VIDEO GALLERY: Thunder Road Practice

Here are some videos of the pre-season practice on Tuesday night at Barre's Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl. The first video is a general recap of the day; the next two are uncut footage from our in-car camera experiments with Tiger Sportsman racer Eric Badore and Late Model rookie Cody Blake. Leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Father-Son Whitcomb Racing Team Tackles Thunder Road

A look at the father-son team of Dave and Alex Whitcomb as they prepare for their first season racing Street Stocks together at Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl in Barre, VT. Filmed on site at the team's shop at the Morrisville-Stowe (VT) Airport. Produced by Justin St. Louis/Vermont Motorsports Magazine, ©2010.

A LOOK BACK: Bear Ridge Speedway 2009

Our newest feature, "A Look Back", showcases the 2009 season at Bear Ridge Speedway in Bradford, Vt., with highlights from throughout the year.



Video produced by Justin St. Louis/Vermont Motorsports Magazine. ©2009-2010

A LOOK BACK: ACT Fall Foliage 300

The ACT Late Model Tour's Fall Foliage 300 at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y. was a historic event. Until that point, the longest race the series had ever run was 200 laps on a 4/10-mile track. Not only that, Airborne's newly redesigned corners allowed for some great side-by-side racing, producing a single-event record-tying 19 lead changes for the Tour.

The following video is Vermont Motorsports Magazine's recap of the race, won in impressive fashion by Patrick Laperle.

(All video/photo content by Justin St. Louis/VMM)

Got a new video editing toy for Christmas...

...so we're trying it out for the first time with a clip of one of our favorite feature finishes from the 2009 season. Leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Thanks to our Senior Correspondent...

...we have a few photos and videos from the Mt. Philo Hill Climb, held in Shelburne last weekend by the New England Hillclimb Association (NEHA). One of our highly underpaid staffers, Ron St. Louis, was there to capture the action. Here's a sample of the goods:

A few racers lined up for time trial runs

John Marsha's rotary-powered Mazda ready to go. It is our understanding that Marsha's ride up Philo was the final event of his 30-year hillclimbing career.

Robbie Smolinski's Volkswagen Golf with a gorgeous backdrop of the Champlain Valley in Vermont, Lake Champlain, and the Adirondack Mountains in New York

Randolph's Jimi Heyder -- a.k.a. "The Road Warrior" -- was one of the original convertible Junkyard Warrior drivers at Thunder Road in Barre. You may also remember him as the guy on crutches that won Run-What-You-Brung with a broken pelvis some six or eight years ago. Well, Heyder broke that pelvis during a motorcycle run at Pikes Peak in Colorado. Here, he takes off up Mt. Philo, where, thankfully, he didn't crash. (Note: The #442 on his bike is an ode to his favorite Oldsmobile.)

Sherman Baumann, President of the Killington Sports Car Club (KSCC), rockets off the starting line in this modified Dwarf car.

We encourage you to check out NEHA's website and those of its affiliates, including the Sports Car Club of Vermont (SCCV) and KSCC. Check 'em out here:

NEHA: www.hillclimb.org / SCCV: www.sccv.org / KSCC: www.kscc.org

(Photos and videos by Ron St. Louis/VMM)

Mike Rollins -- and Everyone Else -- Wins at Bucktona

Weekend coverage presented by C&S Screenprinting and Burnett Scrap Metals

WILLIAMSTOWN -- Mike Rollins has won the first annual "Hart 100" at Bucktona Int'l Speedway on Saturday afternoon. Rollins, a two-time champion at Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl in nearby Barre, drove a 199os-era Subaru Legacy station wagon to the win over Craige Grenier and Keith Williams.


And that's where the "professional" part of this news story ends. (Prepare for a first-person point-of-view account, beginning in three... two... one...)

I cannot describe to you, the faithful readers of Vermont Motorsports Magazine, how much unadulterated fun I had today at Justin Hart's Bucktona track, which, of course, is named after his dog, "Buck". With a free Enduro car, a few spare tires, and a not enough tools to fill a drawer, my father Ron, my friend Eddy Companion, and I headed down to Bucktona this morning to see what kind of ridiculous mess it would turn out to be, with absolutely zero in the way of expectations.

