Thunder Road Sees Positive Growth
Four divisions make room for promising new drivers

For Immediate Release                                        TR-022508-1

    BARRE, VT The 2007-08 off-season has seen an exciting number of talented stock car racers make a move to
the next level of competition at Barres Thunder Road.  After spending time in a developmental division, no less
than ten drivers will continue upward in their careers at The Nations Site of Excitement and beyond.  But in a
change from recent years, all four divisions of Thunder Road and its regional cousin, the American-Canadian
Tour will reap the benefits.
    Drivers change divisions every year, said Thunder Road promoter and ACT President Tom Curley, but I
cant remember an off-season that has seen this many solid, talented racers move from one division to the next and
have the transition be so evenly distributed among the four groups.
    It appears that groups of three and four drivers are making a move from one division to the next tier of
competition for 2008, with each departing class creating room for a set of talented incoming freshmen.  The
intermediate NAPA Tiger Sportsman class will welcome four new young lions to the fold, including twenty year-olds
Bobby Therrien of Hinesburg and Josh Demers of Middlesex, Williamstowns Mike Ziter, 23, and East Barres Cody
Blake, who turned 16 last month.
    Therrien drew headlines in 2007 by winning a record six feature races and becoming the first driver to
take the Allen Lumber Street Stock Championship and Rookie of the Year titles in the same season.  Ziter was also
a rookie Street Stock winner a year ago, and was in the thick of the championship battle the entire year.  Demers
earned a Street Stock victory in 2006, while Blake was a three-time winner at New Hampshires White Mountain
Motorsports Park in the Strictly Stock division last season.  Blake and Therrien previously competed at Thunder
Road with the Northeastern Kart Club. 
    Therrien joins his older brother, multi-time winner Tom, in the Sportsman division.  Ziters father-in-
law, Dan Beede, won the prestigious Chittenden Milk Bowl in 1991, as well as the 1987 Thunder Road Flying Tiger
title.  Blakes father, Greg, was also the 1989 Flying Tiger King of the Road.  The equipment the young drivers
will compete with is impressive: Therrien has purchased the 2007 championship car of Nick Sweet, while Demers will
pilot the car Shawn Fleury drove to two Thunder Road titles.  Ziter purchased a car that was driven to the 2006
Tiger Sportsman Series championship from Chuck Beede.
    I cant wait for the first race, said Therrien.  I get along really well with Mike, Josh, and Cody, and
we all have good cars and good people behind us.  Theyre all great drivers, and its going to be a lot of fun
racing against them again.  Im glad were all making the jump at the same time.
    As Therrien, Ziter, and Demers leave the Allen Lumber Street Stocks, they will be replaced by a strong
group of former Power Shift Online Junkyard Warrior competitors, including 2007 Champion Bunker Hodgdon of
Hardwick.  Hodgdon will be joined in the Street Stocks by David Whitcomb of Elmore and Leonard Sanborn of
Graniteville, each a feature winner last season.  Last season, the trio produced an impressive four victories and
nearly 40 top-ten finishes, all while routinely starting near the back of 25-car fields. Hodgdon and Whitcomb
competed in a handful of Street Stock races in 2007 with promising results.  Like its counterparts, the Warrior
division will see a handful of new entry-level racers enter the fold, with drivers Justin Hathaway, Lance Donald,
and Merrill Bashaw, Jr. signing on for 2008.
    Both divisions will be well-represented in the top-tier Late Model ranks.  Barres Nick Sweet, 23,
Northfields Matt White, 34, and Tyler Cahoon of Danville, 27, plan to compete on a full-time basis in either
Thunder Roads weekly series or on the traveling ACT Late Model Tour in the northeastern United States and
Canada.  Sweet and White have been in the NAPA Tiger Sportsman spotlight for three seasons; Sweet was the
divisions 2007 Champion, while White was the runner-up in 2006 and the fifth-place finisher last year.  Cahoon,
who has been honing his skills at White Mountain Motorsports Park, was the 2000 Thunder Road Street Stock
Champion.  Sweet got his start in the Street Stocks in 2003, while White, after winning the M&M Beverage Enduro
200, raced in the Warrior class in 2004.  Cahoon has made select ACT and Thunder Road appearances in his Late
Model during recent seasons, while White made a spectacular debut last September, qualifying for the 44th Annual
Chittenden Milk Bowl.
    Its a very positive and encouraging thing that our weekly racers across the board are getting the
experience and confidence they feel they need to be competitive at a higher level, said Curley.  I dont know of
any other track or series that is enjoying the growth were seeing this year, especially with the quality of the
drivers and equipment that will be making the big jump.  Its a very exciting time for us.
    Thunder Roads 49th season opens with the Merchants Bank 150 for the ACT Late Model Tour on Sunday, May
4.  For more information, call (802) 244-6963 or visit www.thunderroadspeedbowl.com.
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Contact: Justin St. Louis                                    Phone: (802) 244-
6963
Email: media@acttour.com                                Fax: (802) 244-1616