Donovan Lussier Drives From 20th To Win Sportsman 40 At Airborne Park Speedway

Story By: AIRBORNE PARK SPEEDWAY – PLATTSBURGH, NY – St. Denis, Quebec’s Donovan Lussier has become one of the most successful crate 602 sportsman modified drivers on dirt in the last year.

He began 2024 by winning the first two races at Airborne Park Speedway, going on to collect seven more wins at Airborne alone and the championship, continuing his winning into 2025 with an early season triumph at New Jersey’s Bridgeport Motorsports Park. On opening day at Airborne on April 13, he finished 3rd. In week No. 2, he won at Airborne again.

Lussier struggled in his heat race, registering an 8th place finish. He and his fellow opening day podium compatriot, Fire Swamp, also struggled early in the night, and the pair started 20th and 19th, respectively. They darted through traffic together, bound for the front, while Travis Bruno looked to turn around his luck with a win, leading laps early. Lussier cracked the top-10 on lap six with Swamp back behind him in 15th. Lussier took the lead on lap 18, and Swamp made the top-five a few laps later on lap 25. For the final 15 laps, Swamp navigated the rest of traffic to secure 2nd, but could not quite hang with Lussier, as the Boissonneault Towing No. 61 hit victory lane again, collecting the $2,000 payday. Swamp was 2nd with Cory Castell 3rd, Bruno 4th and Ontario driver Shane Pecore was 5th.

The pro-stocks were in town for their first race of 2025 on Saturday evening with Denis Gauvreau picking up the win. Gauvreau started on the front row and led all 25 laps to score the victory over the 18-car field. The Gatineau, Q.C. driver attended all the 2024 pro-stock races at Airborne and placed well across the board with three podium finishes and a 7th place effort. Sid Harmer, Jr. chased Gauvreau across the line with Luke Horning 3rd, Bastien Caron 4th and Marc Lalonde 5th.

Brad Bushey won the 9th State Cannabis Renegade Feature over Tylor Terry and Tyler Irwin. Bushey, from Fairfax, V.T., is a dirt-track rookie in 2025 after years campaigning asphalt cars. He ran 2nd on opening day for several laps before getting turned around late, and used a pole starting position Saturday to catapult himself to victory lane. Terry’s podium finish backed up his opening day win. Irwin’s 3rd place effort is his second in a row, repeating his opening day performance. The Peru, N.Y. driver had just five top-five finishes in 2024 and appears on his way to beating that number in 2025. Completing the top-five were Zack Daniels and Rick Doner, impressing in just his second renegade start.

A familiar face entered victory lane among the mini-stock ranks; the 2024 track champion Ryan Senecal. Senecal started 3rd on the grid and found the lead on lap three. Jake Fountain was 2nd, coming from 7th starting position in Senecal’s 2024 championship car. Speedy Bresette was 3rd with Josh Blake 4th and Glenn Engstrom registering his second top-five run of 2025. Josh LaPorte, Sr. won the B-feature. He came from 25th to finish 8th in the A-main.

Young Kobe Hernandez, of Chazy, N.Y. won the 15-lap limited sportsman feature. Hernandez started on the pole alongside Raelin Dunham, holding the lead for all 15 circuits and checking out, winning by over six seconds. Dunham was 2nd for the second time in 2025 with Mike Block 3rd. Parker Dermody, Garin Thompson and Gary English, Jr. rounded out the field.

Orford, N.H.’s Chris Pierce scored the win in the first 500cc mini-sprint race of 2025 at Airborne Park. Pierce and fellow Devil’s Bowl driver Quinn Quenneville ran side-by-side for many laps, racing hard yet clean. Quenneville started 3rd and led from lap one until lap 13 when Pierce finally completed the pass. Quenneville finished 2nd with Peru’s Destin St. Clair 3rd. Jenna Zakrzewski was 4th with Scott Bachand rounding out the top-five.

