It would be the 2025 season opener from the Airborne Park Speedway, and it would be the earliest in the 71-year history of the track, as we took the green on April 13th, and it would mark the return of the Airborne Park Speedway under the Dirtcar banner after a year away. Jake Fountain (22) and Glen Engstrom (17) battle for the win down the stretch as they go after the win in the 15-lap main for the Mini Stocks. The season would start with the 2nd annual Leon Gonyo Memorial, 4 thousand to win for the 358 Modifieds and two thousand to win for Sportsman Modified, along with the Renegades, Crown Vics, Limited Sportsman Modifieds, and Mini Stocks, as there would be over 130 cars in the pits. After all the time trials, heats, and last chance qualifiers were done, it would be onto the mains, and the first one up would be the Crown Vics. It would be a six-car field and see Richie Turner get the lead-off start, but Eric Friend would come up challenging from his last row start, take the lead, and cruise to the win, as we would get our second straight Crown Vic win at the Airborne Speedway. After the intermission, it would be onto the Sportsman Modified 2 thousand to win 30 lap main event. It would see Fire Swamp get the early lead from the early start of the race. Still, there would be a challenge up front from an old rival as the six-time track champion would come up and battle for the lead with Nick Heywood, and just over halfway through the race, he would take the lead. Still, it would not be without challenge as Swamp and Donovan Lussier would stay in sight and challenge for the lead, but Heywood would win today. Then it would be onto the main event of the evening, the Leon Gonyo Memorial, a 4 to win 358 Modified 40 lapper. It would see Felix Roy go wire to wire for the win, and it would be a Roy 1-2 finish. Jeremy would finish second, and then Jackson Gill would get third to round out the top three. Then we would be onto the Renegades for their 20-lap feature and see last year's champion, Shawn Duquette, get the lead off the start of the race. Still, there would be a challenge from last year's 2nd place man, Tyor Terry, and they would duke it out for the win, and on this day, it would be Tyor Terry getting the win and the early edge on the season. Then it would be onto the Limited Sportsman Modified and their 15-lap event, and see Gary English go wire to wire for the win. Then the final race of the evening would be the Mini Stocks, a 15-lap event, and 25 cars would take the green. It would see Jake Fountain get the lead at the start of the race and would be sailing around in the lead, but there would be a late race surge from Glen Engstrom, but it would come up about a car length short at the checkered flag, and Jake Fountain would get the opening win of the season. The racetrack will return to life next weekend, April 19th, as the Sprint Cars of New England invade the track with their 360s. Gallery

Nick Heywood (29) and Fire Swamp (88) dive into turn one and go side by side as they go after the win in the two thousand to win Sportsman Modified main event. Gallery

Fire Sqwamp (88) and Jamy Begor (19) get together down the backstretch going for the win on the final lap of the JS Steel Sportsman Modified 30 lap feature. It would be 35 Modified Championship night from the Airborne Park Speedway and the next to last race for all three other divisions for the night. After all the heat races were run it would be on to the features. The first feature of the night would be the Be Cool Heating and Air Condition 358 Modifieds for 30 laps and at the end there would be a championship decided. The leader of the start would be Jeremy Roy but that would be short-lived as the heavy hitters were coming from the middle of the pack eventually, Chris Raabe would get around him and take the lead and from there he would be off to get his second win of the season. As for the matter at hand with the championship, Mike Mahanney would finish 4th and Tim Fuller would be 7th clinching the 2024 track championship for Mike Mahanney and his first at the Airborne Park Speedway. Then next up would be the J+S Steel Sportsman Modified and it would see Jamy Begor get the lead off the start and he would be out to a big lead but there would be charging Fire Swamp that was catching him in the closing laps for the lead. There would be a caution with about three laps to go and then the old aged would come up where cautions breed cautions. As we were on the third restart to get the last couple of laps. Then on the last lap that's when all hell would break loose as Fire Swamp and Jamy Begor would get together down the backstretch and Donovan Lussier would inherit the lead and get his 8th win of the season. Then next we would have the 9th State Cannabis Renegades for their 20-lap feature and it would see a battle up front behind Nathaniel Guay and Shawn Duquette and in the end it would be Guay getting his second win of the season. Then to finish off the night it would be Moore Recycling Mini Stocks with their pair of features. First up would be the A Main for 15 laps and would see rookie Cody Young lead the early part of the race but Steven Bressette would come up from the 7th spot and take the lead with 5 laps to go and hold for the win. Then in the B Feature, it would be Bill Doner with the wire-to-wire victory. Gallery