And what a hoot. We took down a copy of the official roster at about 12:30pm, with 35 cars and drivers signed in, but there were another eight or so that showed up after that point. On the list were notables like Rollins, Williams (a former Thunder Road and Devil's Bowl Speedway racer), ACT Late Model Tour driver Chip Grenier (brother of the runner-up), former Vermont state champion and present-day ACT pace car driver Bob Bigelow, current/former Thunder Road drivers Hart, Brett Pierce, Sean McCarthy, Danny Bigelow, M.C. Ingram, Markus Farnham, Amanda Habel, Danny Doyle (a former Bear Ridge Speedway champion), Mike Ducey, Aaron Maynard, Jordan Dunkling, and, um, me.

The roster of officials included former Thunder Road champion Greg "Burger" Blake, wife Roxanne, and their son, Tiger Sportsman driver Cody, MRN/Sirius Sattelite Radio extraordinaire Dave Moody, Street Stocker Mike MacAskill, and the Hart family, including patriarch and former racer Alex, momma Rhonda, and brother Jared.

The event, for what it was, was very well organized, with a premium placed on safety. Multiple rules meetings were held throughout the day with an major emphasis placed on drivers -- and spectators -- using their heads and not going over the line, on taking care of one another, and on having as much fun as humanly and soberly possible, if "soberly" is even a word. The information was well-received and absorbed by 99.9 percent of those in attendance.

With so many cars in the pits for a race on a rudimentary 1/5-mile dirt track -- soft, wet, rutty dirt, not nice racing clay -- the first attempt at running everyone in a 100-lap race all at once was scrapped after two laps. Instead, half of the field was sent back to the sidelines, and a 20-lap heat race was run. The top-five from each heat would transfer into the feature, rewarded with up-front starting spots, while everyone else would just... kinda... fill in wherever they wanted to in the back.

I'll tell you this right now: The C&S Screenprinting Dodge Neon was a stout piece all day. I got 'er stove up a little in the fenders, a bit on the hood, and I took a good shot in the rear once, but that thing was a beast. I buried it lugnut-deep in the muck exiting Turn 2 on one lap, floorboards dug into the ground and everything. Totally stuck. When the track finally became blocked (because I wasn't the only one not moving), the red flag came out and a bulldozer came and pushed me out of my sloppy demise. All was well, and I continued on my way once the green came back out.

Although there wasn't really any scoring to speak of, the officials awarded me fourth place, which I thought was just freaking awesome. I mean, I feel like I earned it, dirt burial notwithstanding. I drove hard and relatively clean (except for John Lavanway in the red #29, I seemed to have a knack for drilling him without any good reason... my bad) and I was probably in the top five anyway. Chip Grenier drove a Honda or Acura or something along those lines to the win.

For the second heat, I joined Eddy in the infield to take some pictures, and had a front-row seat for a scary moment. The #16 car (one of the guys I didn't catch the name of) stalled in Turn 2, and the #666 of James Hood came along and plowed into him. Instantly, a rotted gas line on the #16 burst, erupting into a massive fire. Luckily, the drivers escaped quickly without so much as a singe, and the officials, led by Burger Blake, got the cars stopped almost immediately. But the fire was, like I said, completely huge. Both the #16 and #666 were totally engulfed in flames, so much that all attempts to put the fire out with extinguishers (and there were a ton of extinguishers on hand, both on the grounds and in many cars) were ceased. After about an hour, the race was restarted. Jesse Moran was awarded the win aboard his Toyota pick-up.

Come feature time, I lined up, I dunno, where ever, and I hammered my way through the pack. Bumpers and mufflers laying all over the place, mud flying, clumps of it bouncing off my helmet as a I shoved my foot a little farther into the floorboard and my grin stretched a little wider with each lap. Three-wide, four-wide, in the middle, down low, up high. I parked my car in a tree at one point and had to back up to get free. No matter, it was too much fun to bother with trying to hit any sort of marks.





