COMPLETE RESULTS -- Thunder at the Bowl 100 @ Devil's Bowl 5/23/10

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS -- Thunder at the Bowl 100
Devil's Bowl Speedway, West Haven, Vt.
Sun., May 23, 2010

(Pos.-Car#-Driver-Hometown-Laps)

1. 44VT Dave Pembroke, Middlesex, 100
2. 72ON Mike Bruno, Castleton, 100
3. 2NH Tracie Bellerose, Gorham, N.H., 100
4. 55VT Brent Dragon, Milton, 100
5. 16VT Joey Becker, Jeffersonville, 100
6. 14VT Phil Scott, Montpelier, 100
7. 88VT Nick Sweet, Barre, 100
8. 00VT Mike Bailey, South Barre, 100
9. 1VT Tony Andrews, Northfield, 100
10. 4NH Chris Riendeau, Ascutney, 100
11. 99VT Jeff Zuidema, North Brookfield, Mass., 99
12. 18VT Jamie Fisher, Shelburne, 99
13. 26VT John Donahue, Graniteville, 99
14. 34VT Dylan Smith, Randolph, 99
15. 42VT Matt White, Northfield, 99
16. 25VT David Whitcomb, Essex Junction, 99
17. 24VT Steve Fisher, Shelburne, 55
18. 81VT Grant Folsom, Waitsfield, 55
19. 15VT Joey Laquerre, East Montpelier, 47
20. 8VT Rich Lowrey, Charlotte, 33
21. 40VT Jean-Paul Cyr, Milton, 33
22. 4VT Doug Murphy, Tunbridge, 33
23. 12VT Reno Gervais, Island Pond, 33
24. 49VT Nate Brown, Craftsbury, 33
25. 74VT Jerry Lesage, Winooski, 15
26. 68VT Brooks Clark, Fayston, 2

CVRA Sportsman
1. Don Miller, Wells
2. Fred Proctor, Clifton Park, N.Y.
3. Hunter Bates, Middlebury
4. Kevin Wright, Fair Haven
5. Jared McMahon, Hydeville

Renegade
1. Cody Benoit, Milton
2. Jon Miller, Malta, N.Y.
3. Lance Rabtoy, Fairfax
4. Randy Alger, Fair Haven
5. Dave Emigh, Ballston Spa, N.Y.

Bomber Warrior
1. Chad Brown, Milton
2. Garry Bashaw, Lincoln
3. Russ Downing, Hartland
4. Brent Warren, Salisbury
5. Justin Lilly, Castleton

Duke Stock
1. Andy Smith, South Glens Falls, N.Y.

Pembroke Wins at Devil's Bowl

WEST HAVEN -- Dave Pembroke took the win in the "Thunder at the Bowl" 100 at the freshly paved Devil's Bowl Speedway on Sunday. Pembroke, of Montpelier, battled side-by-side with hometown favorite Mike Bruno of Castleton for the majority of the race.

After starting third, Pembroke took the lead on lap 14. Pembroke broke away from Bruno several times while working through lapped traffic; Bruno reeled him in each time, but didn’t have enough to complete the pass. Pembroke and Bruno were followed to the line by polesitter Tracie Bellerose of Gorham, N.H., Milton's Brent Dragon and Joey Becker of Jeffersonville. Phil Scott, Nick Sweet, Mike Bailey, Tony Andrews, and rookie Chris Riendeau rounded out the top ten.

The event was slowed by six cautions including a red flag for a Grant Folsom flip on the frontstretch. The race was completed in just over 1 hour, 12 minutes with sixteen of the twenty-six starters running at the finish.

The event was the first asphalt race at Devil's Bowl Speedway -- formerly a dirt track -- since 1972, and awarded championship points for the Late Model division at Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl in Barre.

