WEST HAVEN — Addison’s Chuck Bradford was among the July 31 winners at Devil’s Bowl Speedway, while Brandon’s Vince Quenneville Jr. and Steve Miller of Vergennes posted second-place finishes as the track kicked off the second half of its season.
Bradford prevailed in the 15-lap Portland Glass Mini Stock feature and in the process snapped Chris LaVair’s five-race win streak and earned a $100 “bounty” bonus by doing so. The action was non-stop as Bradford, LaVair, John McCarron, and Harold LaVair ran in a tight group up front. Bradford passed Chris LaVair on the outside to take the lead on lap 12, and LaVair’s car shut down on the final lap. Harold LaVair took second, with McCarron third.
Veteran New York drivers Leon Gonyo and Greg Atkins split a pair of 20-lap feature races in the Bond Auto Parts Modified division. In the opening race Billy Lussier held the early lead, but a restart bunched the field. Gonyo pounced to seize the lead and earned his second victory of the season, with Quenneville taking second. Joey Roberts survived an early scrape to finish third, followed by Whiting’s Jimmy Ryan and Ron Proctor.
In the nightcap, Ryan took the lead after Roberts and Codie Aubin bumped on lap 3. Atkins passed Ryan for the lead at lap 12, then sped away to take the first Devil’s Bowl win of his long career. Proctor was the runner-up, followed by Quenneville, Ryan, and Lussier.
Proctor continues to lead the track championship standings, but Quenneville trimmed his deficit from 14 points down to just nine (548-539). Atkins moved into third place, 29 points behind Proctor.
Seventeen-year-old rookie Richard Lowrey III of Charlotte became the seventh winner in as many races in the Central Vermont Motorcycles Late Model division after an intense finish. Seth Bridge led the first 23 laps uncontested and looked like a first-time winner before the action heated up behind him, when point leader Josh Masterson of Bristol got turned around to bring out the caution flag.
Bridge held the lead for four laps after the restart but faced heavy pressure from Lowrey, Middlebury’s Todd Stone, Miller, and others. Bridge then got turned around himself and nailed the inside retaining wall.
Lowrey and Miller produced hard, clean racing over the final two laps before Lowrey scooted ahead to take the victory. Miller finished second, and Masterson rebounded in impressive fashion in the final seven laps to finish third. Former champion Chris Bergeron finished fourth with Robert Bryant Jr. fifth. Masterson leads Bryant by 46 points (422-376) for the championship, with Miller another 19 back in third.
Robert Gordon of Milton won a two-segment race in the Brileya’s Chrysler-Jeep Renegade division. The defending champion finished second in each of the two 15-lap, cumulatively scored runs to earn a winning total of four segment points.
Gordon battled the entire distance in each race with segment winners Scott FitzGerald and Jimmy Bushey and rookies Matt Monaghan and Shawn Franklin. FitzGerald scored five segment points (first, fourth) to take the overall runner-up position. Bushey took third place overall.
Devil’s Bowl is back in action on Friday at 7:30 p.m. with the fourth annual Carrara Masonry & Concrete “C.J. Richards Memorial” event. The Modified division will race 67 laps in honor of the track’s late founder, Richards, who opened the facility in 1967.
This past Friday’s winners and local finishers were:
•  Bond Auto Parts Modified Feature No. 1 (20 laps): 1. Gonyo; 2. Quenneville; 4. Ryan; 9. Dave Snow, Brandon.
•  Bond Auto Parts Modified Feature No. 2 (20 laps): 1. Atkins; 3. Quenneville; 4. Ryan; 8. Snow.
•  Central Vermont Motorcycles Late Model Feature (30 laps): 1. Lowrey; 2. Miller; 3. Masterson; 10. Stone.
•  Brileya’s Chrysler-Jeep Renegade Feature (15 laps x 2): 1. Gordon.
•  Portland Glass Mini Stock Feature (15 laps): 1. Bradford; 7. Bradley Bertrand, Ferrisburgh.