PHOTO: Dave Pembroke (#44) and Nick Sweet (#88) are tied atop the Vermont State Late Model Championship Series entering the “Vermont 200” weekend finale on September 15-16. (MemorEvents photos)
Sweet, Pembroke tied for lead entering final round on September 16
WEST HAVEN, VT – Devil’s Bowl Speedway will be the site of the first Vermont State Late Model Championship Series celebration in a quarter-century on Sunday, September 16. The 100-lap finale for the renewed four-round stock car championship will be part of a new tradition at the West Haven track – the “Vermont 200” weekend – which also features a 100-lap event for the track’s weekly NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Bond Auto Parts Modified division.
Brought back in 2012 after a 25-year hiatus, the Vermont State Championship Series pits the very best Late Model stock car teams from the fast, progressively-banked Devil’s Bowl half-mile and the high-banked, quarter-mile bullring at Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl in Barre, VT against each other to crown an overall champion. A total of 44 drivers have attended the first three events, including invaders from New York, New England, and eastern Canada.
Former Thunder Road champion Nick Sweet scored a pair of wins at his hometown track in the Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic 100 on May 27 and the Vermont Lottery Commission Governor’s Cup 150 on July 12, while J&S Steel Late Model top dog Craig Bushey of Fairfax, VT won Devil’s Bowl Speedway’s “I Am Vermont Strong 100” at his home track on June 15. Sweet’s two Thunder Road wins sandwich a tough 19th-place showing at Devil’s Bowl after handling problems.
Dave Pembroke of Middlesex, VT is the only driver to have a top-ten finish in every race thus far. Pembroke was ninth in the Memorial Day opener, fifth at Devil’s Bowl, and second in the Governor’s Cup 150, and is tied with Sweet for the championship lead at 244 points entering the Vermont 200 weekend finale. Pembroke won the first-ever asphalt Late Model race held at Devil’s Bowl in May 2010.
With a pair of third-place finishes, Brent Dragon of Milton, VT sits third overall just a dozen points behind the Sweet-Pembroke deadlock; Dragon also won a 30-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series race at Devil’s Bowl earlier this season. Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott is fourth overall, followed closely by Brooks Clark and Maine veteran Ricky Rolfe.
The Vermont 200 at Devil’s Bowl Speedway is a two-day racing extravaganza that will feature qualifying and 100-lap events for the Vermont State Late Model Championship Series and the Bond Auto Parts Modifieds on Sat./Sun., September 15-16. It is also the final event for the track’s Renegade and Bomber divisions. Two-day general admission is $30; kids 12 and under are free.
Devil’s Bowl Speedway is located on Route 22A in West Haven, VT, four miles north of Exit 2 on US Route 4. For more information, call (802) 265-3112 or click www.devilsbowlspeedwayvt.com. Devil’s Bowl Speedway is on Facebook at facebook.com/devilsbowlspeedway and Twitter at @DevilsBowlSpeed.