I'd say I was probably in the top five or six, if it even matters, when I had a bit of a dumb attack. A Mercury Sable wagon had died in the middle of the backstretch pretty early in the 25-lap finale, and I had used it as a pick point for a couple of laps to gain a few spots. Things were going well doing that, but, um, one lap, I, uh... forgot. I'm telling you I drilled that car but good, and I was a thousand feet off the ground if I was an inch. All of a sudden, my car started steering funny. And by "funny" I mean "not at all." So I limped it down the backstretch as far as I could get it with a broken left-front tie rod before I ran into a parked car. Then another car came along and turned me sideways, so I tried to back it around, with the brilliant idea that I could finish the race in reverse.

Luckily, someone came along and turned me totally backwards, which helped me get into the mode I wanted to be in. Unluckily, though, I was already turning the steering wheel and mashing the gas pedal in reverse gear when it happened, and I turned the car too far around. And then came the dirt berm and corresponding ditch on the other side.

So that was it, I was done. The red flag came out not 15 seconds later for something at the other end of the track, and I climbed out and headed for cover. I finished the race as the co-announcer with Aaron Maynard (who also crashed out) for the OutsideGroove.com-produced DVD, which was a good time. (Warning: We were given permission to swear on the microphone, and I'm pretty sure I did a few times. So if you buy the DVD, I apologize in advance for the language. But it was all intended to be funny and in good fun. If you like Comedy Central, you'll like the DVD.)

We watched the race unfold as the laps wore down, and Mike Rollins was declared the winner over Craige Grenier and Keith Williams. Beyond that, who knows, and who really cares?

Below are a couple of videos featuring Rollins; the first is his rather candid DVD interview with Maynard, the second is his Milk Bowl-like victory smooch of Buck the dog, which also features Jared Hart. (Apparently, Buck has a wet nose.)







The day was more fun than I had ever had in a race car before, maybe one of the top three fun days of life. We stuck around for the after party for a few hours, and that was also excellent, complete with live band and a huge bonfire, which, unlike the first fire of the day, was intentional.

I want to personally thank Justin Hart for donating the land and the insanity and guts to put on the kind of event that he did. With any luck, it will become an annual thing. Thanks, of course, to the Harts, the Blakes, and the rest of the officials for their outstanding efforts in holding a fun, safe race. Thanks to the 40-plus drivers that made the day so much damn fun to be a part of. Thanks to the fans -- I'd guess there were 300 people in total at the place -- that showed up to have a good time. Thanks to Eddy and my dad for taking pictures and videos, changing tires, pulling dents, filling radiators, and pitching in to help a half-dozen other teams. Thanks to Ben Bushey for donating the car, and to C&S Screenprinting and Burnett Scrap Metals for supporting the effort. Thanks to John Adams for the tow earlier in the week. You've all helped to create a pile of memories that I won't soon forget.

Long Live Bucktona.

(PHOTOS: 1. Dave Moody (left) and Alex Hart discuss a procedure prior to the Hart 100; 2. A starting field on the backstretch at Bucktona Int'l Speedway; 3. Me (#107) getting a little bumper-happy with Anthony Sweet (#25); 4. A little impromptu barbecue in Turn 2; 5. My final resting place at the Hart 100; 6. Mike Rollins' Hart 100 winner's trophy was pretty cool. Photos by Justin St. Louis, Ron St. Louis, and Eddy Companion/VMM)

(VIDEOS: 1. Hart 100 feature action included Keith Williams (#64), Chip Grenier (#9), Craige Grenier (#40), and Mike Rollins (#90); 2. Aaron Maynard (left) interviews Hart 100 winner Mike Rollins for OutsideGroove.com; 3. Rollins' big moment with "Buck" the dog during victory lane ceremonies. Videos by Justin St. Louis and Eddy Companion/VMM)

VIDEO: Lots of Cars (and dust!) at Bear Ridge

Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl weekend coverage presented by RPM Racing Engines

Saturday night was a historic one at Bear Ridge Speedway in Bradford, as 25 Sportsman Modifieds competed at the track in the 40-lap season finale, the largest field of Modifieds to ever race at the track.