The Sprint Cars of New England brought 16 “winged, wild and wicked-fast” racers into Plattsburgh for their 2025 season opener and the first of two scheduled races at “The Big A” in 2025. Travis Billington and veteran driver Jeff Trombley, of Altamont, N.Y. started on the front row with Trombley earning the lead quickly. Canadian driver Jordan Poirier started 3rd and quickly made his way to 2nd, pacing Trombley.

Further back was 9th starter Matt Tanner, making his way through the top-10 with his sights set on the front. Trombley blistered around Airborne Park in under 16 seconds, leading until lap 14 when Poirier went by. Tanner eventually followed, leaving Trombley behind, but could not catch Poirier, who backed up his 2024 SCoNE win at Airborne Park with another. Tanner ended up 2nd with Trombley hanging onto 3rd. Chase Moran was 4th with Travis Billington 5th.

Racing returns to Airborne Park Speedway next Sunday, April 27 and 5PM with a special bicycle giveaway for the youngsters. The 358 modifieds will be back in action with the J&S Steel Sportsman. 9th State Cannabis Renegades, Hoosier Racing Tire Limited Sportsman, the mini-stocks, pro-stocks, 500cc mini-sprints and the crown vics. It is going to be an action-packed day of racing in Plattsburgh!

General admission is just $15, kids 12 and under are FREE! Pit passes are $30 for members and $40 for non-members. The pits open at 2PM with hot laps at 4:00 and racing at 5:00.

Sportsman

A Feature 1 (40 Laps): 1. 61L-Donovan Lussier[20]; 2. 88-Fire Swamp[19]; 3. 10X-Cory Castell[5]; 4. 33R-Travis Bruno[2]; 5. 0-Shane Pecore[10]; 6. 78Q-Vince Quenneville[6]; 7. 22-Dylan Rabtoy[4]; 8. 19-Jamy Begor[1]; 9. 29-Tanner Forbes[8]; 10. 29H-Nick Heywood[22]; 11. 35B-Brennan Moore[24]; 12. 50X-Evan Roberts[18]; 13. 8-Kevin Chaffee[21]; 14. R7-Lonnie Rivers[12]; 15. 52-Jessica Power[15]; 16. 18-Chris Cayea[3]; 17. 38-Mike Phinney[13]; 18. 22M-Matt Leonard[7]; 19. 2-Brent Warren[23]; 20. 77-Eric Shaw[11]; 21. 21L-Robert Laware[26]; 22. 07-Rick Frenyea[9]; 23. M2-Shawn McPhee[25]; 24. 35D-Dylan Moore[17]; 25. 70-Jason McClatchie[16]; 26. 78-Michael Wright[14]; 27. (DNS) 20-Bucko Branham; 28. (DNS) 7-Codie Aubin

CONSI (12 Laps): 1. 88-Fire Swamp[1]; 2. 61L-Donovan Lussier[5]; 3. 8-Kevin Chaffee[3]; 4. 29H-Nick Heywood[6]; 5. 2-Brent Warren[4]; 6. 35B-Brennan Moore[8]; 7. M2-Shawn McPhee[7]; 8. 21L-Robert Laware; 9. (DNS) 20-Bucko Branham; 10. (DNS) 17-Caleb Durgan

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 0-Shane Pecore[2]; 2. 33R-Travis Bruno[1]; 3. 07-Rick Frenyea[4]; 4. 78Q-Vince Quenneville[7]; 5. 38-Mike Phinney[10]; 6. 70-Jason McClatchie[3]; 7. 88-Fire Swamp[8]; 8. 7-Codie Aubin[9]; 9. 35B-Brennan Moore[5]; 10. 2-Brent Warren[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. R7-Lonnie Rivers[1]; 2. 18-Chris Cayea[2]; 3. 19-Jamy Begor[4]; 4. 10X-Cory Castell[6]; 5. 78-Michael Wright[8]; 6. 35D-Dylan Moore[7]; 7. 20-Bucko Branham[9]; 8. 61L-Donovan Lussier[5]; 9. 21L-Robert Laware[3]; 10. (DNS) 17-Caleb Durgan

