BARRE, Vt. — A change of pace for the Thunder Road faithful saw a pit-load of teams compete in Sunday’s event.
Twenty-seven Maplefield/Irving Late Models made the special Sunday trip to the Nation’s Site of Excitement for the Jack Daniels Ready to Drink Cocktails 100, the battle serving as round two in the inaugural Squier Cup Late Model Triple Crown! While the Late Models may have been the headline, there was action aplenty Sunday evening.
Former American-Canadian Tour champions Jimmy Hebert and Nick Sweet led the field to green. Hebert got the jump on the initial start with 2022 Thunder Road King of the Road Chris Pelkey in hot pursuit. The first caution flag would fly on lap 24 after contact with Jesse Laquerre sent Brooks Clark careening across the frontstretch.
Using the outside lane to his advantage, Hebert led through two more caution periods, all the while with Pelkey stalking him just inches off his rear bumper. Just prior to the final caution on lap 69, Squier Cup point leader Cody Blake had his day ended by an overheating engine while trouble brewed on the final restart. Pelkey got the jump on the bottom lane and, try as his might, Hebert could not power back around the former track champion.
Pelkey earned the Jack Daniels Ready to Drink Cocktails 100 victory over Jimmy Hebert with Scott Dragon beating Nick Sweet to the line for third.
Josh Lovely won the street stock feature and Brendan Moodie topped the Flying Tiger division.