Barre, Vt. – South Burlington’s Trampas Demers earned one of the biggest Thunder Road Late Model wins of his career on Thursday, July 13, taking the lead for good from Hinesburg’s Bobby Therrien with 10 laps remaining and holding on to win the 38th Vermont Governor’s Cup presented by VP Racing Fuels.
With NASCAR Champion Kyle Busch in the field and a massive crowd in attendance, it was the veteran Demers who stole the show in a wild, back-and-forth race. Demers led eight laps in the early going before dropping back in the pack as Blainville, QC’s Jonathan Bouvrette and Milton’s Scott Dragon set the pace.
After he and many of the leaders pitted on a lap-98 caution for Jamie Fisher’s spin – which also saw Vermont Governor Phil Scott go sailing off the top of turn one in the aftermath – Demers methodically worked his way back through the field and was running third when the 14th and final caution came out on lap 134 of the 150-lap event for Jean-Francois Dery’s stalled machine.
Therrien got the jump over leader Marcel J. Gravel on the restart with Demers following him around. A few laps later, Demers swung to the outside of Therrien for the 14th lead change of the race, capturing his eighth career victory in the process.
Point leader Therrien maintained his advantage with a second-place finish while Gravel took third. Darrell Morin, Dragon, Jason Corliss, Cody Blake, Eric Chase, Eric Badore, and Boomer Morris completed the top-10. Busch was running sixth when he slapped the wall on a lap-114 restart, forcing him to retire from the event.
THUNDER ROAD LATE MODELS
Pos., Start Pos., Driver, Car #, Hometown, Laps
1. ( 3 ) Trampas Demers ( 85VT ) , S. Burlington, VT , 150 Laps
2. ( 9 ) Bobby Therrien ( 5VT ) , Hinesburg, VT , 150 Laps
3. ( 15 ) Marcel J. Gravel ( 86VT ) , Wolcott, VT , 150 Laps
4. ( 16 ) Darrell Morin ( 17VT ) , Westford, VT , 150 Laps
5. ( 1 ) Scott Dragon ( 16VT ) , Milton, VT , 150 Laps
6. ( 18 ) Jason Corliss ( 66VT ) , Barre, VT , 150 Laps
7. ( 4 ) Cody Blake ( 99VT ) , Barre, VT , 150 Laps
8. ( 14 ) Eric Chase ( 40VT ) , Milton, VT , 150 Laps
9. ( 6 ) Eric Badore ( 04VT ) , Milton, VT , 150 Laps
10. ( 5 ) Boomer Morris ( 13VT ) , Barre, VT , 150 Laps
11. ( 21 ) Ricky Roberts ( 3VT ) , Washington, VT , 150 Laps
12. ( 11 ) Christopher Pelkey ( 64VT ) , Graniteville, VT , 150 Laps
13. ( 24 ) Tyler Cahoon ( 38VT ) , Danville, VT , 150 Laps
14. ( 10 ) Josh Demers ( 10VT ) , Montpelier, VT , 150 Laps
15. ( 26 ) Mike Bailey ( 00VT ) , S. Barre, VT , 150 Laps
16. ( 12 ) Kyle Pembroke ( 27VT ) , Montpelier, VT , 150 Laps
17. ( 25 ) Jamie Fisher ( 18VT ) , Shelburne, VT , 150 Laps
18. ( 20 ) Chris Riendeau ( 4VT ) , Perkinsville, VT , 149 Laps
19. ( 22 ) David Whitcomb ( 25VT ) , Essex Jct., VT , 147 Laps
20. ( 2 ) Jean-Francois Dery ( 21QC ) , Quebec, QC , 128 Laps
21. ( 13 ) Kyle Busch ( 51NV ) , Las Vegas, NV , 114 Laps
22. ( 8 ) Jonathan Bouvrette ( 41QC ) , Blainville, QC , 112 Laps
23. ( 17 ) Scott Coburn ( 72VT ) , Barre, VT , 101 Laps
24. ( 7 ) Phil Scott ( 14VT ) , Berlin, VT , 98 Laps
25. ( 23 ) Mike Foster ( 7VT ) , Williston, VT , 98 Laps
26. ( 19 ) Shawn Fleury ( 31VT ) , Middlesex, VT , 18 Laps
DNS ( 27 ) Jason Durgan ( 17NY ) , Plattsburgh, NY , 0 Laps
Lap Leaders: Scott Dragon, 1-3; Jean-Francois Dery, 4-20; Dragon, 21-24; Trampas Demers, 25-32; Jonathan Bouvrette, 33-52; Dragon, 53-54; Bouvrette, 55-72; Dragon, 73-76; Bouvrette, 77-98; Cody Blake, 99-104; Marcel J. Gravel, 105-112; Blake, 113-114; Gravel, 115-131; Bobby Therrien, 132-140; Demers, 141-150. (14 lead changes among 7 drivers)
Time of Race: 1:31:40 Margin of Victory: 0.346 seconds
Cautions: 14 (laps 0, 6, 20, 24, 34, 51, 72, 98, 112, 113, 114, 114, 114, 131)
Heat Winners: Jean-Francois Dery, Phil Scott, Jonathan Bouvrette
Consi Winner: Shawn Fleury
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