Don Miller of Wells won the Sportsman Modified feature over Fred Proctor of Clifton Park, N.Y., and Middlebury teenager Hunter Bates. Airborne Speedway regular Cody Benoit of Milton won the Renegade feature over Malta, N.Y., driver Jon Miller and Lance Rabtoy of Fairfax. Thunder Road regulars Chad Brown of Milton and Garry Bashaw of Lincoln went 1-2 in the Bomber Warrior feature, with Russ Downing third. Andy Smith of South Glens Falls, N.Y., was the Duke Stock winner.

Devil's Bowl Asphalt Gets Rave Reviews

WEST HAVEN -- Consider the Devil’s Bowl Speedway experiment a success, at least as far as the first practice session goes.

Champlain Valley Racing Association management paved the track this month after four decades of operating it as a dirt facility, invoking the ire of some race teams and fans. But to the surprise of the nearly 30 teams that tested the new asphalt surface on Saturday afternoon, the results of the change were impressive.

"It’s gonna be fast," said Tim LaDuc, a veteran Modified standout from nearby Orwell. "I think it’ll be competitive. There appears to be a couple of lanes for traffic, so hopefully it’ll be good." LaDuc has raced a handful of times on asphalt at Airborne Speedway in New York and Canaan Fair Speedway in New Hampshire.

Former American-Canadian Tour champion Dave Whitcomb of Essex Junction and Modified driver Mike Bruno of Bomoseen, a veteran of both dirt and asphalt surfaces, likened the new surface to the 5/8-mile Riverside Speedway in Ste-Croix, Que.

"I'm looking forward to it. I like the fast tracks and the long straightaways," said Bruno, who won at the CVRA’s other track, Albany-Saratoga Speedway -- also a newly transformed asphalt track -- on Friday night. "It kind of seperates the guys that can drive it down deep into the corner and keep the car straight."

Keeping it straight, though, is Bruno's biggest concern for his fellow competitors. "It’s gonna be pretty wild. It’s going to take a while with the [Modified] guys here because a lot of them haven't raced pavement. I think it’s going to be a lot of defensive driving in the beginning for the first few races, but I think the racing will get better as the guys get more acclimated to the race track."

Sportsman driver Hunter Bates of Middlebury said the difference between the asphalt and dirt surfaces is big. "It's a lot tighter and a lot less forgiving [than dirt]," Bates said. "We’ll help each other out a little bit, but it’s pretty tough to figure it out as a whole. Everybody’s going to have to try to learn."

A few small groups of fans watched the practice. Most were impressed at the increased speeds of the open-wheel divisions, especially the top-tier Modifieds. Bruno was clocked at a little more than 106-mph in the first practice session, less than one mile per hour off the existing dirt track record, and Bruno admitted he "wasn't pushing it" at the time.

Race fan Sharon Randazzo of Granville, N.Y., was eager to see how things would turn out with the new surface after watching dirt races at Devil's Bowl for more than 20 years. "This is the first time we've seen the cars on asphalt, so it should prove interesting for this year."

"I'm excited. I want to see it."

Big Field Expected for Airborne Speedway Opener

(From track press release)

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – Airborne Speedway begins its 58th stock car racing season this Saturday, May 1, at 5:00pm, and promoter Mike Perrotte expects over 130 competitors across five divisions.

“We had 90 race teams for practice [last] Saturday,” Perrotte said. “Our opener this Saturday is a Syracuse qualifier for the DIRTcar Modifieds [and] I think that will draw some extra cars that haven’t had much of a chance to race yet this year. Plus our own local divisions are looking strong.”

The headliner on Saturday’s race card, presented by Valcour Imaging of Plattsburgh and Hamilton Funeral Home of Peru, is a 50-lap event that opens 2009 Modified champion Martin Roy’s title defense. The Napierville, Qué., driver of the Gamache Truck Center No. 90 ran well at Syracuse last fall and seeks a guaranteed starting spot in 2010.

Roy is seeking to become the first Ernie’s Tools DIRTcar Modified driver to repeat as track champion. His opening night challengers will include each of the four previous champions: Leon Gonyo of West Chazy, N.Y., Mike Bruno of Castleton, and George Foley and Patrick Dupree of Saranac Lake, N.Y.

