Corliss’ Thunder Road mastery earns second ACT Labor Day Classic win

Jason Corliss’ latest Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour win was over two years in the making. But it came on familiar turf.

The three-time Thunder Road International Speedbowl “King of the Road” took charge early and never looked back en route to victory in Sunday’s 47th running of the EastRise Credit Union Labor Day Classic, his second win in the late-summer spectacle.

Apparently, it’s good to be the King.

ACT’s Labor Day return to its home turf was also a homecoming of sorts for Corliss, the Danville, Vt. veteran who has earned most of his success at the “Nation’s Site of Excitement.” In addition to his three Thunder Road track championships, Corliss is a three-time Vermont Milk Bowl champion, and five of his six ACT touring wins entering Sunday’s tilt came at Thunder Road.

But Corliss, who leads the weekly standings at the Barre, Vt. bullring, had not visited a Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour winner’s circle since the Community Bank, N.A. 150 in early 2023. Corliss ran the bulk of the schedule that season. In both his starts last year and a single ACT start in May’s 150-lapper, Corliss had finished in the back half of the top ten, but had come away winless.

Starting fifth in the 31-car field, Corliss picked his way through traffic, displacing polesitter Nick Sweet and early leader Marcel Gravel only 17 laps in. Corliss was poised to make a statement, holding the lead through the race’s first yellow flag for Alexendre Tardif’s stopped car.

Officials took advantage of the caution period to allow teams to refuel, then turned them loose for the remainder of the race to set their own strategy. Gravel shadowed Corliss on the green-flag run, reeling in the veteran as the laps approached halfway. As Gravel set up to make the pass, a timely lapped car spared Corliss’ advantage, keeping Gravel from making the move.

Reigning “King of the Road” Kaiden Fisher’s car came alive in the second half of the race, as he climbed to second within the final 50 laps. Fisher got a shot at Corliss on lap 163, when Cooper Bouchard spun to bring out another caution. The teen racer, eager to sweep Thunder Road’s Tour dates after a win in June, kept the pressure on Corliss for the final 37-lap stretch.

But it was not enough to dethrone the veteran wheelman, who kept Fisher at bay to score his seventh career Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour victory and his sixth at Thunder Road.

Corliss’ victory also moves him to within one race of tying Phil Scott for all-time Late Model wins dating back to the division’s 1992 inception. Scott, Vermont’s governor since 2017, still races as his schedule allows, but last recorded a win several years ago.

Fisher, who sits fifth in weekly points at Thunder Road, came up .318 seconds short of the sweep. However, his runner-up finish was only his second top-ten since June’s Community Bank, N.A. 150 win, in what has been a challenging sophomore effort for the youngster.

Two-time ACT Tour champ D.J. Shaw was a distant third, ahead of early frontrunner Gravel and local racer Justin Prescott. Prescott’s fifth-place finish for car owner Arnie Hill marked a career-best result in Tour competition.

Late Model rookie Brandon Gray was sixth in his best Tour outing yet, with polesitter Sweet finishing seventh. Christopher Pelkey was eighth ahead of Jesse Switser. Tardif rebounded from his early flat tire to finish tenth.

Defending champion Gabe Brown was the last car on the lead lap in eleventh.

Thunder Road favors its weekly competitors even in a touring scenario, and Sunday’s race was no exception. Four Tour full-timers finished in the top ten, with Shaw the highest-finishing driver who has not raced weekly at Thunder Road.

Points leader Raphaël Lessard was unable to reprise his strong run from June, finishing a lap back in 14th. Shaw’s third podium performance of the year allowed the veteran to carve a few more points off Lessard’s lead. With three events left in the season, Lessard still nurses a 43-point advantage over Shaw, with Brown another 33 points back in third.

Corliss is not part of that conversation, but with only two events left on Thunder Road’s schedule, he leads the weekly Late Model points in search of his fourth track championship. Corliss leads 2022 champion Pelkey, reigning Vermont Milk Bowl winner Gravel, two-time feature winner Bryan Wall, Jr. and defending champion Fisher in a tight race for the season crown. All but Wall have at least one Tour win, but Corliss is the only one to have multiple victories against the touring teams.

With longtime car owner Chris Burnett, Corliss stepped up to a full Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour effort in 2017, finishing third in points before refocusing his energy on weekly racing. Since then, Corliss has been lights-out at his home track. He is a three-time winner of the Memorial Day Classic, twice since 2017. Corliss also has three Vermont Milk Bowl wins in 2017, 2018 and 2020, his latter two recording the lowest winner’s score since Brian Hoar scored four points to win in 1998. Corliss clinched track championships in 2019, 2020 and 2021, a three-peat feat matched only by Chuck Beede and Derrick O’Donnell. Several drivers have three “King of the Road” titles, but only Beede has four, earning a 1985 crown with the track’s Flying Tigers.

And as a part-timer on the Tour, Corliss has excelled, sweeping Thunder Road’s dates in 2018 and winning three straight Community Bank 150s in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Aside from partial schedules in 2022 and 2023, Corliss has made no more than three Tour starts in a season since his 2017 effort.

The Tour regulars may not see Corliss until next year, excepting October’s Milk Bowl.

But most of them are okay with that.

Unofficial Results
Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour | 47th EastRise Credit Union Labor Day Classic
Thunder Road International Speedbowl, Barre, Vt.
1. (66VT) Jason Corliss
2. (18VT) Kaiden Fisher
3. (60BH) D.J. Shaw
4. (86VT) Marcel J. Gravel
5. (04VT) Justin Prescott
6. (00VT) Brandon Gray
7. (88VT) Nick Sweet
8. (64VT) Christopher Pelkey
9. (25NH) Jesse Switser
10. (31CT) Alexendre Tardif
11. (47NH) Gabe Brown
12. (9VT) Chip Grenier
13. (03MA) Derek Gluchacki
14. (48QC) Raphaël Lessard
15. (0VT) Scott Dragon
16. (26VT) Stephen Donahue
17. (48K) Kyle Streeter
18. (16VT) Brandon Lanphear
19. (68NH) Tanner Woodard
20. (92VT) Jaden Perry
21. (58VT) Jimmy Hebert
22. (36NH) Erick Sands
23. (45NH) Stephen Martin
24. (7VT) Cooper Bouchard
25. (27MA) Chase Curtis
26. (73MA) Cole Littlewood
27. (60NH) Derrick O’Donnell
28. (55VT) Keegan Lamson
29. (68VT) Brooks Clark
30. (48VT) Taylor Hoar
31. (41QC) Jonathan Bouvrette

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