BARRE, Vt. — Following the annual pomp and circumstance of the annual season-ending classic, the brave drivers of the American-Canadian Tour took on the first of three segments in the 62nd Vermont Milk Bowl presented by Northfield Savings Bank.
Polesitter Gabe Brown jumped ahead to lead the pack early while collecting the first lap money of the event along with Marcel Gravel in second and Jimmy Hebert in third. Driving hard on the outside lane, Gravel launched to lead lap nine with Hebert and previous Milk Bowl winners Jason Corliss and Chris Pelkey in tow. A trio of mid-race, quick cycle cautions slowed the segment for heart-pounding restarts before Marcel Gravel claimed the opening segment win with Jason Corliss, Brown, Hebert and Pelkey rounding out the top five.
Following the first slam-bang segment for the Burnett Scrap Metals Road Warriors that saw Tyler Wheatley lead the 20-lap dash flag-to-flag, the rk Miles Street Stocks took the field for their second and final segment in their Mini Milk Bowl. After suffering mechanical woes in Saturday’s first segment, Connor Rueda went to work and led segment two as Zach Audet, Josh Lovely and Virginia-based long-hauler Cameron Ruggles poured the pressure on.
Lovely and Ruggles went to war, beating and banging over third-place with Ryan Foster trying to round that fight for a chance at the Mini Milk Bowl win. Meanwhile the battle for the overall was between Derek Farnham and Kyler Davis in the back half of the top 10. Davis was pulling the reins on the inside groove but in the final laps Farnham took over spots on the outside lane to claim the Mini Milk Bowl prize by a lone point over Kyler Davis on the tally!
Segment No. 2 for the Vermont Milk Bowl saw Scott Dragon take off from the pole position as outside polesitter Joel Hodgdon fell under attack from Taylor Hoar and Brandon Lanphear. With Dragon holding a straightaway lead, Lanphear began having to fend off Justin Prescott and hard-charging ACT campaigner Erick Sands. Taylor Hoar’s run evaporated with a blown right front after a scrape-up with the wall to call out the lap 26 caution. On the lone restart, Dragon went lights out on the field and took the segment two win with Lanphear, Sands, Prescott and Patrick Laperle rounded out the top five.
Starting at the back of the pack, Saturday’s frontrunners in the Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers found themselves mired in traffic while Mike MacAskill and Cam Gadue in the Jimmy Spencer-inspired throwback scheme showed the way. Brendan Moodie, Brandon Gray and Logan Powers continued to swap the overall lead with every inch won or lost in tight side-by-side traffic. The first caution flag would fly on lap 24 as Rookie of the Year Logan Farrell made hard contact with the turn one wall just before pit road. With the restart jumble, Shawn Fleury and Mike Martin also made their way into the running with each lap.
Although officials were frantically scoring and rescoring with every lap, the overall finish came down to the final lap across the line with Logan Powers and Brandon Gray tied at 10 points with Powers’ highest finish in the final segment breaking the tie and earning the Middlesex driver his second career Mini Milk Bowl in the famed Flying Tiger division. A true highlight of Sunday’s show saw famed multi-generational hero Jean-Paul Cabana making a run to victory lane to celebrate with Powers who piloted a 1980s throwback scheme dedicated to the Quebec racer.
The final segment for the Burnett Scrap Metals Road Warriors saw a continued battle for the top spot between Neal Foster, Danny Doyle and segment one winner Tyler Wheatley. Two quick spin cautions slowed the run on lap 1 and 2 while Dan Garrett took off on the return to green before the lap seven caution for metal in turn three. Tyler Wheatley methodically made his way through the field to lead the final three laps remaining to sweep the Burnett Scrap Metals Road Warrior Mini Milk Bowl on Sunday.Â
The third and final segment in the 62nd Vermont Milk Bowl wrapped up the afternoon’s racing action with Brian Hoar and Brown leading the field to green. As the field stretched out and settled in, Corliss, trying to solidify a run on his fourth Milk Bowl victory he tracked down Hoar before the lap 27 caution for Gray’s spin and Chip Grenier’s stalled ride atop turn four. 2024 King of the Road Kaiden Fisher made his presence known late in the game, battling Corliss for second in a three generation top-three.
While Hoar took down his eleventh career Milk Bowl segment win, Gravel’s seventh-place finish finalized an 18-point total and his first career Vermont Milk Bowl victory on the Barre highbanks. A career-defining win, Gravel’s name is now etched in the Thunder Road granite monuments for the first time with an emotional victory lane full of friends, family and crew members after Gravel climbed the fence in turn four. Corliss took second with Hebert taking third overall.