Don Mattison Victorious at Devil’s Bowl
WEST HAVEN, VT – Don Mattison ended nearly two months of frustration Sunday night when he led flag-to-flag to win the 30-lap 358-modified feature at Devil’s Bowl Speedway.
Mattison hadn’t even finished in the top five in the first four features of the season, but everything fell into place Sunday night as he recorded just his second career victory at “Vermont’s Fastest Half-Mile.”
An early caution put veteran Frank Hoard Sr. next to Mattison, who had started on the pole, and they kept the fans on their feet for the next 20 laps, battling for the lead as they sliced through traffic, as the rest of the feature was all green.
But Mattison never made a mistake, and hit the finish line with a comfortable advantage over Hoard, who had his best finish of the season. Tim Laduc, who had started 11th, also had a solid run, charging to grab the No. 3 spot, while Ken Tremont Jr., who was looking for his third straight win, had to settle for fourth. Defending track champion Todd Stone, who is still searching for his first win of the 2009 campaign, got up for fifth.
Fred Little edged Lori Langevin to win the 20-lap pro-street stock feature in a race that had the Devil’s Bowl crowd, who had packed in for racing and a fireworks display, holding its breath on the final lap.
Langevin, who had started fifth, moved right to the front and set a torrid pace, but Little, who had started 11th in the 13-car field, was patiently working his way to the front.
Little worked his way around Walt Brownell for second with four laps to go and set out after Langevin. Little caught the Queen of the CVRA on the white flag lap and pulled even as they headed to the checkered flag. While the fans were certain that they had witnessed a dead heat, the computer showed that Little hit the finish line first, just a whisker (0.026 seconds) ahead of Langevin. Brownell, Mike Paquin, and Cale Kneer completed the top five.
D.J. Brundige became the sixth different winner in as many weeks in the caution-plagued budget sportsman feature. Dennis Pennock took advantage of the early rash of yellow fever to take the lead, and sat out front until lap 17, when Brundige took over the top spot. That left Pennock, Frank Hoard Jr., and Tim Hartman Jr. to battle for second place, and battle they did, as Hoard used the final caution to take over second. Hartman finished third, Pennock was fourth and Jack Swinton finished fifth.
Mark Burch, making the trip to Devil’s Bowl after Albany-Saratoga Speedway was rained out on Friday, picked up his first win of the season at the Bowl in the limited feature and Kayla Bryant was victorious in the mini/duke stock feature.
Devil’s Bowl will be in action for two nights over the 4th of July holiday weekend. The racing on Saturday, July 4, will feature budgets, CRSA sprints, Empire Lightning Sprints, and mini/duke stocks. The budgets will be competing for both DIRTcar and CVRA budget points.
On Sunday, July 5, all the regular CVRA divisions will be competing in the double-point Mid-season Championships. The first green flag on both nights will fall at 6:45 p.m. Additional information about the holiday weekend schedule can be obtained by going to www.cvra.com.
MODIFIEDS: DON MATTISON, Frank Hoard Sr., Tim Laduc, Ken Tremont Jr., Todd Stone, Mike Perrotte, Rob Langevin, Don Ackner, Ron Proctor, Gardner Stone, Scott Duell, Vince Quenneville Jr., Brian Whittemore, Alex Bell, Cass Bennett, Darren Keyser, Jimmy Ryan, Ray Hoard.
BUDGET SPORTSMAN: D.J. BRUNDIGE, Frank Hoard Jr., Tim Hartman Jr., Dennis Pennock, Jack Swinton, Frank Hoard III, Bob Bublak, Anthony Marro, Paul Dunham Jr., Hunter Bates, Cullen Howe, Ken Towne, Jon Bates, Jarod McMahon, Cody Sargent, Chuck Dickinson, Ron Wanamaker, Willy Knight, C.V. Elms, Kevin Elliot, Anthony Warren, Shannon Donnelly, Fred Proctor Jr., Derrick McGrew, Wayne Stearns, Andy Durie.
PRO-STREET STOCKS: FRED LITTLE, Lori Langevin, Walt Brownell, Mike Paquin, Cale Kneer, Jeff Washbuirn, Chuck Towslee, Chris Fifield, Justin Perry, Bobby Schmidt, Randy Miller, Kim Duell, Carl Vladyka.
LIMITEDS: MARK BURCH, Dave Emigh, Mike Clark, Jon Miller, Paul Braymer, Mitch Sequin, Joe Ladd, Frank Monroe, Rob Ketcham, Garret Given, Curtis Condon, Bill Duprey, Ben Ladd, Lou Gancarz, Tony Condon.
MINI/DUKE STOCKS: KAYLA BRYANT, Nathan Woodworth, Jon Hayes, Justin Lilly, Brent Warren, Andrew Smith (Duke), Chris Murray, No. 09, George Foster, Justin Smith.
Sources: Devil’s Bowl Speedway