Now, we realize that the number 25 might not be a headline-maker at a lot of tracks in our region, but consider this: one year ago, a "big" field of cars at Bear Ridge was eight. And, realistically, anything more than a dozen Modified-sized cars at the tiny clay oval nestled up in the woods of the Connecticut River Valley tends to make things a bit crowded.

Chris Donnelly (#17) of Piermont, N.H. was on his game as usual, taking his sixth victory of the season, and Gary Siemons (#5) of Orford, N.H. finished second to wrap up his third-straight track championship. Despite eight caution periods, the racing was entertaining, and the "outsiders" -- mostly from Canaan and Devil's Bowl speedways -- did well for themselves, with Middlebury youngster Justin Comes finishing in fourth place.

(Video by Justin St. Louis/VMM)

Branham, Rivers Wrap up Second Airborne Titles

Fall Foliage 300 weekend coverage by Vermont Motorsports Magazine

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. -- Bucko Branham and Lonnie Rivers might have each won their second-straight championships at Airborne Speedway on Sunday, but they were won in completely different fashion. Branham did what he has done all season and remained consistent up front, finishing third in the Sportsman feature and in close proximity to his nephew, Robin Wood, who was Branham's biggest challenger for the championship through the year. Rivers, though, had a huge amount of luck, combined with the misfortune of Nick Heywood.

In the Sportsman feature, Bill Sawyer spun in Turn 1 after coming down on leader Toby Ebersole with five laps to go; Plattsburgh racers Wood and Branham narrowly missed collecting both drivers. (See video of the incident below -- Sawyer (#39) spins as Ebersole (#82), Wood (#61), Branham (#20), and others avoid.)

Wood took the lead from Ebersole on the restart following the incident, then held him and Branham off for the win. Unofficially, Branham took the championship by just seven points.

Branham's game plan was to keep Wood in sight. "I just stayed tight to Robin," he said. "He's my nephew and he's a great competitor. He's as strong as I am behind the wheel, and he's really good at picking the car apart to make it faster and obviously it shows, he's got a lot of wins."

Wood was gracious in defeat. "I can't complain about the year, we won seven races," he said. "Losing the title to Bucko makes it hurt a little less."

Branham celebrated his 25th season of racing in 2008 with his first career championship, and now he's gone back-to-back. He said that it took him a while, but he figured out the secret to winning a title. "Keeping my temper, that's basically what it's all about," he said. "Just keeping my temper and keeping my cool. I'm getting soft."

Tylor Terry finished fourth in the race with Jamy Begor fifth. The top ten was completed by Shawn Duquette, Rick Frenyea, Jimmy Bushey, Larry Underwood, and Howard Stoner.

Rivers, of Cadyville, N.Y., entered the Renegade division finale trailing Heywood by a dozen points. Both were running inside the top ten -- with Heywood trailing Rivers in the race but clinging to a slim point lead -- when Heywood came together with another car and sailed off Turn 2 with just three laps remaining. The yellow flag came out, with Rivers restarting in third place and Heywood a distant 20th. Rivers eventually lost third place to Joe Warren at the finish line, but Heywood was only able to make his way to 16th at the finish.

"I didn't see Nick go off, but when the caution came out I saw him at the very tail [of the field] and I assumed that something had happened to him. Thank God," Rivers said. "Thank God for Nick spinning out. You know, sorry Nick, but it happens."

Former Renegade champion Dave Rabtoy of Swanton ended a frustrating season with his first win of the year. Josh Terry finished second over Warren, Rivers, and Randy LaDue.

Billy Thwaits of Clintonville, N.Y. captured his first Mini-Modified championship with a fourth-place finish in his feature. Justin Doner of Keeseville, N.Y. was the race winner, followed by Randy Martin, Dustin Duvall, Thwaits, and Chris LaVair.

