Munger Outruns Quenneville at the Bowl
WEST HAVEN, VT – Gene Munger’s roller-coaster season at Devil’s Bowl Speedway hit another high point Sunday night.
Munger, who suffered through a miserable summer after winning the first race of the season on June 5 at the Bowl, finally returned to victory lane Sunday, holding off Vince Quenneville Jr. to notch his second 358 modified victory of the season. The night was the track’s annual Tribute To 9/11, with all firefighters and law enforcement officers being admitted free of charge.
The opening-night win should have been a good sign for Munger, but things went downhill from there. After his opening-night performance, he didn’t hit the top five again until June 26, when he finished second to track champion Ken Tremont Jr. He came right back with a fourth-place finish on July 3, but then went into another drought, failing to hit the top five in seven straight features.
But everything fell into place again Sunday night.
Don Scarborough, whose season was even worse than Munger’s, came out of the second row and grabbed the lead on lap three, but Munger, who had started seventh, was already on the move. When the first caution of the night came out on lap nine, Munger had worked his way to third, and used the restart to take over the No. 2 position.
It only took Munger one more circuit to get the lead away from Scarborough, who then had his hands full with Matt Delorenzo in a battle for the No. 2 spot.
Quenneville, who had started 14th, didn’t become a factor until late in the race. With 10 laps left in the Fair Haven Dodge-sponsored 30-lap feature, he was still running seventh, and when the final caution of the feature flew with three laps left, had merely broken into the top five.
But he found another gear in the last three laps, rocketing from fifth to second in two laps. But that’s where he finished, 1.413 seconds behind Munger, who recorded his 11th career victory. Quenneville, who hasn’t won a race at the Bowl since June 23, 2002, finished second for the fourth time this season.
Scarborough finished third, his best performance of the season, while Tremont hit the stripe fourth and Delorenzo finished fifth.
Completing the top 10 were Frank Hoard Sr., Ray Hoard, Tim Laduc, Jim Ryan, and Lance Harting.
Rob Langevin drove to his third victory of the season in the 20-lap pro-street stock feature, which was marred by cautions. Langevin had started eighth, but a restart on the first lap shuffled the field, and Langevin rocketed into the lead before the second lap was completed.
Cale Kneer, driving the No. 26 usually piloted by Steve Burega, used a couple of late restarts to get right on Langevin’s rear bumper, but Langevin had control of the race, and easily got the win. Kneer sat comfortably in second, with Jeff Washburn third, Don Williams fourth and Carl Cram fifth.
Two must have been the magic number Sunday night, because Adam Piper picked up his second win of the year in the Rentway Limited feature. Piper and Tim Shaw battled for the lead until Piper took charge for good with two laps to go in the 15-lap feature, hitting the finish line 0.822 seconds ahead of Shaw. Curtis Condon completed a very good weekend with a third-place performance. Track champion Bill Duprey finished fourth and Kevin Elliott was fifth.
Mike Clark was first under the checkered flag in the Pro-Built mini-stock feature and Jeff Smith Sr. won the Duke stock race.
Devil’s Bowl will be back in action on Sunday, Sept. 18, with all divisions in action. Racing will begin at 6 p.m.
MODIFIEDS: GENE MUNGER, Vince Quenneville Jr., Don Scarborough, Ken Tremont Jr., Matt Delorenzo, Frank Hoard Sr., Ray Hoard, Tim Laduc, Jim Ryan, Lance Harting, C.V. Elms, Matt Depew, Stan Lemiesz, Chris Vernold, Brian Whittemore, Ben Elder, Shawn Cassidy, Gardner Stone, John Proctor, Todd Stone, Merv Blackwell, Ron Proctor.
PRO-STREET STOCKS: ROB LANGEVIN, Cale Kneer, Jeff Washburn, Don Williams, Carl Cram, Ed Thompson, Danny Eastman, Billy Lussier, John Bates, Bob Schmidt, Jeff Martin, Dan Bernard, Jonah Rule, Don Piper, Walt Brownell Jr., Dave Wood.
RENTWAY LIMITEDS: ADAM PIPER, Tim Shaw, Curtis Condon, Bill Duprey, Kevin Elliott, Adam Forbes, Chuck Knowlton, Tim Brunelle, Shannon Donnelly, Joe Ladd, Tom Pierce, Mark Wallett, Ben Ladd, Jeff Smith, Joey Trudeau, Bill Vradenburg.
Sources: Devil’s Bowl Speedway