Ryan Posts First Win
WEST HAVEN, VT – Jimmy Ryan is getting his act together a little earlier than usual.
Ryan, who has posted most of his seven career wins at Devil’s Bowl during the month of August, picked up his first win of the season in Sunday night’s 30-lap 358 modified feature, becoming the seventh different feature winner in that division at the Bowl this season.
Ryan recorded his first win at the Bowl on July 12, 1998, the only other time during his career he’s been to victory lane during the month of July. Four of his victories have come in August, and the other came in September.
The first half of the 2005 season has been a frustrating one for Ryan, who had just one top-five finish in the first seven 358 features. Subsequently, he started third Sunday night, which helped him break his winless streak, which dated back to August 8, 2004.
Chris Vernold, who started on the pole, led the first six laps, but Ryan then took the lead for good.
With the entire feature being run under green-flag conditions, Ryan’s biggest obstacle came from lapped cars, but he handled them perfectly.
With Ryan setting the pace, most of the attention focused on Vince Quenneville Jr., who was also looking for his first win of the year. Quenneville followed Ryan right to the front and spent most of the night on Ryan’s rear bumper, but lapped cars gave Ryan just enough of a cushion to hold off Quenneville, who finished second for the third time this season.
Bob Savoie, who went into the night as the points leader, had another strong run and came away in third place. Devil’s Bowl fans were surprised to see Savoie piloting the Erik Mack 78M. With Mack out with back problems and Savoie minus a motor in the Sampson Motorsports 18, his usual ride, Savoie hopped into the 78M to keep his hopes for the point championship alive.
Frank Hoard Sr. crossed the finish line fourth, with Mike Perrotte fifth.
Completing the top 10 were Ken Tremont Jr., Don Scarborough, Vernold, Brian Whittemore, and Ray Hoard.
Hollywood Joe Santoro came away with his second win of the season in the 20-lap pro-street stock feature, which was plagued by cautions. Santoro won one of the twin features on June 5, but has been running a hit-and-miss schedule ever since in the Lazzaro Motorsports entry.
He brought his “A” game to the Bowl Sunday night, and picked up his second win of the weekend, as he also won Friday night’s feature at Albany-Saratoga Speedway. After starting eighth in the field, Santoro used a rash of cautions to work his way to the front, and was running third behind Robert Langevin, who was looking for his second straight win, and Scott Duell midway through the feature.
Santoro got past Duell, his Lazzaro Motorsports teammate on lap 13 and then passed Langevin with three to go to get the victory.
Something let go in Langevin’s car with two laps to go, allowing Duell to come away with a runner-up finish, 1.588 seconds behind Santoro. Cale Kneer got up for third, with Dan Madigan fourth and William Smith IV fifth.
Adam Piper drove to his first career victory in the 15-lap Rentway Limited feature. Piper got the lead on lap 10 and then held off William Duprey for the victory. Following Duprey across the finish line were Pat Cram, Shannon Donnelly, and T.J. Pierce.
In the Pro-Built mini-stock feature, Mike Clark made his way to victory lane for the third time this season.
Devil’s Bowl will return to action on Sunday, July 24 with Seniors Night. All divisions will be in action, with racing beginning at 7 p.m.
MODIFIEDS: JIMMY RYAN, Vince Quenneville Jr., Bob Savoie, Frank Hoard Sr., Mike Perrotte, Ken Tremont Jr., Don Scarborough, Chris Vernold, Brian Whittemore, Ray Hoard, Tim Laduc, Gene Munger, C.V. Elms, Ron Proctor, Todd Stone, Denny Young, Butch Jelley, Rick Davis, Matt Depew, Lance Harting.
PRO-STREET STOCKS: JOE SANTORO, Scott Duell, Cale Kneer, Dan Madigan, William Smith IV, Scott Fowler, Ed Thompson, John Harrison, Brian Piper, Billy Lussier, Robert Langevin, Dan Bernard, Jeff Martin, Mike Bussino, Dean Charbonneau, Walt Brownell Jr., Don Williams, Jeff Washburn, Jon Bates.
RENTWAY LIMITEDS: ADAM PIPER, William Duprey, Pat Cram, Shannon Donnelly, T.J. Pierce, Tim Brunell, Joey Trudeau, Jared McMahon, Joe Ladd, William Vradenburg, Tony Condon, Tim Shaw, Kevin Elliot, Andy Durie, John Gregg, Richard Stone.
PRO-BUILT MINI-STOCKS: MIKE CLARK, Randy Manhey, Carl Whittemore, Jamie Gearwar, Jason Bishop. DQ: John Baldwin.
Sources: Devil’s Bowl Speedway