Jayson Blondo of Champlain, N.Y. finished second in the Bomber feature to overtake rookie Josh Durivage for the division championship. Josh LaPorte of Peru, N.Y. was the race winner, Durivage finished seventh.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS -- Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Fall Foliage
Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009

Pos.-Driver-Hometown

J&S Steel Sportsman (25 laps)
1. Robin Wood, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
2. Toby Ebersole, Peru, N.Y,
3. Bucko Branham, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
4. Tylor Terry, Morrisonville, N.Y.
5. Jamy Begor, Mooers Forks, N.Y.
6. Shawn Duquette, Morrisonville, N.Y.
7. Rick Frenyea, Schuyler Falls, N.Y.
8. Jimmy Bushey, Mooers Forks, N.Y.
9. Larry Underwood, Milton
10. Howard Stoner, Altona, N.Y.

Versatile Trailer Sales Renegade (25 laps)
1. Dave Rabtoy, Swanton
2. Josh Terry, Morrisonville, N.Y.
3. Joe Warren, West Chazy, N.Y.
4. Lonnie Rivers, Cadyville, N.Y.
5. Randy LaDue, West Chazy, N.Y.

Keeseville NAPA Mini-Modified (15 laps)
1. Justin Doner, Keeseville, N.Y.
2. Randy Martin, Keeseville, N.Y.
3. Dustin Duvall, Keeseville, N.Y.
4. Billy Thwaits, Clintonville, N.Y.
5. Chris LaVair, Gabriels, N.Y.

Monster Energy Bomber (15 laps)
1. Josh LaPorte, Peru, N.Y.
2. Jayson Blondo, Champlain, N.Y.
3. Curtis LaGrave, Jr., Plattsburgh, N.Y.
4. Bill Joyal, AuSable Forks, N.Y.
5. Josh LeClaire, Plattsburgh, N.Y.

(PHOTOS: 1. Bucko Branham and crew celebrate their second-straight Sportsman championship at Airborne Speedway. 2. Lonnie Rivers came from behind to win the Renegade title. Photos and video by Justin St. Louis/VMM)

VIDEO: Laperle's Impressive Foliage Drive

Fall Foliage 300 weekend coverage by Vermont Motorsports Magazine

Patrick Laperle won the ACT Late Model Tour Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Fall Foliage 300 at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y. on Sunday afternoon, using an exciting -- if somewhat unplanned -- pit strategy to take his third career Foliage victory. VMM will have full recaps of the Fall Foliage 300 on Monday. This series of videos highlights the St-Denis, Qué. driver's impressive outing.

The first clip shows Laperle (#91) battling for the lead with countryman Karl Allard (#48) just before the halfway point of the race, with Brent Dragon (#55) and Brian Hoar (#37) enjoying a tight battle for third place. And no, these aren't pace laps, the racing was side-by-side for much of the day.

The second clip shows Laperle's pit stop for fuel and right-side tires under caution on lap 248, dropping him from third place to seventh, the final car on the lead lap at the time. Laperle nearly fell victim to several long green-flag runs that emtpied his gas tank; as Laperle pulled alongside the pace car before entering the pits, the car began to sputter. As he arrived at his pit stall, Laperle's car was silent, out of fuel.

The final clip shows Laperle blasting by Hoar and Dragon to get back into the lead on lap 258, just ten laps after pitting, and only two laps after a restart that lined him up fourth behind Hoar, Dragon, and Scott Payea (#89). He went on to beat Hoar for the win. Dragon finished third, John Donahue fourth, and Payea fifth.

(Videos by Justin St. Louis/VMM)

VIDEO GALLERY: Gettin' Dirty at Bear Ridge

Bear Ridge Speedway in Bradford threw off a great night of racing on Saturday with close action in every division. In the first video, the Sportsman Coupes run for a few laps in the second segment of a three-round, Monza-style feature. The clip starts with Chris Carbee (#5) bouncing off the front stretch wall, ends with Billy Simmons (#16) spinning in Turn 4 to bring out the caution, and has lots of side-by-side action in between with eventual podium finishers Melvin Pierson (#33), Josh Harrington (#71), and Bryan King (#X).

In the second video, Chris Donnelly (#17) makes the winning pass for the Sportsman Modified feature win on lap 29 over Bryan King (#X) -- who finished third in both of the features he ran -- and Jack Cook (#1NH) gets past King for second place.