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 22M-Matt Leonard[2]; 2. 77-Eric Shaw[4]; 3. 22-Dylan Rabtoy[1]; 4. 29-Tanner Forbes[3]; 5. 52-Jessica Power[6]; 6. 50X-Evan Roberts[7]; 7. 8-Kevin Chaffee[8]; 8. 29H-Nick Heywood[9]; 9. M2-Shawn McPhee[5]

Pro Stocks

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 72-Denis Gauvreau[2]; 2. 690-Sid Harmer Jr[5]; 3. 2H-Luke Horning[3]; 4. 73-Bastien Caron[10]; 5. 8-Marc Lalonde[11]; 6. 1-Ian Bressett[4]; 7. 28-Burton Ward[9]; 8. 25-Steve Cosselman[1]; 9. 6P-Shane Playford[12]; 10. 6-Stephane Lebrun[6]; 11. 4A-Roch Aubin[7]; 12. 9B-Slater Baker[8]; 13. 81-Danny Larose[18]; 14. 17-Marc Peladeau[16]; 15. 57K-Kevin Fetterly Jr[13]; 16. 76-Kyle Hoard[14]; 17. (DNS) 57J-Jason Fetterly; 18. (DNS) 23-Russell Alloggio

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 25-Steve Cosselman[1]; 2. 1-Ian Bressett[2]; 3. 4A-Roch Aubin[3]; 4. 73-Bastien Caron[6]; 5. 57K-Kevin Fetterly Jr[5]; 6. 17-Marc Peladeau[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 72-Denis Gauvreau[4]; 2. 690-Sid Harmer Jr[3]; 3. 9B-Slater Baker[2]; 4. 8-Marc Lalonde[5]; 5. 76-Kyle Hoard[1]; 6. 23-Russell Alloggio[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 2H-Luke Horning[4]; 2. 6-Stephane Lebrun[2]; 3. 28-Burton Ward[6]; 4. 6P-Shane Playford[5]; 5. 57J-Jason Fetterly[3]; 6. 81-Danny Larose[1]

Hot Laps 1: 1. 8-Marc Lalonde, 00:19.849[14]; 2. 6P-Shane Playford, 00:19.868[18]; 3. 4A-Roch Aubin, 00:20.091[2]; 4. 25-Steve Cosselman, 00:20.157[5]; 5. 28-Burton Ward, 00:20.163[13]; 6. 57K-Kevin Fetterly Jr, 00:20.211[7]; 7. 1-Ian Bressett, 00:20.521[3]; 8. 81-Danny Larose, 00:20.538[11]; 9. 73-Bastien Caron, 00:20.580[4]; 10. 690-Sid Harmer Jr, 00:20.653[9]; 11. 9B-Slater Baker, 00:20.853[16]; 12. 76-Kyle Hoard, 00:20.981[10]; 13. 72-Denis Gauvreau, 00:21.036[8]; 14. 6-Stephane Lebrun, 00:21.315[12]; 15. 57J-Jason Fetterly, 00:21.487[6]; 16. 23-Russell Alloggio, 00:22.026[1]; 17. 17-Marc Peladeau, 00:22.950[15]; 18. (DNS) 2H-Luke Horning

Limited Sportsman

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 4-Kobe Hernandez[1]; 2. 76-Raelin Dunham[2]; 3. 2-Mike Block[4]; 4. 10-Parker Dermody[5]; 5. 1R-Garin Thompson[6]; 6. 53-Gary English[3]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Kobe Hernandez[2]; 2. 76-Raelin Dunham[1]; 3. 53-Gary English[4]; 4. 2-Mike Block[6]; 5. 10-Parker Dermody[3]; 6. 1R-Garin Thompson[5]

Hot Laps 1: 1. 2-Mike Block, 00:23.409[6]; 2. 76-Raelin Dunham, 00:23.868[2]; 3. 10-Parker Dermody, 00:24.066[1]; 4. 4-Kobe Hernandez, 00:24.876[4]; 5. 1R-Garin Thompson, 00:26.308[5]; 6. -, 00:26.308

