcel J. Gravel and Brendan Moodie in second and third, but once he did, he quickly dispatched of both to hold second just past the halfway point.
Cahoon still had a big lead, but the margin was erased when the caution flew on lap 35 for Stephen Donahue’s frontstretch spin. On the restart, Corliss got underneath the lapped car of Darrell Morin before setting set his sights on Cahoon.
Corliss finally put his Ford on the high side on the 41st circuit and completed the pass a lap later. Cahoon dogged Corliss the rest of the way with Milton’s Scott dragon entering the picture late as well. But Corliss showed why he’s now the two-time defending track champion by capturing his third point-counting win of the year and fourth overall.
Cahoon and Dragon completed the podium followed by Moodie and Trampas Demers. Matt White, Bobby Therrien, Joel Hodgdon, Morris, and Eric Chase rounded out the top 10.
Cooper Bouchard used a do-or-die move with 10 laps remaining to win the Myers Container Service Triple Crown Series 100 for the Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers.
Cooper French wrapped up the Allen Lumber Street Stock regular season with his second win of the year in a 30-lap feature.
Justin Prescott also became a two-time winner on the season in the 25-lap Burnett Scrap Metals Road Warriors feature.