busch north scene

ACT Merchants Bank 150 to kick off 2011 campaign at Thunder Road

By Phil Whipple

Staff Writer

You don’t have to ask a Vermont resident more than once if they’ve had enough of what panned out to be a very long, cold winter. Even mud season lasted longer than it should have.

So what can bring all those winter-weary Vermonters out of the blues? Why, the season opener at the famed Thunder Road International Speedbowl, that’s what!

Race fans and teams from throughout the northeast will make the annual pilgrimage up Quarry Hill once again this coming Sunday, May 1, for the American-Canadian Tour’s (ACT) Merchants Bank 150 to open the track’s 52^nd season.

It’s an annual tradition I have enjoyed for a number of years, and I can’t wait to get back up on that grand old hill. After a more-than-exciting New Hampshire Governor’s Cup 150 at Lee USA, I anxiously await the next battle for the ACT Late Model warriors.

Only a handful have mastered the tricky, high-banked oval with the grand view, yet some young gun may figure the place out and have everybody scratching their heads. That sort of unpredictability is just one of the many things that make Thunder Road so special.

Barre’s own Nick Sweet is the defending race winner and will be on hand in an attempt to repeat. Sweet battled with Dave Pembroke before taking the lead for good at lap 116 last May. Brian Hoar, who started his run for a record eighth ACT championship with a victory at Lee, finished second, while Patrick Laperle was third. Pembroke settled for fourth, while Mark Lamberton completed the top five.

This year’s contest will feature the return of two well-known Vermont veterans. Jamie Aube, one of the Green Mountain State’s all-time great short track pilots, is back at Thunder Road for 2011. Mike Bruno, a veteran of NASCAR’s Busch North Series and even DIRT cars, has returned to ACT competition and will also be exciting to watch in the Merchants Bank 150.

If weather conditions allow, ACT officials have rescheduled their open practice session at Thunder Road for today (Tuesday, April 26), from 4 to 7 p.m. Every year, teams make the haul up the hill to shake down their equipment before the first official green flag waves. After all that Mother Nature threw at T-Road last winter, I’d want a little shakedown time myself.

Along with a full card of qualifying events and the Merchants Bank 150 itself, the season opener will also feature some great racing from the Tiger Sportsman, Street Stock and Junkyard Warrior divisions. The Tigers always go side-by-side at Thunder Road and are one of the top support divisions at any short track on the planet. I’ve loved them from the moment I saw them.

A trip to Barre is not complete without a visit to Thunder Road. Sure, the area is known as home to the Rock of Ages quarry and many others, along with some of the finest granite craftsmen in the world. But up on that hill where all those folks gather every Thursday night during the summer, that is a place you must see.

Qualifying for the 13^th annual Merchants Bank 150 gets under way Sunday at 1 p.m.