Renegades

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 52-Brad Bushey[1]; 2. 44-Tylor Terry[7]; 3. 54-Tyler Irwin[2]; 4. 69-Zack Daniels[8]; 5. 1-Rick Doner[14]; 6. 30-Billy Thwaits[5]; 7. 11-Tim Wilcox[11]; 8. 18-Shawn Duquette[9]; 9. 5-Bart VanLeuvan[12]; 10. 007-Shawn Fountain[4]; 11. 55-Nathaniel Guay[3]; 12. 63-Travis Stokes[6]; 13. 22-Tony Salerno[13]; 14. 65-Josh Terry[10]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 44-Tylor Terry[4]; 2. 54-Tyler Irwin[2]; 3. 007-Shawn Fountain[3]; 4. 63-Travis Stokes[6]; 5. 18-Shawn Duquette[1]; 6. 11-Tim Wilcox[5]; 7. (DNS) 22-Tony Salerno

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 52-Brad Bushey[1]; 2. 55-Nathaniel Guay[6]; 3. 30-Billy Thwaits[4]; 4. 69-Zack Daniels[5]; 5. 65-Josh Terry[7]; 6. 5-Bart VanLeuvan[2]; 7. 1-Rick Doner[3]

Hot Laps 1: 1. 65-Josh Terry, 00:23.749; 2. 18-Shawn Duquette, 00:23.979[4]; 3. 69-Zack Daniels, 00:24.020[2]; 4. 1-Rick Doner, 00:24.507[3]; 5. 30-Billy Thwaits, 00:24.535[11]; 6. 55-Nathaniel Guay, 00:24.570[6]; 7. 63-Travis Stokes, 00:24.840[9]; 8. 5-Bart VanLeuvan, 00:26.282[12]; 9. 11-Tim Wilcox, 00:27.302[13]; 10. (DNS) 52-Brad Bushey; 11. (DNS) 007-Shawn Fountain; 12. (DNS) 54-Tyler Irwin; 13. (DNS) 22-Tony Salerno; 14. (DNS) 44-Tylor Terry

500cc Mini Sprints

FEATURE (10 Laps): 1. 15P-Chris Pierce[8]; 2. 9Q-Quinn Quenneville[3]; 3. 25D-Destin St Clair[6]; 4. 727-Jenna Zakrzewski[2]; 5. 8-Scott Bachand[4]; 6. 80-Alyssa Vanderpool[5]; 7. 92-Chase Martindale[7]; 8. 17-Chris Lennox[1]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 17-Chris Lennox[5]; 2. 727-Jenna Zakrzewski[6]; 3. 9Q-Quinn Quenneville[7]; 4. 8-Scott Bachand[8]; 5. 80-Alyssa Vanderpool[4]; 6. 25D-Destin St Clair[3]; 7. 92-Chase Martindale[1]; 8. (DNS) 15P-Chris Pierce

Hot Laps 1: 1. 727-Jenna Zakrzewski, 00:20.723[8]; 2. 25D-Destin St Clair, 00:20.811[6]; 3. 8-Scott Bachand, 00:20.852[1]; 4. 17-Chris Lennox, 00:20.970[2]; 5. 80-Alyssa Vanderpool, 00:21.383[7]; 6. 9Q-Quinn Quenneville, 00:21.456[5]; 7. 92-Chase Martindale, 00:23.046[3]; 8. 15P-Chris Pierce, 00:30.138[4]

