BARRE, Vt. — Jason Corliss put his name back atop the Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Model heap at Thunder Road Int’ll Speedbowl by storming to the WDEV Radio/Calkins Portable Toilets Night win on Thursday.
Corliss dominated the second half of the 50-lap feature before surviving a green-white-checkered finish to take his second point-counting win of the year and third overall.
Ricky Roberts started on the pole and led the opening circuit before the field got jammed up exiting turn two and Scott Dragon spun to bring out the yellow. When the green flew again, Phil Scott got the bite on the outside, taking the lead away from Roberts.
Christopher Pelkey eventually followed Scott around Roberts for second and quickly chased down the Governor of Vermont once he did so. After stalking Scott for a few trips around the high banks, Pelkey ducked low on lap 15, putting the nose out front and eventually getting clear for the lead.
Corliss, who had started ninth, quickly moved through to second just before the second caution came out on lap 20 for an incident involving Trampas Demers and Cody Blake. On the restart, Corliss charged around Pelkey on the high groove for the top spot.
Corliss and Pelkey then ran off and hid while Scott and Matt White got in a heated battle for third — and behind them, an even more heated fight developed for fifth between Roberts and Jim “Boomer” Morris.
Two laps from the finish, things came unglued as Roberts spun on the frontstretch for the third and final caution. Two subsequent restart attempts were waved off, but on the third try, Corliss easily got out in front, taking his 15th late model victory and unofficially retaking the point lead in the process.
White stole second from Pelkey at the line as the two took the checkered flag sideways. Scott, Kyle Pembroke, Morris, Demers, Dragon, Tyler Cahoon, and Marcel J. Gravel rounded out the top 10.
Micheal MacAskill opened the second half of the season just like he did the first half with a win in the Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers. MacAskill grabbed the lead from polesitter Chris Chambers at the drop of the green in the 40-lap feature. Robert Gordon and Mike Billado, who along with MacAskill had endured some tough luck in recent weeks, soon nestled into second and third.
Gordon and Billado were never far behind MacAskill in a race that went caution-free for the second straight week. Near the midway mark, Barre’s Jason Pelkey and Morrisville’s Brandon Lanphear broke out of the pack and chased down the top three. Billado became too busy fending off his own challengers to mount a charge, and MacAskill was able to outpace Gordon down the stretch for his second win of the season.
The second-place finish for Gordon matched the best of his career at Thunder Road. Billado held on for third followed by Pelkey and Lanphear.
Tyler Pepin became the first three-time Allen Lumber Street Stock winner of the year by taking their 25-lap feature. Like MacAskill, Pepin started on the outside pole and took the lead at the start from polesitter Justin Blakely. Two cautions in the first half of the event allowed the field to take aim at Pepin, but the sophomore Street Stocker remained steadfast, leading a four-car breakaway down the stretch for the victory.
Rookie Keegan Lamson of Berlin finished second for his first career podium result. Two-time champion Jamie Davis of Wolcott took third.
James Dopp came on strong late for his sixth career Burnett Scrap Metals Road Warrior victory to cap the night. Dopp barreled from 13th on the starting grid for the 20-lap feature to get right in the middle of a lead pack that reached 11 cars at times.
When the front finally sorted itself out, Dopp made his move, swinging around the outside of polesitter Jason Kirby with just five laps to go. He then held off Kylar Davis and Kylar’s dad Chris for the win.