In the final video, the always entertaining SCoNE 360 Sprint Cars begin the second and final 15-lap segment of the their feature race with Anthony Cain (#15C) taking the lead, and some nice moves turned in by eventual winner Matt Tanner (#90) and runner-up Clay Dow (#59). (And special thanks to event sponsor Upper Valley Stove Co. for letting us perch on the roof of their truck for the SCoNE feature!)

(Videos by Justin St. Louis/VMM)

VIDEO GALLERY: Weekend of Sept. 4-6, 2009

The MotorMag took in a lot of racing over the past weekend, and we figured we might as well share some of the long-lost videos with you.

The first is of a NEMA Midget qualifying heat at Twin State Speedway in Claremont, N.H. on Friday. Nokie Fornoro (#4) makes quick work of it, taking the early lead, while Adam Cantor (#7NY) and Russ Stoehr (#45) slice through the field.

The second video is of the opening laps of the Renegade feature at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y. on Saturday night, with a twilight sunscape in Turn 3 and a full moon over Turn 1. Rob Gordon (#H20) went on to take the win after a lengthy side-by-side battle with Lance Rabtoy (#11), eventually holding off point leader Nick Heywood (#29), Kevin Boutin (#25), and Rabtoy for his second-straight victory.

The third video is of the 50-lap Tiger Sportsman feature at Thunder Road in Barre on Sunday afternoon. Scott Coburn (#1) takes the lead from Chris Lacey (#35) and eventually scored the win, while rookie Steve "Mudflap" Quenneville (#88) and Josh Demers (#10) go for a spin on the backstretch.

(Videos by Justin St. Louis/VMM)

NO LOVE: Donahue and Laperle Trade Jabs All Day Long

BARRE -- What Thunder Road's Bond Auto Labor Day Classic might have lacked for action at the top spot, the battle for second place -- or rather, the day-long slugfest between John Donahue and Patrick Laperle -- was a bit more entertaining. From their multiple run-ins in qualifying until the final circuits of the 200-lap main event, the two seemed never more than an arm's reach from each other. And sometimes an arm's reach would have meant a little breathing room.

Laperle tried in vain to get under Donahue several times in the second heat race, in an attempt to get to the low lane and pass not only Donahue, but also the cars of Eric Chase and Travis Stearns. None of his moves worked, and despite moving to the high lane in the final laps, neither Donahue or Laperle qualified in the heat race.

"I wish he would have stopped hitting me and just let us race, because we would have caught those guys and passed them," Donahue said. Following the heat race, Laperle had a similar experience with Eric Williams in the second consolation race, one that saw him go from the speed bumps on the extreme inside lane of the track the far outside lane to finally pass Williams and take a qualified position. "Everybody does it, I don't think it's right, but he wanted the low side and he couldn't get around [up high]," said Donahue. "Everybody tried to get [qualified] and do what they had to do to get in. You're going to have bumping and rubbing in racing, that's just the way it is.

"I deal with it, I run with it, I try not to do that. But that's the way I race, not the way [Laperle] races. I went into defensive mode [racing against Laperle]. I knew he wasn't going around me and that's just the way it was. Instead of being focused on the guy in front of me, I focused on him and said, 'If you're gonna get around me, you're gonna go to the high side.' So I slowed down and stayed down low."

Laperle saw it differently. "Aw, I mean, [Donahue] was blocking, like Williams was doing in the consi," he responded. "I tried high, he went high, I tried low, he went low. He blocked me. The guy might be a bit faster if he would go harder in the corner. I tried to slow down and tried not to take him out."

"If you want to jack me up and [spin me out], well, you're going to the rear, too. That's just the way I look at things," said Donahue. "For me, it's just when he jacks you up, I try to focus on that instead of what's in front of me, and it's not the way it should be done, but I'm not going to let someone booger me around, either."

Early in the 200, the pair ran together after starting seventh and eighth. After Laperle got past Donahue on lap 18, Donahue gave Laperle a shot in the left-rear quarterpanel. Late in the race while running in third, Laperle forced his way three-wide under Donahue and the lapped car of Craig Bushey following a lap-181 restart. Donahue was not impressed by the three-wide move.

