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Barre, VT - - Phil Scott scored a two car length victory over Jim Cilley in the 28th Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic Sunday at Thunder Road. It was the second ACT Late Model Sportsman (LMS) Series checkers in two starts on the high banked quarter mile for the defending track champion and it moved him unofficially within three points of Series leader Brian Hoar.

Scott started sixteenth in the twenty-six car field, ran down early leaders Tracie Bellerose and Derek Ming for the lead on lap 52 of the 100 lap event and was unaffected by the only restart of the event fourteen circuits later.

Cilley used the restart to his advantage, slipped underneath Bellerose for second, and briefly threatened Scott for the lead before settling for the runner-up spot. Hoar sat fourth alongside Cilley on the restart, but faltered with fuel line trouble at the drop of the green, spent two laps getting up to full speed, and finished seventh.

Bellerose and nineteen year-old Derek Ming turned in outstanding performances for the third and fourth spots. The pair swapped the lead in traffic several times before Scott and Cilley arrived on the scene, then hung around with the leaders the rest of the way. East Montpelier, VT veteran Joey Laquerre, from 20th on the field, completed the top five.

Chuck Beede and Brian Hoar's revived Goss Dodge Avenger No. 45 went door to door over the final twenty laps for sixth place with Beede getting the edge. Greg Blake, Kendell Legendre and Eric Williams held down positions 8-10. Chris Fisher, second in ACT points at the start of the day, was among several top cars in a hard fought consolation event that failed to make the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic field.

Ken Hislop narrowly managed to go flag to flag in the NAPA Flying Tiger main event. Hislop, getting looser by the lap, survived a late attack by Marcel Gravel and Joe Steffen. It was the first win of the season and third career Flying Tiger win for Hislop, who had suffered heavy front end damage in a hard wreck on opening day.

Steffen's third place finish was nullified in the tech line and was subsequently awarded to Mike Rollins, who was in the hunt at the end just ahead of John Clark and Eric Pembroke. Gravels' second place effort moved him into the unofficial point lead.

Street Stock action produced the first simultaneous three car rollover in Thunder Road's 40 year history prior to Ed Patterson's feature win. Tyler Cahoon and Joe Fecteau followed in Patterson's tracks for second and third. Terry Pearce and Roger Hutchinson ran 4, 5.

Thunder Road's Thursday night racing schedule begins June 10 at 7 pm. Event number four in the 12 race ACT Late Model Sportsman Series takes place Saturday, June 19 at White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, NH.

Contact: Tom Herzig (802) 244-6963

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Initial creation: April 5th 1996 - revised April 13 1997
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