The J&S Steel Sportsman, Versatile Trailer Sales Renegades, NAPA Mini-Modifieds and Monster Energy Bombers will also be action. Gates open Saturday at 3 p.m.

The Juice: Ahhh, Racing Season!

-by Justin St. Louis
VMM Editor

One down, 70-ish to go. VMM took in its first race of the year at Waterford Speedbowl last weekend, and witnessed a decent show by the Modified Racing Series troops, the NEMA Midgets, and Waterford's Late Models, Mini Stocks, and Street Stocks.

The MRS race had 11 cautions, but we're willing to forgive that and chalk it up to first-race growing pains. That and the fact that one of those cautions was for a spectacular seven-car crash at the flagstand that sent Jimmy Dolan flying through the air. If you're gonna wreck, boys, make it big and do it in front of the grandstands so the paying fans can see. Job well done. (We wouldn't be applauding the crash, of course, if anyone got hurt. Thankfully there were no injuries reported.)

Doug Coby was clearly very strong and deserved to win the race, but it would have been interesting to see if Rowan Pennink could have beaten him. Pennink changed an engine Sunday morning and was forced to come from 25th starting spot to rap on Coby's back bumper with ten laps remaining. Under caution on lap 90, though, Pennink's car shut down. Initial reports were that the car's fuel cell ran dry, but that was later discounted by Pennink's team members, who instead cited an unknown mechanical failure.

The Mini Stocks at Waterford are among the best four-cylinder divisions I've ever seen anywhere, bar none, and the Street Stocks going three- and four-wide around a track that isn't really built for that kind of racing was a lot of fun to watch. The Late Models were a bit strung out at times, but there were a few good battles and some key wrecks that changed the complexion of the race. The NEMA race wasn't much to write home about, but it took only five minutes from green to checkers, and it was cool to have a first-time winner in Chris Leonard.

All in all, it was a great way to begin the 2010 season, and we're looking forward to the American-Canadian Tour opener at Lee USA Speedway on April 18.

***

What was not great was the 60-lap, hour-long-plus SK Modified feature, one that featured no less than four different spins by Frank Mucciacciaro, and a ton of restarts that -- to this unbiased non-regular to the track -- looked a bit fishy.

Leader Keith Rocco jumped the start half the time, played jackrabbit half the time, and brake-checked the field before rocketing to the green the other half of the time. (There were so many restarts that there were actually three halves of the race. I counted.) I won't suggest that Rocco gets special treatment at Waterford, but it seemed fairly obvious that he was going to get away with whatever he wanted to when it was time to take the green flag.

Maybe that's the way Waterford does things, I don't know. It would be easier to point fingers if another driver had been the polesitter for any of the restarts, but Rocco led every lap and was therefore the point man the entire race. We just hope it was a one-race thing and that it's not a regular occurence.

For safety's sake, Mucciacciaro needs to either get a spotter, a mirror, or a big rubber ball to live inside. Maybe all three. I saw him chop down on other cars, I saw him drive directly into other cars, I saw him spin completely on his own, and I saw him end up in a pileup across the finish line when he was running in last place. And again, the officials need to say something. Let him ride around and make some laps and get seat time, but when he starts to ruin the race, put him on the trailer. Come back next week and try it again.

At the races I've always enjoyed seeing, there would have been one warning for Rocco's mind games, and no more than three strikes for Mucciacciaro's disregard for the race. Hopefully Waterford Speedbowl will catch on before I go back there in October.

***

At 6-2-2, the Habs have the best record in the East over the last ten games. We should just let those silly Bruins scoot by us for seventh place so they can get schlacked in four games by the Penguins in the playoffs, ya know, since the B's obviously won't put up a fight against them when it matters anyway.

And then there's Atlanta and the Rangers lurking back there just outside the cutoff. In reality, I said at the beginning of the season that I'd be surprised if my boys from Montréal made the post-season, so I'm pretty tickled that we're in a position to be there.