"The only time I thought [Laperle] crossed a line is when he tried to go three-wide on the restart. You can't do that here, not out of [Turn 4]," said Donahue. "The poor guy on the outside gets the shaft. It's not his fault he's there, he's just there. That time I thought he crossed the line."

Kendall Roberts, Donahue's car owner and crew chief, told Laperle's brother/crew chief, Eric, he's had enough. "I told Eric in victory lane that the way [Patrick] raced John today wasn't right," Roberts said. "He does it to us all the time. The one time John hit him was a long time ago and it was an accident, we apologized for it. They came up to me in victory lane and hugged me and shook my hand, and I looked at Eric and told him that the way he was driving just wasn't right and I'm sick of it."

"I don't want to talk about it, I don't want to say bad things," said Patrick Laperle. "The car is in one piece, and I don't have it all scratched like [Donahue]. Go look at his front bumper, that's it."

VIDEO: John Donahue (#26) and Patrick Laperle (#91) raced each other hard all day the Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200 at Barre's Thunder Road. Also in the video are eventual race winner Dave Pembroke (#44), ACT point leaders Scott Payea (#89) and Brian Hoar (#37), and others.

(PHOTOS: 1. Laperle (#91) gets Donahue (#26) crossed up in qualifying while racing with Jean-Paul Cyr (#11); 2. Laperle is sideways after contact with Eric Williams (#7) in Consi 2. Leif Tillotson photos. Video by Justin St. Louis/VMM)

VIDEO: Roy Gets Biz With Airborne Title Dance

Martin Roy has a knack for winning Modified races at Airborne Speedway, and Saturday night he earned his seventh feature win of the season, clinching his first track championship at the Plattsburgh, N.Y. track.

But as good as the Frenchman is at winning, he's way better at throwin' down on the roof in victory lane. Here, he starts out with the old two-fisted Rocky salute, then breaks down into a disco squat, gets back up, and it's on. We're talkin' full-on boogie here, with some swirly leg-kick moves, shakin' of a couple other parts, a couple hockey goal-type kneeling fist-pumps, and then the congratulatory hugs with the crew and a victory lane interview with track announcer Rob Knowles. "It's a happy time," laughed Roy, of Napierville, Québec. "I'm there for the show. I give a show to the spectators."

(Video by Justin St. Louis/VMM)

VIDEO: Punky Wins, Fellows Fast

The following video shows qualifying heat #4 at Twin State Speedway in Claremont, N.H. on Friday night, for the ACT Late Model Tour Twin State 100. The legendary Howard "Punky" Caron (#81) made his first ACT appearance since the 1980s a good one, winning the heat race over Bryan Town (#11), Stéphane Descoste (#10QC) and Aaron Fellows (#29). After a first-lap run-in with Guy Caron (#8), Fellows put on an impressive display of driving, from ninth at the start; his "+5" handicap put him on the outside pole for the Twin State 100, in which he eventually finished ninth.

(Video by Justin St. Louis/VMM)

VIDEO: Hot Action on a Cold Night at The Road

Thursday's temperatures might not have been very warm, but the action on the track at was hotter than ever. The following is a video of Late Model qualifying heat #3 at Barre's Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, at the Vt. State Employee's Credit Union 100 on Thursday night.

We were wishing we had two cameras during this heat, as the race for the lead between Brooks Clark (#68) and Mike "Beetle" Bailey (#00) was razor-close, and at the same time the introduction of "Bad Boy" Dwayne Lanphear (#28) to NASCAR driver David Ragan (#6). During Clark and Bailey's side-by-side duel, Ragan shoved Lanphear around a bit, prompting Lanphear to give the Sprint Cup Series racer a brake job on the frontstretch.

Although Ragan used the chrome horn a couple of times, it was Lanphear that invoked the ire of race director Tom Curley. After slamming the brakes on Ragan (the damage done to Ragan's front end is visible in the video), Lanphear was black-flagged and invited to load his race car up for the evening.

