2011 Bond Auto Tiger Sportsmen Championship Season Review

Derrick O’Donnell – Bradford, VT

#68 Gary Clay Builders/Perry’s Oil Service Chevrolet Monte Carlo

·        Derrick earned his first career Bond Auto Tiger Sportsmen Championship at Thunder Road in just his fourth season in the division.

·        He also earned the Bond/WIX Tiger Tour title this season.

·        Derrick has won three feature events in each of the past two seasons.

·        He is tied for 19^th on the all-time Tigers win list with 6.

·        Derrick’s first win of his career came in 2010. He would pick up his third in the 2010 season finale Milk Bowl weekend.

·        From the 2010 Milk Bowl weekend through the first two events at Thunder Road in 2011, Derrick won three straight Tiger features.

·        In 2011, he capped off his championship season with his second straight Milk Bowl Tiger event win.

·        Following his win on opening day, Derrick held the lead in the Tiger standings for the entire 2011 season.

2011 Thunder Road Late Model Championship Season Review

Dave Pembroke – Montpelier, VT

#44VT VSECU/Lamoille Valley Ford Ford Fusion

·        Dave now has two (2) Thunder Road Late Model Championships (2007, 2011)

·        He is now the fourth driver to win multiple Thunder Road Late Model titles (Chuck Beede, Phil Scott and Cris Michaud each have three titles)

·        2011 was his first season in a Ford-powered ride

·        Dave fell as far as 11^th in points, 88 points behind the leader before his back-to-back wins, including the double-points Mid-Season Championship, brought him to the point lead in just two weeks.

·        2011 was Dave’s 12^th season in the Thunder Road Late Model division (2000-2011)

·        He was the 2000 Late Model Rookie of the Year

·        He has won at least one race in 10 of his 12 seasons

·        He has finished inside the top ten in the final standings in all 12 of his Thunder Road Late Model seasons. 8 of the 12 seasons he has claimed a top five in the final standings, including the last five straight.

·        He has won back-to-back features in each of the last three seasons

Brian Hoar Claims 49^th Annual People’s United Bank Win

O’Donnell, Adams and Woodard Lock Up Thunder Road Championships

Eight-time ACT Late Model Tour Champion Brian Hoar of Williston, VT claimed his third career People’s United Bank Milk Bowl win at Thunder Road in Barre, VT on Sunday, October 9. Hoar claimed the 49^th running of the Milk Bowl by winning two segments, while holding off a hard charging Nick Sweet over the final 15 laps of the third and final segment. Hoar and his Rick Paya Motorsports team will cash a check of over $10,000 including lap money.

Hoar claimed the Booth Bros./H.P. Hood pole award, setting the fast time in time trials. He cruised to an easy first segment win while leading all 50 laps. Sweet was on his back bumper to take second. The two then worked their way through the field during the 75-lap second segment with Hoar taking twelfth and Sweet in tenth.

The two trailed Scott Payea going into the third segment of 75 laps. Payea held the lead with ten points (4^th and 6^th), while Sweet had twelve points and Hoar had thirteen.

Sweet, the 2010 Thunder Road “King of the Road,” followed Hoar through the field during the third and final segment including a three wide move to stick to Hoar’s rear bumper. The duo took the first and second spots with under fifteen laps remaining to setup the final duel.  Sweet made a charge on the outside, but didn’t have enough to get by. The pair both finished with a combined 14 points with Hoar winning the tie breaker with a better third segment finish.