Nathaniel Guay (97.5) gets to the checkered flag first and gets his second win of the season in the 9th State Cannabis Renegades. Gallery

Jeremiah King (75) gets to the checkered flag first and captures his first career victory over a fast-charging Ryan Senecal and Jake Fountain. Airborne Park Speedway would be entering its last three weeks of the racing season for 2024 and the main event of the evening would be Twin 20 lappers for the J+S Steel Sportsman Modified. The first feature of the night would be the first of the twin 20s and there would be 22 cars that would take the green flag the winner on the night would be Beau Reeves for the first win of the season after a good battle up front between him and Joey Scarbrough and then Evan Roberts would finish out the top three. Then we would have the 358 Modified feature after the intermission break and it would see Tanner Siemons lead 90 percent of the race until a late race caution would bunch the field back up. The restart would see Mike Mahaney come from the second row like he was shot out a cannon take the lead and get his second straight win of the season. Then we would have the second J+S Steel Sportsman Modified and it would see Bucko Branham get the lead at the start of the race. Although the challengers would be coming they won't have far to come as Donovan Lussier and Nick Heywood who started 4th and 5th would soon be there battling with Branham for the win and in the end Donovan Lussier would get his seventh win of the season and close the gap on points leader Joey Scarbrough. Then we would have the 9th State Cannabis Renegades for 20 laps affair and it would see Richie Turner get the early lead of the race but the top point men would be coming from mid-pack and make their presents known at the front. At the end of the night, it would be a battle up front between Shawn Duquette and Tylor, and on this night Duquette would get the better of Terry and extend that points lead to 16 points. Then to finish off the night it would be the A and B Main's for the Moore Recycling Mini Stocks and it would see Jeremiah King start on the front row and have an early race battle with Jason Bradley but after a few laps, he would gap the filled. There would be challengers coming from back in the back as Ryan Senecal started ninth and came up there but would have nothing for King on this night as he would earn his first career victory and Jake Fountain would come from 13th to finish off the top three. Then to finish off the night it would be the B Main for the Mini Stocks and for the second week in a row, it would see Tyler Bell get the early lead but the car would just lose power and Kyle Botala would cruise around him for the lead and get the B Main win. Gallery

Mike Mahanney (35) gets to the checkered flag first for the second week in a row in the 30-lap Be Coo Heating and Air Conditioning 358 Modifieds. Gallery

Richie Turner (17) Shawn Fountain (7), and Nathaniel Guay (97.5) all battle for the early lead of the 20-lap Renegades main event that would see Tylor Terry get the eventual win. So the race season has reached the final month of the season and the points races are all tight among the four divisions as they are coming down the stretch as all four divisions would be in action on mechanics night. After all the heat races were completed first up would be the Small Block Modifieds for their 30-lap event. The race would start with Jordan Formwalt getting the lead in the third starting spot off the start of the race. He would have the lead first the first few laps until Steve Bernier would slice his way to the front of the pack. He would hold the lead for the next 10-15 laps but it would not come without a challenge as Tim Fuller would come up and battle for the lead and they would go side by side for a few laps until Fuller would use the lap traffic to get around for the lead and hold on for his third win on the season but he would only gain 4 points on points leader Mike Mahanney who would round out the top three with Steve Bernier. Then we would have the JS Steel Sportsman Modified for their 30-lap event and that would start with a bang as there would be a multi-car incident in turn 1 of the opening lap when Jonathan Toohill and Eric Shaw and it would turn into a Walmart parking lot. After the clean-up and restart, there would be a battle up front between Caleb Durgan and Michael Wright for the top spot that would eventually see Michael Wright take the lead. He would hold the lead until just over the midway mark when Travis Bruno would come up and challenge him for the lead and take it on lap 16. Travis Bruno would be out in the lead and he would probably start to think that the race was his until he noticed that Donovan Lussier would be getting bigger in his rearview mirror with two laps to go Lussier would get around him for the lead and win to get his division-leading sixth win of the season as Travis Bruno and Caleb Durgan would round out the top three. Then next we would have the ninth state cannabis Renegades for their 20-lap event The early lead of the race would be Richie Turner until lap seven when he would spin out in turn 1 on the top of three-wide racing. Josh Terry would then inherit the lead and hold it till there were five to go when he would get passed by his brother Tylor Terry. Then the battle would be on upfront between the top two in the points as Tylor Terry and Shawn Duquette would duke it out for the win but the win would go to Tylor Terry for the seventh time in the division this season as Nathaniel Guay and Shawn Duquette would round out the top three. Then we would have the Moore Recycling Mini Stocks in their A and B Main to finish of the night To start the A Main the early leader would be Joe Warren but it will be short-lived as he will only have the lead for 2 laps. As the cagey venture, Josh Laporte would get around him for the lead and would hold it til lap eight. From there the young Cale Manor would get the lead and he would hold on for his first career win over Josh Laporte and Rick Doner. As for the B Main, it would be a wire-to-wire win for Cody Young to finish off the night. The racetrack will be back in action next Thursday night September 12th as they continue the championship battle. Gallery

