Michaud Completes Mooving Season With Dodge Dealers Milk Bowl Win : Raceway Media

Barre, VT - Cris Michaud of Williamstown, VT needed only to make an appearance at the final event of the season Sunday at Barre, Vermont's Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl to secure the 2004 Late Model track championship. He did that and more by racing to a narrow victory in the 41st annual New England Dodge Dealers Milk Bowl, a three-segment Monza style stock car race where the overall winner is determined by cumulative points earned based on each driver's finishes in the 50 lappers. Michaud also posted his first ACT Dodge Tour victory of the season in the race which awarded points toward both the ACT Dodge Tour and Thunder Road titles.

Michaud's finishes of seventh, fifth, and seventh, for a total of 19, was the lowest of the 27 race starters and good enough for a victory smooch from Miss Milk Bowl, Princess Minah, an award winning Ayrshire dairy cow. David Avery's 20 points earned him a career day and the runner-up position in his first career Milk Bowl race. The Lincoln, NH driver was likely the biggest story of the event as he was forced to qualify through the Last Chance B Feature on Sunday morning after crashing early in one of Saturday's Twin 50 qualifiers. Avery started 19th in the “B” and narrowly avoided being caught up in two early wrecks. To transfer into the Milk Bowl and earn a starting spot at the rear of the first segment he had to finish among the top five. On the 29th lap (of 35) Avery moved into fifth securing that transfer spot but he wanted more. Running Thunder Road's high groove the 24 year old racer headed to toward the front over the final circuits. He passed leader Eric Williams on the white flag lap assuring that he'd have the best Milk Bowl starting position possible.

Patrick Laperle of St Denis, Quebec, winner of a Twin 50 qualifier was third behind Avery by a single point (4+9+8). Completing the top five was Middlebury, Vermont's Todd Stone, also a Twin 50 Qualifier winner, in fourth with 23 points (2+11+10) and Jamie Fisher from Shelburne, VT amassed 24 points (14+1+9). Stone was the event's pole sitter after setting fast time in the Booth Bros/HP Hood time trials on Sat. His fast lap around the high banked Ľ mile oval earned him a $1,000 bonus.

Cooper MacRitchie won the first of the three segments after starting alongside Stone on the front row. He jumped into the lead and never relinquished the advantage despite three caution periods for minor incidents. Following MacRitchie and Stone in the first segment were former Milk Bowl Champion, Phil Scott, Laperle and Avery.

The starting grid for the second segment was determined by inverting the finish of the first segment. Eventual fifth place overall finisher, Fisher, who started 13th in the middle segment, took the lead from Rich Lowrey on the 41st circuit. Other lap leaders in the hotly contested second 50 lapper were Ron Henry, Dennis Demers, and Eric Chase. Lowrey held on for second in Segment II with Dale Shaw, Joey Laquerre and Michaud completing the top five. Entering the third and final 50 lap race Michaud was the driver to beat with 12 points. But by virtue of his better finish in the second segment and the inverted start, he would begin the race behind his two closest rivals, Stone and Laperle who each had 13. If he was to have a chance at victory Michaud needed to keep the other two in his sights.

At one point during the last segment Stone had put enough cars between himself and Michaud to become the Milk Bowl's overall leader. A pass by 2002 Milk Bowl winner Dave Pembroke, a car not in the hunt for the race win, changed the overall point standings and put Michaud back in command. His focal point also switched from Stone and Laperle to David Avery who was bearing down on Cooper MacRitchie who was running second behind Phil Scott in the segment. If Avery could pass MacRitchie he would secure a tie with Michaud and would get the win based on a better finish in the final segment. Fortunately for Michaud Avery ran out of laps. Phil Scott was the third segment's winner in a dominating performance. The two-time Milk Bowl Champion (1997 and 2000) was followed by MacRitchie, Avery, Roger Brown and Trampas Demers.

the top ten finishers in the overall tally for the New England Dodge Dealers Milk Bowl were MacRitchie in sixth (28 points), Brent Dragon (30), Scott , 2002 Milk Bowl winner, Dave Pembroke and defending race winner, Eric Williams were all tied with 31 points. Milk Bowl ties are broken through the finishing order of the third segment which gave the nod to Scott, followed by Pembroke and Williams.

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