Terrance holds off Roy in Thursday Night Thunder opener

PLATTSBURGH | It was opening night of "Thursday Night Thunder" May 7 at Airborne Park Speedway, and the fans who braved the chilly temperatures were treated to an evening of hard-fought competition and several thrilling battles. The first feature of the evening was the 30-lap main event for the DIRTcar 358-Modifieds. After an impressive run in his heat race, Carey Terrance was equally dominant in the feature. Terrance and Mike Mahaney brought the field to the green flag, with Terrance grabbing the lead. Dany Gagne slipped underneath Mahaney in the opening laps but was no match for Terrance, who consistently pulled away. Back-to-back cautions on lap 14 brought the field back together. On the restart, Felix Roy pulled off a two-for-one move, passing Mahaney and Gagne to move into second and set his sights on Terrance. With Terrance working the high line, Roy ran the bottom while trying to reel him in. Terrance bobbled and slipped out of the groove on lap 26 exiting turn two. Roy advanced to Terrance's rear bumper but could not complete the pass. Roy took a last-ditch shot exiting turn four coming to the checkered flag, but Terrance held on for the victory. Roy crossed the line second, followed by Mahaney, Gagne and Tim Fuller. Shane Pecore enjoyed winning the Sportsman Modified feature so much on opening night that he returned to the "Big A" and duplicated the effort. The Cornwall, Ontario, driver roared from the No. 2 starting spot to make it two-for-two on the young season. Codie Aubin started on the pole and led the first seven laps. Pecore lost a position to Joey Scarborough but drove around both Scarborough and Aubin on the high side on lap eight and pulled away. Scarborough moved around Aubin for second a lap later, but Pecore was masterful in lapped traffic and built a healthy cushion over the Brandon, Vermont, driver. Pecore completed his second straight run to the checkered flag, with Scarborough second, Cory Castell third, Aubin fourth and Nick Heywood fifth. A week and a half ago, with his wife preparing to give birth to their second child, David Johnson rolled to victory in the opening-night feature for the Limited Sportsman division. Now the father of two sons, Johnson made it two in a row as he chased down early pacesetter Gary English for the victory. English started from the pole and led the first 11 laps. It appeared English might pull away from the field, but Johnson was biding his time. Boomer Patterson briefly nosed ahead of Johnson for second at the halfway point. The caution came out for a spin with nine laps remaining, and Johnson made his move. On the restart, Johnson went from third to first, flying past Patterson and English, and held off his challengers the rest of the way. English maintained second, Brogan Roberts finished third, Patterson slipped to fourth and Lea-Jeanne Lauziere rounded out the top five. The drivers in the Renegade division once again put on an exciting show. Defending champion Shawn Duquette launched from outside the front row and took the lead from pole sitter Tyler Irwin exiting turn two on the opening lap. Duquette overcame a couple of restarts but led flag-to-flag while the tightest battles took place behind him. Duquette built a commanding lead over second-place Tylor Terry before a caution with two laps remaining reset the field. On the restart, Brad Bushey seized second and began to pressure Duquette. Billy Thwaits muscled his way around Terry and Bushey coming to the white flag. Thwaits got underneath Duquette exiting turn four, but Duquette won the drag race to the finish line for his first victory of the season. Thwaits finished second, followed by Bushey, Terry and Nathaniel Guay. In the 15-lap Mini Stock feature, Jeremiah King won a duel with Joe Warren and fought off a hard charge from Brandon Osher to pull out the victory. King led the opening lap before Warren took the lead on lap two. Following a lap-four restart, King worked his way back around Warren to reclaim the top spot. Warren continued to pressure King while Osher attempted to join the battle. Fluid on the racing surface led to an extended caution period. With the race reaching the 15-minute time limit, race control informed drivers the next caution would end the race. One lap later, the caution flew and King secured the victory. Warren finished second under caution, followed by Osher, Kyle Botala and Nick Harndon.

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Terrance holds off Roy in Thursday Night Thunder opener

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