Williams Repeats at Devil’s Bowl
June 5, 2011: WEST HAVEN, Vt. – Joe Williams ran his Champlain Valley Racing Association winning streak to six races Sunday night when he picked up his second straight victory in the NASCAR Modified feature at Devil’s Bowl Speedway.
Williams, who has also won four in a row at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, started in the front row with veteran Mike Bruno by virtue of the heads-up start, and with the feature going green to checkers, there was plenty of action.
Early in the race, Billy Mueller bounced off the frontstretch wall, but got into the pits to keep the feature under green. Bruno got out to a quick lead, but Williams was hanging right on his rear bumper.
By lap 10, Williams got a nose in front of Bruno, but couldn’t make the pass because lapped traffic was already in play.
But the next time around, Williams was able to get around Bruno. Bruno refused to go away, and with five to go, gave Williams a good tap, just to let him know he was still there. But Williams, who has already said he has his sights set on the Vermont state championship, held his ground and recorded his sixth overall win of the year, with Bruno second and Don Miller, who ran a strong race, third. Ron Proctor was fourth, with defending CVRA Driver of the Year Hunter Bates fifth, but Bates came up light on the scales and was placed last. That moved Bobby Hackel IV into the top five.
Joe Williams holds up six fingers: six wins in a row on the CVRA!
It was an extremely busy day for Bruno, who earlier in the day had been in Canaan, N.H., for a make-up late model race. He brought the same car to Devil’s Bowl and then took it to victory lane in the pro late model feature. After starting in the front row, he dominated the feature, keeping a comfortable distance between himself and the second-place car of Chris Wilk. When the checkers flew, it was Bruno getting his first win of the campaign, followed by Wilk and Dan Petronis, who had won his first career feature Friday night at Albany-Saratoga.
Bill Dupree picked up his third straight win in the Renegade division. Dupree and Frank Monroe ran side-by-side for the first eight laps, with Dupree sticking to the top, and he took the lead for good on lap nine. Monroe settled for second, with Jeremy Jones third.
The Bomber Warriors were also in action Sunday, with Matt Monahan taking the checkered flag in his first outing at the track this year.
NASCAR MODIFIEDS: JOE WILLIAMS, Mike Bruno, Don Miller, Ron Proctor, Bobby Hackel IV, Alex Bell, John Proctor, Kevin Wright, Jessey Mueller, Fred Proctor, Frank Hoard III, Mike Bush, Jason Reome, Dave Snow, Billy Mueller, Hunter Bates.
PRO LATE MODELS: MIKE BRUNO, Chris Wilk, Dan Petronis, Hunter Bates, Kayla Bryant.
Sources: Devil’s Bowl Speedway