BARRE, Vt. — Scott Dragon bounced back in a big way after a rough start to the season by grabbing his seventh career late model victory Friday night at Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl.
The defending “King of the Road” took the lead from Wolcott’s Marcel J. Gravel on lap 29 of the 50-lap feature and was never headed.
Dragon started fifth and was barely able to dodge a turn-three crash on the third lap involving Ricky Roberts, Stephen Donahue and Brendan Moodie.
When the green flag flew again, polesitter Tyler Cahoon and Darrell Morin went wheel to wheel for several circuits before Morin was able to clear Cahoon for the top spot.
The battle didn’t stop there as Marcel J. Gravel and Dragon both followed Morin up the outside. Gravel swung to the high groove on the 18th circuit and put his bumper up for the lead three laps later. The fight continued to rage as the field passed the halfway mark with Gravel, Morin, Dragon, Cody Blake and Brooks Clark under a blanket at the front.
But once Gravel made it stick, Dragon wouldn’t be denied, as he soared past Gravel for the lead as they approached lap 30. Both Gravel and Blake kept right in Dragon’s tire tracks for a spell, but the veteran inched away as the laps wound down to snag the victory.
Gravel finished second with Blake third. Bobby Therrien took fourth in a substitute driver appearance for Phil Scott.
The Streeter family reigned in the Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers as son Kyle and dad Kevin split a pair of features. Kyle Streeter got his own early-season tonic by taking the win in the conclusion of the Casella Waste Systems make-up feature. Streeter swiped the lead with Sam Caron with eight laps to go in the 40-lap feature and seemed primed to run away late.
However, Kevin Streeter got together with Caron fighting for the third spot and spun to bring out the caution with two laps to go. But Kyle was able to hold off rookie Logan Powers and veteran Joe Steffen for the victory.
Steffen nipped Powers at the line for second.
It was Kevin Streeter’s turn in the nightcap as he came back to take a wild NorthCountry Federal Credit Union feature. Streeter started ninth the 40-lap feature and slowly picked his way through the field as numerous contenders fell by the wayside in various incidents.
When the fifth caution flew on lap 24, the elder Streeter found himself alongside San Caron once again – this time on the front row. Streeter got the jump for the top spot when the green fell and survived one more caution with five laps to go for his first career win.
Jason Pelkey nosed ahead of Caron on the final sprint to take second place after starting 19th.
The Allen Lumber Street Stocks saw first-year runners sweep the podium in a wild finish. Hunter King got the jump for the lead off the outside pole with Kyle MacAskill not far behind. The two ran away from the field in a caution-free event, opening up a half-track advantage over fellow freshman Derek Farnham.
With two laps to go, the front duo came up on a huge pack of lapped traffic. King went high to try and get past while MacAskill dove low. MacAskill put the nose up in the final corner as they went three-wide around traffic. Contact was made at the checkered flag, and MacAskill ended up head-on in the wall just seconds after earning his first career Street Stock win.
King and Farnham finished second and third while point leader Jeffrey Martin of Barre came home fourth.
Eric “Pork” Chase made it two in a row in the Burnett Scrap Metals Road Warrior feature.