Hmm? What? This is a racing blog? Wow, my bad. Anywho...

***

The new three-track alliance between Bear Ridge, Canaan, and the new Big Daddy's Speedbowl can only be a good thing for dirt racers and fans in the area. With the headline Sportsman Modifieds running under a common rulebook, the popular Twin State Series has been recreated, and underwriting has been found in Gravco Janitorial Services.

With the momentum Bear Ridge Speedway gained last year in the Modifieds -- going from an average of 6 cars in 2008 to 25 by the end of 2009 -- and the promotional creativity of Canaan's Dick Therrien and the enthusiasm of Mike "Big Daddy" Rivers, we're expecting big things this season.

***

It was sure nice to be at a race track in March. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever witnessed a race in person during that particular month. I'm also not sure I'll ever want to again, at least not in New England. #freakingcold

Yes, that was a Twitter reference. #getonthebandwagon

***

The call by Mike Ford to bring Denny Hamlin out of the lead and into the pits was probably the gutsiest move a crew chief has made in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in a long time, and Hamlin's drive from ninth to the win in four laps was the paydirt. Don't ever again tell me short tracks don't belong in NASCAR. If you weren't excited about Martinsville you need your pulse checked.

***

We had heard some rumblings last year of Mike Bruno possibly coming back to ACT a little bit in 2010, and Saturday's open practice at Albany-Saratoga Speedway in Malta, N.Y., confirmed that for us. The Bomoseen racer was behind the wheel of Jacob McGrath's #72 car, joining Jamie Fisher in his familiar S.D. Ireland #18. (Click here for a photo of the two in action on the Champlain Valley Racing Association website.)

Bruno told us that he, McGrath, and Barney McRae have put a team together to run a handful of events, beginning with ACT's first-ever trip to Malta in April, and the special 100-lap Late Model event at Devil's Bowl in West Haven on May 23. He also said he may run the car once or twice on Thursday nights at Thunder Road.

Bruno plans to race his dirt-style Modified full-time at both Albany-Saratoga and Devil's Bowl, and will bring the car to Airborne Speedway for the big events.

"I want to get back to racing ACT within the next two or three years," Bruno said. "I had been trying to get a ride for this season, but when the CVRA paved both Malta and the Bowl, I figured I'd race my Modified here in my own back yard at my two home tracks. The deal with Jacob is going to be good -- he's going to work for me this summer on the Modified, and I'm going to help him with the Late Model. He'll drive it a few times and I'll drive it a few times."

Bruno said the the thing he looks forward to most about the partnership with McGrath is having a crew chief in McRae.

"Barney's a funny guy and people joke about him sometimes, but the truth is he really knows everything about these cars," Bruno said. "Having him at Malta was great. It was really nice for me to be able to get in the seat and just be a driver, rather than have to think about what the chassis needs, or this or that. I'm happy we've got him to help us out."

***

THIS WEEKEND: Seventeen year-old Steven Legendre of Danville takes on Maine powerhouses Ben Rowe and Johnny Clark, NASCAR's David Ragan, and the stars of the PASS South Super Late Models for the Easter Bunny 150 at the legendary Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway on Saturday. The race is Round #2 of five in the PASS National Championship.

Legendre finished third in his last outing at Dillon (S.C.) Motor Speedway on March 13, and was 6th in the PASS National opener at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway in January. He sits fourth in National points. Brad Leighton of Center Harbor, N.H., won at New Smyrna and leads the National standings, followed by Clark, New Brunswick's Lonnie Sommerville, Legendre, and Preston Peltier of North Carolina. Strong, Me.'s Dale Brackett sits seventh with Rowe in eighth.

