June 7, 2009

Tremont gets first win at Devil’s Bowl

WEST HAVEN, VT –  In the span of a couple of hours, Ken Tremont Jr. turned a miserable night into a rewarding one.

After failing to start his heat race because of mechanical problems, Tremont came from dead last to record his first win of the season in the 358-modified feature at Devil’s Bowl Speedway.

The win was Tremont’s 59th career victory at the Bowl.

Tremont was scheduled to start in the second row in his heat race, but never made the call, putting him at the tailend of the feature. But all that did was create some extra excitement for the fans on Full Moon Challenge Night at the speedway.

Ron Proctor came off the front row and set the pace for the first five laps, before relinquishing the lead to Jimmy Ryan, who was looking for his first win of the year.

After 10 laps, Tremont was still mired in the back of the pack, running 10th in a 17-car field, and he wasn’t getting a lot of attention, as Ryan and Marc Johnson were putting on a show at the front of the field.

Johnson briefly grabbed the lead on lap 17, but the next time around, Ryan was back on the point. But with 10 laps to go, Tremont was in the top five, and business was about to pick up.

Defending track champion Todd Stone got around Johnson for second on lap 24, and two laps later, Tremont made the move of the night, blasting by both Johnson and Stone to pull up behind Ryan.

On lap 28, Tremont completed his last-to-first run, taking the lead and hitting the finish line 0.806 seconds ahead of Ryan. Stone, Johnson and Vince Quenneville Jr. completed the top five.

Rookie Marc Hughes, one of the young guns on the Champlain Valley Racing Association circuit, drove to his first career victory in the 25-lap budget sportsman feature. Hughes started on the outside pole, moved to the front on lap three and was perfect the rest of the way to outrun D.J. Brundige and Anthony Marro.

Chuck Towslee completed a fruitful weekend with a victory in the 20-lap pro-street stock feature. Towslee, who also won Friday night at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, had to hold off Lori Langevin to get the victory. Cale Kneer got up for third.

Bill Duprey became the third different winner in as many weeks in the limited division, going flag-to-flag for the victory. Don Williams finished second, with Mike Clark third.

Kayla Bryant was first under the checkered flag in the mini-stock feature, and Andrew Smith got the win in the Duke stock feature.

The night also featured the Full Moon Challenge enduro, with Matt Mosher coming away with the victory.

All divisions will be back in action on Sunday, June 14 for Red/White/Blue Night. Racing will begin at 6:45 p.m.

MODIFIEDS: KEN TREMONT JR., Jimmy Ryan, Todd Stone, Marc Johnson, Vince Quenneville Jr., Tim Laduc, Ron Proctor, Gardner Stone, Don Ackner, Kris Vernold, Ray Hoard, Rob Langevin, Brian Whittemore, Frank Hoard Sr., Scott Duell, Don Mattison, Chris Johnson.

BUDGET SPORTSMAN: MARK HUGHES, D.J. Brundige, Anthony Marro, Frank Hoard III, Hunter Bates, C.V. Elms, Frank Hoard Jr., Jack Swinton, Jared McMahon, Jon Bates, Ron Wanamaker, Josh Joseph, Seth Howe, Ron Casey, Chris Thorpe, Andy Durie, Shannon Donnelly, Kenny Towne, Cody Sargent, Kevin Elliot, Willy Knight, Justin Comes, Tom Lilly.

PRO-STREET STOCKS: CHUCK TOWSLEE, Lori Langevin, Cale Kneer, Fred Little, Walt Brownell, Jeff Washburn, Carl Vladyka, Chris Fifield, Pat McLaughlin, Justin Perry, Ed Thompson, Mike Bussino.

LIMITEDS: BILL DUPREY, Don Williams, Mike Clark, Lou Gancarz, Bill Vradenburg, Paul Braymer, Frank Monroe, Joe Ladd, Ben Ladd, Russ Farr, Dennis Sullinger, Jeff Wilbur, Rob Ketcham, Garret Given.