Kaiden Fisher Crowned Thunder Road’s Youngest King of the Road on Lenny’s Night

Barre, VT — The Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers kicked-off Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Championship Night at Thunder Road with a pair of cautions to start feature racing on Friday. Ty Delphia broke away with the early lead as Mike Martin dropped back with mechanical woes under the hood. A murderer’s row behind him had hard-charging Kyle Streeter and Brandon Gray quickly pull up to Delphia’s rear bumper with Mike MacAskill also digging deep looking for his first win of the season. After already clinching the track championship one week ago, Gray faced off with 2023 Flying Tiger champ Streeter with a long stretch ahead.

Physical, hardnosed racing was the name of the game throughout the field as Streeter and Gray led the way, Gray glued to the rear bumper of the blue and yellow #37VT. On lap 31 Logan Powers called out the third caution with a flat right front with Streeter choosing the inside lane on the restart. A slip-sliding ride in turn four left Gray with the lead and he took it all the way to this eighth win of the season on Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel championship night to further solidify his 2024 championship with Kyle Streeter and Ty Delphia joining him on the podium.

The Burnett Scrap Metals Road Warriors launched onto the racing surface with Neal Foster quickly gaining the lead over Anderson Boyd and Jaiden Del Toro. Mike Slingerland made it a show driving up and around to take on second with a rear-view mirror full of Tyler Wheatley as Taylor Sayers and Brodie Fraizer made hay in the middle of the pack. Neal ‘Tetnus’ Foster took down a dominant first win of the season in the Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel trophy dash followed by a hard-charging Tyler Wheatley coming from 16th on the grid and Mike Slingerland in third.

Rookie of the Year Kylee Potter and Haidyn Pearce brought the rk Miles Street Stocks to green for their 30-lap feature with the most undecided of the championships crowned on Friday. After a spirited battle, Pearce would secure the lead on lap five with Curtis Franks digging hard in the outside groove to battle Potter for second. Following suit, fellow Mustang-wielding drivers Josh Lovely and Trevor Jaques began to make up real estate on the outside lane as they powered into the top-10.

On lap 18 Franks was knocked around sideways in turn four with Josh Lovely joining him at the tail end of the field as the penalty car leaving Pearce and Potter to fend off Jaques and Tyler Whittemore on the restart. Potter held her own to lead the restart before Pearce went around in a chain-reaction battle in turn four, ending the night for Zach Audet and Fred Fleury after piling in late. Now lined-up alongside Jaques, the Milton driver took the lead on the outside line.

The King of the Road honors came down to the 65-lap Maplefield/Irving Late Model feature to cap off the 2024 championship season at the Nation’s Site of Excitement. Darrell Morin and Taylor Hoar led the charge, side-by-side at the head of the pack until Morin took full control of the field on lap 12. Shortly behind, Phil Scott and Chip Grenier’s battle for third began to break away with Justin Prescott, Jason Corliss, and Marcel Gravel taking advantage on the outside groove. Kaiden Fisher, staring down his track championship, found himself mired in heavy traffic as Morin faced a heavy onslaught from Corliss.

With laps winding down, Morin held his own against the three-time former champion Corliss while Marcel Gravel looking to make up ground nearly a straight-away back. Darrell Morin kept the hammer down to his third career Maplefield/Irving Late Model victory at The Road followed by Jason Corliss and Marcel Gravel across the line. By taking the green, Shelburne’s Kaiden Fisher became the youngest King of the Road on record at just 16-years-old, overtaking Derrick O’Donnell’s 2013 Late Model championship as a 23-year-old and Joey ‘The Kid’ Kourafas’s 1974 championship at 21. Fisher’s championship run also makes for just the third father/son King of the Road tradition, joining Joey Laquerre and Joey Jr. and Bobby and Scott Dragon on the 65-year-old list.

The Nation’s Site of Excitement returns to action on Saturday and Sunday, October 5 and 6 for the 62nd running of the Vermont Milk Bowl presented by Northfield Savings Bank! Mark your calendars today for the ‘Toughest Short Track Stock Car Race in North America’ the first weekend in October starting with Booth Bros/Hood Qualifying Day on Saturday, October 5 that also features the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) Super Late Models, Modifieds and the New England Supermodified Series!

Sunday, October 6 is headlined by the 62nd Vermont Milk Bowl presented by Northfield Savings Bank with some of New England and Quebec’s greatest drivers looking to kiss the Milk Bowl Queen!