VMM's favorite sandwich man, "Subway Dave" Parker will be at Hickory, and we'll have periodic updates as they are available on our Twitter page. Yup, I said it again. Twitter. #justdoit

Closer to home, New Hampshire Motor Speedway is holding an open house on Saturday and offering fans a chance to drive their own cars around the 1.058-mile speedway in the FANtasy DRIVE. Many racing oragnizations will be taking part in displays and fan-friendly promotions including the American-Canadian Tour with drivers John Donahue and Brent Dragon (that oughta be fun... Milk Bowl memories anyone?), Thunder Road's Nick Sweet, and Lee USA Speedway's Wayne Helliwell, Jr. Legendary media men Ken Squier and Dr. Dick Berggren will also be on hand for a fan Q&A session. Visit www.nhms.com for more details.

(PHOTOS: 1. Waterford's Street Stocks were fantastic; 2. Keith Rocco (#57) got this much of a jump more than a couple times; 3. Mike Bruno's gonna be busy this year. All photos by Justin St. Louis/VMM)

Roy Beats Dupree for Trombley 100 Win, Championship

Roy is first Canadian to win track title since 1971

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. -- Martin Roy's car owner, Jean-Claude Fortin, issued some unsolicited advice to Airborne Speedway champion Patrick Dupree at the 2008 awards banquet: Enjoy your reign as king now, because 2009 will belong to us. After a win on opening day in May, Roy backed up Fortin's claim, saying, "It's my year." On Saturday night, both men were proven correct.

Roy dominated the second half of the Charlie Trombley Memorial 100-lap championship finale for the headline Modified division on Saturday night at the Plattsburgh, N.Y. track, holding off Dupree for the win and the championship, unofficially, by 14 points.

Roy started 13th on the 30-car field and quickly worked his way through traffic, passing Dupree for eighth place on lap 2. Roy reaching third place by passing Chris Cayea on lap 10, then moved under Cameron Grady to take second away on lap 24. Pierre Berthiaume led the first 46 laps from the pole position, but his car shut down following a restart, allowing Roy to slip by and inherit the lead. Dupree, who started 11th, used a tire-saving strategy for the first half of the race, content to ride in the back half of the top-five while racing with Andy Heywood and Mike Bruno before taking second place form Heywood on the 57th lap.

After a restart on lap 65, Dupree turned the wick up a bit, running Roy down in lapped traffic. However, a red flag for a nasty crash on lap 79 involving Heywood, George Foley, and Michel Viens effectively put a stop to Dupree's charge. Roy was faster than Dupree immediately following each late-race restart, while Dupree was much faster after about three laps of green flag racing (Dupree turned a 16.007-second lap -- the fastest lap of the year in any feature race, on lap 94, three laps after a restart), but late cautions kept Dupree stuck behind Roy.

The victory was Roy's seventh of the year in 15 events -- jus shy of 47% of the races run -- and solidified him as the champion, unofficially, by 14 points over Dupree, who won three times. During the season, the pair finished within one position of each other on eight occasions; on four of those nights, Roy beat Dupree for a victory, and twice Dupree beat Roy to win.

"I'm very happy. The competition is very hard at this place and it's very special for me to win in the U.S.A.," said Roy, with help from interpreter Steve Morin. Roy, of Napierville, Qué., is the first Canadian driver since Denis Giroux in 1971 to win a headline division championship at Airborne.

Dupree was extremely frustrated with his runner-up finish in the race -- although not necessarily the championship -- and placed the blame on himself. "I was thinking I was going to save tires [for the longer distance race], but I should have went right for the front. I was a much faster car. I gave that one away. Maybe not the championship, but tonight's race I gave away, like a (expletive) moron. Yup, just gave it away, watched [Roy] drive right by. Oh well, thought we had to save the tires, but they were fine."

The Saranac Lake, N.Y. racer thought that less caution periods could have helped his chances to pass Roy at the end of the race. "Yeah, I'd say at that point a longer green flag run would have helped us because I would have got him, but he's got a lot of motor in his starts and everything. He's got so much freaking motor, it pulls pretty good on the starts, it takes three or four laps to get back settled in, and the freaking caution comes out. If we had some green flag I would have got him, but it was my fault letting him go in the first place, he went right to the front."

