BARRE, Vt. — The 60th Vermont Milk Bowl presented by Northfield Savings Bank proved to be one of the most thrilling and lucrative in its hallowed history with Christopher Pelkey taking top honors in the late model division at Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl.
More than $85,000 in cash and prizes were distributed to the Milk Bowl field, not including the purses for Sunday’s three support divisions with their own iconic Mini Milk Bowls.
Pelkey took the lead on lap 42 and sailed to victory in the first of three 50-lap segments on the quarter-mile oval. Pelkey finished 17th in the middle segment, but rallied through the field to finish third in the final segment, him 21 points for the three races and the lowest point total in the field.
Jimmy Hebert finished second with 22 points, while Derrick O’Donnell, D.J. Shaw and Scott Dragon rounded out the top five.
Jason Corliss won the second segment and O’Donnell topped the third.
Pelkey became the 38th different driver to win the Milk Bowl and the ninth driver to win the track championship and the Milk Bowl in the same season.
Logan Powers (Flying Tigers), Luke Peters (Street Stocks) and Taylor Sayers (Road Warriors) also earned Milk Bowl titles.
The point totals:
1. 64VT Christopher Pelkey Graniteville, VT 21 = 1+17+3
2. 58VT Jimmy Hebert Williamstown, VT 22 = 2+15+5
3. 7K Derrick O’Donnell Haverhill, NH 23 = 4+18+1
4. 04VT D.J. Shaw Center Conway, NH 26 = 6+13+7
5. 0VT Scott Dragon Milton, VT 27 = 12+2+13
6. 18VT Kaiden Fisher Shelburne, VT 28 = 7+11+10
7. 99VT Cody Blake Barre, VT 31 = 5+24+2
8. 88VT Nick Sweet Barre, VT 31 = 14+8+9
9. 86VT Marcel Gravel Wolcott, VT 33 = 3+19+11
10. 94VT Brendan Moodie Wolcott, VT 35 = 8+12+15
11. 97NH Joey Polewarczyk Jr. Hudson, NH 40 = 9+25+6
12. 00NH Jimmy Renfrew Candia, NH 41 = 15 +5+21
13. 51VT Jason Corliss Barre, VT 41 = 16 +1+24
14. 27VT Kyle Pembroke Montpelier, VT 43 = 11+20+12
15. 17VT Darrell Morin Westford, VT 43 = 22+3+18
16. 16VT Brandon Lanphear Morrisville, VT 43 = 17+6+20
17. 9ME Shawn Swallow Groveton, NH 43 = 10+10+23
18. 68VT Brooks Clark Fayston, VT 44 = 23 +4+17
19. 21QC Alexandre Tardif Notre Dame des Pins, QC 47 = 18+21+8
20. 91QC Patrick Laperle St-Denis, QC 50 = 24 +22+4
21. 36QC Alex Labbe St- Albert, QC 50 = 20 +14+16
22. 45NH Kasey Beattie St. Johnsbury, VT 51 = 21 +16+14
23. 25NH Jesse Switser W. Burke, VT 58 = 26 +7+25
24. 36NH Erick Sands Derry,NH 69 = 27 +23+19
25. 04ME Matt Smith Fairfax, VT 72 = 19+26+27
26. 55VT Keegan Lamson Berlin, VT 74 = 25+27+22
27. 7NH Cody LeBlanc Berlin, NH 82 = 28+28+26
28. 48QC Raphael Lessard Quebec City, QC 87 = 29 +29+29
DSQ 2VT Stephen Donahue