August 24, 2008

Quenneville dominant with win at Devil’s Bowl

WEST HAVEN, VT –  There’s something about August that brings out the best in Vince Quenneville Jr.

Quenneville continued his late summer hot streak Sunday night, picking up his first victory of the season in the 30-lap 358-modified feature at Devil’s Bowl. In getting his first victory at the Bowl since Aug. 26, 2007, Quenneville became the eighth different winner in the premier division this season.

Quenneville stayed out of trouble early in the feature, when three cautions made life miserable for many of the other top runners, and then held off Rob Langevin to get the victory. Langevin, who started 12th, took the No. 2 spot away from points leader Todd Stone on lap18, but never got a shot at Quenneville, who used lapped traffic to keep Langevin at bay.

In the three weeks of August, Quenneville has finished third, fourth and first at the Bowl after getting just two top-five finishes in the first seven races of the season.

Langevin moved into second place in the point chase and took a bite out of Stone’s point lead. Unofficially, Stone, who finished fifth on Sunday, has a 40-point lead over Langevin with two points races left. Because the final Hometown Heroes Night will offer double points, the track championship is still up for grabs.

One driver who has just about been eliminated is defending track champion Ken Tremont Jr. After blowing an engine last week, Tremont was involved in an early wreck on Sunday and finished 15th, three laps down.

Following Quenneville and Langevin across the finish line were Don Mattison, Don Ackner and Stone.

Don Miller recorded his second straight win, and third of the season, in the budget sportsman feature, Miller, who started seventh, only needed eight laps to get to the front and was cruising along until a late caution bunched the field with two to go. But he still had more than enough to pull away from Cullen Howe to get the win.

Three was also a lucky number for Jeff Washburn, who notched his third win of the year in the pro-stock feature. Washburn came out of the second row, took the lead away from Justin Perry on lap five and outran Carl Vladyka to get the victory.

Joey Trudeau drove to his sixth win of the season in the limited division, Andy Smith was first under the checkered flag in the Duke stock feature and Justin Comes picked up the victory in the mini-stock main.

Devil’s Bowl will return to action on Sunday, Aug. 31, with the annual CVRA.com 100. Budget sportsman, pro-stocks, limiteds and Duke stocks/mini-stocks will also be on the race card, which will include an enduro. Racing begins at 6:45 p.m.

MODIFIEDS: VINCE QUENNEVILLE JR., Rob Langevin, Don Mattison, Don Ackner, Todd Stone, Jimmy Ryan, Frank Hoard Sr., Gardner Stone, Kris Vernold, Brian Whittemore, Robert King, Ron Proctor, Darren Keyser, Stan Lemiesz, Tim Laduc, Ken Tremont Jr., Ray Hoard, Gene Munger.

BUDGET SPORTSMAN: DON MILLER, Cullen Howe, D.J. Brundige, Frank Hoard III, Jon Bates, Jeremy Dygert, Jared McMahon, Mike Visconti, Frank Hoard Jr., Chris Thorpe, Mike Pinke, Tom Lilly, Steve Williams, Jim Mattison.

PRO-STREET STOCKS: JEFF WASHBURN, Carl Vladyka, Fred Little, Chuck Towslee, Mike Paquin, Lori Langevin, Josh Joseph, Pat McLaughlin, Justin Perry, Roger Siliski, Tim Brunelle.

LIMITEDS: JOEY TRUDEAU, Bill Duprey, Kevin Elliot, Bill Decker, Curtis Condon, Jon Miller, Bill Vradenburg, Joey Ladd, Justin Parker, Jeremy Jones, Russ Farr, Dennis Sullinger, Adam Forbes, No. 01.