Roy was appreciative of his season-long title fight with Dupree, which remained clean and respectful throughout the year. "It was very tight, very tight. Every race, it's like it's me and Patrick finish before [one another], finish after, finish before, finish after, and [it happened again] tonight. I was very, very nervous. In my life, I've lost three championships at the last [race]. In 2007 at this place, at Granby in '07, and Granby in '06. At Granby in '06 we ran at the rear in the feature, and we got in a wreck in '07 while leading the feature. That could have given us enough points to win the championship, so we were nervous about [something similar tonight]. You always think about the bad times instead of the good times, like when we won in '05 at Drummond. But tonight nothing bad happened. It's a happy time."

Dupree liked the idea of a close point battle, but felt as though Roy's team was better overall. "You know, it was close, but we were nowhere near as good as those guys," he said. "I mean, we had a little bit of bad luck, but we didn't 'get it' nearly as much as they did as far as the setups. We worked at it a lot, but with the new [progressively banked track surface constructed in April] we were struggling a little bit more. It was pretty good, like, tonight was probably the best it's been, but the track is so weird, it loosens up now [at night]. The later it goes, the looser the track seems to get, and everyone's got to deal with the same thing."

Behind Roy and Dupree on the track, Castleton racer Bruno finished third. Leon Gonyo of Chazy, N.Y. finished fourth, with Richard Tisseur of Chateauguay, Qué. fifth. Matt Woodruff, Cayea, Mike Reyell, Jason Durgan, and Mike Phinney completed the unofficial top ten.

Robin Wood of Plattsburgh posted his sixth Sportsman feature win of the season in a rough 25-lap event. Bucko Branham was the runner-up, with Travis Bruno inheriting third place after apparent finisher Tylor Terry faield post-race inspection. Jamy Begor and Jim Bushey completed the unofficial top five. Rob Gordon of Milton won the 25-lap Renegade feature over point leader Nick Heywood, Kevin Boutin, Lance Rabtoy, and Randy LaDue. Randy Martin of Keeseville, N.Y. won the Mini-Modified feature, and Bill Joyal of AuSable Forks, N.Y. was the Bomber winner.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS -- Charlie Trombley Memorial Night presented by Cold Spring Granite and Bimbo Bakeries
Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009

Pos.-Driver-Hometown

Ernie's Discount Tools Modified (100 laps)
1. Martin Roy, Napierville, Qué.
2. Patrick Dupree, Saranac Lake, N.Y.
3. Mike Bruno, Castleton
4. Leon Gonyo, Chazy, N.Y.
5. Richard Tisseur, Chateauguay, Qué.
6. Matt Woodruff, Bloomingdale, N.Y.
7. Chris Cayea, Mooers, N.Y.
8. Mike Reyell, West Chazy, N.Y.
9. Jason Durgan, Morrisonville, N.Y.
10. Mike Phinney, Keeseville, N.Y.

J&S Steel Sportsman (25 laps)
1. Robin Wood, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
2. Bucko Branham, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
3. Travis Bruno, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
4. Jamy Begor, Mooers, N.Y.
5. Jim Bushey, Mooers Forks, N.Y.

Versatile Trailer Sales Renegade (25 laps)
1. Rob Gordon, Milton
2. Nick Heywood, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
3. Kevin Boutin, Jr., Swanton
4. Lance Rabtoy, Fairfax
5. Randy LaDue, West Chazy, N.Y.

Keeseville NAPA Mini-Modified (15 laps)
1. Randy Martin, Keeseville, N.Y.
2. Billy Thwaits, Clintonville, N.Y.
3. Justin Doner, Keeseville, N.Y.
4. Rick Doner, AuSable Forks, N.Y.
5. Dustin Duvall, Keeseville, N.Y.

Monster Energy Bomber (15 laps)
1. Bill Joyal, AuSable Forks, N.Y.
2. Jayson Blondo, Champlain, N.Y.
3. Chad Collins, Morrisonville, N.Y.
4. Josh LeClaire, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
5. Curtis Seymour, Jr., Plattsburgh, N.Y.