Donovan Lussier (61L) crosses the line to capture his division-leading seventh JS Steel Sportsman Modified win on the season. Gallery

Fire Swamp (88) Travis Bruno (33) and Nick Heywood (29) all battle for the lead as they dive down to turn 1 with the eventual win going to Nick Heywood. We would be back at Airborne Park Speedway for the next edition of Thursday Night Thunder as it would be backpack giveaway night at the speedway and we would have all four divisions action on the evening. The first feature of the night that would be out would be the Be Cool Heating and Air Condition Small Black Modifieds and it would see 14 cars take the green for the 30 lap event. Jordan Fornwalt would get the lead at the start of the race but it would be short-lived as Tim Fuller would get by and take the lead in lap two and then the race would be on between him and Mike Mahaney as they would take off from the rest of the field and have there own battle up front. The battle up front would go on till there were about 5 laps left in the when Mahaney would use the lap traffic to his advantage and take the lead and get his first win of the season at the Airborne Park Speedway and expand his point lead over Tim Fuller with only three races to go. Then we would have the JS Steel Sportsman Modified with 24 cars going after the win-the-30-lap affair. The race would start with Beau Reeves and Matt LaValley on the front row and the early leader of the race would be Dylan Rabtoy from his 4th place start. There would be a storm brewing in the middle of the pack though as Heywood, Scarbrough, and Bruno would all be on their way up. The battle up front would intensify for a few laps between Heywood and Rabtoy until Heywood would get around for the lead. Then in the closing laps, it would be classic Airborne rivalry at the front and they would put a show on between Heywood and Bruno but in the end Heywood would hold on for the win and his third of the season. Then we would have the 9th State Cannabis Renegades for their 20-lap event and would see Richie Turner getting the early lead of the race. Shawn Duquette and Tylor Terry sitting 1 and 2 in the points race come up from rows 3 and 4 batting for the lead. Duquette could get around Richie Turner for the lead and hold off the charging Tylor Terry to hold on for his second win of the season and hold the points lead. Then we would be onto the Moore Recycling Mini Stocks to finish the night with their pair of feature events and we would have a surprise early leader of the race with Kyle Botala holding his own at the front of the pack. Although the Tourville Motorsports teams would be coming from their 8th and 9th place starting spot and in the closing laps Caleb would get around Botala for the lead and father Kenny would come up for second to finish the 1 2 Tourville motorsports finish. Then to finish off the night it would be the B Main for the Mini Stocks and the winner on the night would be Glenn Engstrom. Airborne Park Speedway will be back in action next week September 4th with a special Wednesday edition of Thursday Night Thunder with all divisions in action. Gallery

Caleb Tourville (42) cones across and captures the win with father Kenny Tourville in second as they finish the 1 and 2 finish for Tourville Motorsports in the Moore Recycling Mini Stocks. Gallery