"It's simple, you write it, he's a (expletive that starts with 'F')-ing (expletive that rhymes with 'wussy')," Lanphear fumed about Ragan. "He's gonna drive under me, and then I get black-flagged? The lap before that he had me all the way sideways. Is that the biggest (F-bomb)-job you've ever seen?"

"I guess I should meet him off the race track," Ragan suggested. "I was a little impatient and I thought I had a little better car. [There was] just nowhere to go, it's a tight track."

Ragan said Thunder Road was a fun place to race, but was nothing like he was used to in his short track days in Georgia. "There's a few tracks that are real tight, there's a track down in South Georgia that was real tight, but nothing where both lanes are real equal like here. Certainly it'll be a learning experience tonight."

After his run-in with Lanphear, Ragan made the most of his "learning experience" by taking a very competitive 10th-place finish in the VSECU 100.

VIDEO: ACT Test Day 2 @ NHMS

The following video is from Day 2 of the Test & Tune session for American-Canadian Tour Late Models at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. In the video, Oxford Plains (Me.) Speedway driver Shawn Knight (#25), is joined by Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl racers Bruce Thomas, Jr. (#35) and Timmy Jordan (#47), former White Mountain Motorsports Park champion Stacy Cahoon (#83) of St. Johnsbury, ACT/Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl driver John Donahue (#26), Série ACT-Castrol driver Patrick Cliche (#5), and Seekonk (Mass.) Speedway point leader Ryan Vanasse (#11). VMM will more coverage of NHMS Test & Tune Day 2 soon.

(Video by Justin St. Louis/VMM)

VIDEO: School is in session at Airborne

Patrick Dupree (#24) had a bad heat race at Airborne Speedway on Saturday evening, one that eventually forced him to start 32nd in the feature later in the night. In the following video, he shows just exactly why he is a championship contender as a session of Dr. Dupree's Passing Clinic is in session. Here, he passes Jim McComb, Kenny Schrader, Neal Provost, Spencer Rushlaw, Dan Brown, Craig Reyell, Greg Atkins, Andy Kane, Todd Ormsby, Jimmy Davis, and Michel Viens -- that's 11 cars, if you're counting at home -- in just four laps' time, plus some others after we pan the shot away. Meanwhile, Martin Roy (#90) runs fast up front on his way to his sixth feature win of the year. VMM will have a full recap of the event on Sunday morning.

Also, as a bonus, here's a tutorial by Pierre Bethiaume on how NOT to win a race. This is a video of a video, run twice through in instant replay with commentary from Airborne Speedway announcer Rob Knowles. Berthiaume (#1) was leading by a country mile on lap 15 when he pulled the bonehead move of the night by trying to split the lapped cars of Neal Provost (#74) and Chris Cayea (#18) in Turn 3. Rather than use a bit of patience, Berthiaume drove into a closing hole, slamming into Cayea and spinning off the track. He eventaully finished 21st. Original video by Gene Gagne/OutsideGroove.com.

(Videos by Justin St. Louis/VMM)

VIDEO: Foster Saves, Lambert Spins

This video of the Tiger Sportsman consolation race at Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl in Barre captures just a small sample of the constant action seen at the track on Thursday night. Here, rookie Neal Foster (#19) makes a good save after getting bumped by Mike Billado (#8), just before John Lambert (#2) goes for a spin in Turns 1 and 2. Pete Ainsworth, Jr. (#80) entered the night as the division's point leader, but was involved in no less than four incidents during qualifying and feature races and unofficially lost the lead to Tony Rossi.

(Video by Justin St. Louis/VMM)

VIDEO: Something Different at Bear Ridge

Saturday night was Kids Rides night at Bear Ridge Speedway in Bradford. Naturally, we found a way to tag along. Here's a video of a slow lap around The Home of the Coupes aboard the #8 Limited Late Model of driver Danny Eastman. Thanks to Eastman for not only letting us hang onto the driver's door of his car for a couple minutes, but for not shoving us out onto the track when we pointed the camera in his face.

Video by Justin St. Louis/VMM