BARRE, Vt. — Dan Bowles captured the New England Supermodified Series feature on Friday Night Special at Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl.
Led to green by Dan Bowles, the field jumped into single file, setting a lightning pace with Bowles himself taking a fast-time of 9.971 seconds during the event. Just two cautions slowed the pace with Bowles leading the field each time out.
The real battle would be for second as it swapped between heavy-hitters Jon McKennedy, Anthony Nocella and Matt Swanson time and time again. It would be Dan Bowles triumphant in victory lane after a devastating wreck at the Nation’s Site of Excitement on Milk Bowl weekend in October, followed by McKennedy and Swanson to round out the podium.
Ryan Sayers would lead the Burnett Scrap Metals Road Warriors to point with Brodie Frazier and Tyler Wheatley all over his tail. By the halfway point frontrunners Neal Foster and Taylor Sayers had joined a gaggle at the front with Foster taking over with the first lead change on lap 13. Soon it would be a dogfight at the front with Taylor Sayers and Foster side-by-side, duking it out as they swapped the lead over and over in the final laps. Taylor Sayers would take the win over Neal Foster by just 0.020 seconds with Tyler Wheatley rounding out the top-three.
The rk Miles Street Stocks were up next led to point by Paige Whittemore and Tommy ‘Thunder’ Smith. Thunder would nab the lead immediately off turn two with young Jesse Laquerre in tow before the first caution on lap seven. Smith would again take off with Laquerre once again before tempers started to flair mid-pack as drivers dipped and dove around each other. Jeffrey Martin and Patrick Tibbetts would set off the powder keg on the frontstretch to end their Friday night.
On the restart, Josh Lovely would blow a right front tire in turn one, collecting several top runners and starting a lengthy clean-up effort. With the final restart in his grasp, Tommy ‘Thunder’ Smith grew his record to 36 wins in the four-cylinder division with defending champion Dean Switser Jr. and Jesse Laquerre rounding out the podium.
The Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Models joined the show with Vermont Governor Phil Scott securely in the lead with Chris Roberts to his outside at the onset. While Chip Grenier would be in contention early, his falling off would allow Tyler Cahoon, Darrell Morin and Stephen Martin to follow the Governor. The first caution would fly for Kaiden Fisher as he looped the S.D. Ireland machine in turn four leaving Cahoon to take the edge over Scott on the restart. The final yellow would fly on lap 47 as the throttle hung on Keegan Lamson’s Chevy sending him hard into the Widowmaker to end his night.
The final shootout would come down to Morin and Cahoon with a dogfight till the end that saw Darrell Morin take down just his second Maplewood/Irving Late Model win followed by Cody Blake and Tyler Cahoon.
The Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers went out as the final event of the evening to kick-off the 2023 Myers Container Service Triple Crown Series. Kyle Streeter and Cameron Ouellette paced the field by virtue of their +5 handicap earned through the Plus/Minus gained in their respective heat races. After two spin-induced yellows, Streeter found himself facing 2018 Myers Triple Crown champion Joel Hodgdon as the two battled for over twenty laps side-by-side before Chris LaForest brought out the lap 36 caution.
The conveniently marked caution lap proved perfect for Hodgdon as he cruised to a full lead by lap 40 with Kyle having to fend off father Kevin Streeter as the elder took third-place from his son. The final caution on lap 63 would set up a final face-off between Hodgdon and hot-shoe Logan Powers. The defending Mini Milk Bowl champion would fall back as Kevin Streeter and Derrick Calkins pushed through to chase Hodgdon.
In the end, Joel Hodgdon would take the first of three Myers Container Service checkered flags for the 2023 season followed by Kevin Streeter and Derrick Calkins to round out victory lane.