Mini Stocks

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 94-Ryan Senecal[3]; 2. 22-Jake Fountain[7]; 3. 03-Speedy Bresette[10]; 4. 76-Joshua Blake[9]; 5. 17E-Glenn Engstrom[6]; 6. 75-Jeremiah King[1]; 7. 42X-Ken Tourville[15]; 8. 45B-Josh LaPorte[25]; 9. 6-Chad Provost[13]; 10. 82-Jamie Whitney Jr[8]; 11. 18B-Clem Bell[12]; 12. 3-Jason Bradley[2]; 13. 125-Nick Harnden[19]; 14. 42-Caleb Tourville[22]; 15. 9-Tyler Bell[21]; 16. 33-Cody Young[20]; 17. 5-Kyle Botala[4]; 18. 4JR-Josh Laporte[18]; 19. 61-Jp Corrow[14]; 20. 28X-Matthew Parker[17]; 21. 26-Tyler Warren[5]; 22. 08-Haiden Bordeau[23]; 23. 73-Jon Brown[11]; 24. 08B-Brandon Osher[16]; 25. (DNS) 13-Nathan Smart

B Feature 1 (8 Laps): 1. 45B-Josh LaPorte; 2. 95-Steven Bresette; 3. 27X-Tyler Van Weort; 4. 2-Kyle Hart

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 75-Jeremiah King[1]; 2. 94-Ryan Senecal[5]; 3. 17E-Glenn Engstrom[9]; 4. 03-Speedy Bresette[6]; 5. 18B-Clem Bell[2]; 6. 42X-Ken Tourville[4]; 7. 4JR-Josh Laporte[10]; 8. 9-Tyler Bell[8]; 9. 45B-Josh LaPorte[7]; 10. 2-Kyle Hart[3]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 3-Jason Bradley[6]; 2. 5-Kyle Botala[1]; 3. 82-Jamie Whitney Jr[2]; 4. 13-Nathan Smart[3]; 5. 6-Chad Provost[5]; 6. 08B-Brandon Osher[10]; 7. 125-Nick Harnden[4]; 8. 42-Caleb Tourville[8]; 9. 95-Steven Bresette[7]; 10. 27X-Tyler Van Weort[9]

Heat 3 (6 Laps): 1. 22-Jake Fountain[1]; 2. 26-Tyler Warren[4]; 3. 76-Joshua Blake[6]; 4. 73-Jon Brown[3]; 5. 61-Jp Corrow[7]; 6. 28X-Matthew Parker[5]; 7. 33-Cody Young[9]; 8. 08-Haiden Bordeau[8]; 9. 01-Ernest Parent[2]

Hot Laps 1: 1. 4JR-Josh Laporte, 00:29.737[16]; 2. 13-Nathan Smart, 00:30.030[22]; 3. 82-Jamie Whitney Jr, 00:30.085[27]; 4. 28X-Matthew Parker, 00:30.215[20]; 5. 45B-Josh LaPorte, 00:30.386[17]; 6. 73-Jon Brown, 00:30.453[9]; 7. 3-Jason Bradley, 00:31.218[6]; 8. 08B-Brandon Osher, 00:31.502[18]; 9. 9-Tyler Bell, 00:31.912[2]; 10. 61-Jp Corrow, 00:31.924[10]; 11. 94-Ryan Senecal, 00:32.190[21]; 12. 75-Jeremiah King, 00:32.331[15]; 13. 26-Tyler Warren, 00:32.494[26]; 14. 5-Kyle Botala, 00:32.701[5]; 15. 2-Kyle Hart, 00:32.959[14]; 16. 22-Jake Fountain, 00:33.145[12]; 17. 01-Ernest Parent, 00:33.438[19]; 18. 08-Haiden Bordeau, 00:34.374[4]; 19. 125-Nick Harnden, 00:34.758[13]; 20. 33-Cody Young, 00:39.293[28]; 21. (DNS) 18B-Clem Bell; 22. (DNS) 76-Joshua Blake; 23. (DNS) 03-Speedy Bresette; 24. (DNS) 95-Steven Bresette; 25. (DNS) 17E-Glenn Engstrom; 26. (DNS) 42-Caleb Tourville; 27. (DNS) 42X-Ken Tourville; 28. (DNS) 27X-Tyler Van Weort; 29. (DNS) 6-Chad Provost