WEST HAVEN — Successful Canadian dirt track driver Mat Williamson put another notch in his belt at Devil’s Bowl Speedway on Saturday with a late-race charge to nail down the inaugural Slate Valley 100 and earn a $10,000 payday.
Addison County and Brandon drivers did not win at Devil’s Bowl on Saturday, but earned a number of top-10 results. 
The Slate Valley 100 for Big Block and Small Block Modifieds was not a cakewalk for Williamson. Matt Sheppard paced the field early before Mike Mahaney took over at lap 10. Mahaney, the newly crowned champion at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, took command through the next 60 circuits, fighting off repeated challenges from Sheppard, Jimmy Phelps, and the late-arriving Williamson.
Williamson caught Mahaney in lapped traffic at lap 73, and four late four restarts created tense moments before Williamson snatched the lead away at lap 86 and ran off over the final laps.
“This is such a fun track to drive, and I wish we were here more often,” Williamson said following the race. He made his Devil’s Bowl debut in by winning the 25-lap Small Block feature that night. Mahaney held on as the runner-up. Sheppard finished third in an event with no local qualifiers, but did include one qualifier from Australia, Peter Britten, who ran 23rd.
New York driver Demetrios Drellos prevailed in the King of Dirt Racing Crate Modified Series, and he earned $2,000 victory in the 11th annual “Northeast Crate Nationals” event. Drellos made it three consecutive wins in Sportsman Modified competition at Devil’s Bowl, this one in a rough race with 14 cautions. 
It was a rough 50-lap race with 14 caution periods, as East Corinth’s Adam Pierson and Middlebury’s Justin Comes traded the lead before Drellos arrived to take the lead for good on Lap 41.
Pierson finished second, and Comes settled for fourth. Orwell’s Tim LaDuc was sixth, and Bristol’s Josh Masterson took eighth. 
Fletcher 14-year-old Evan Roberts collected his third win of the season in a 20-lap feature for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Limited Sportsman division. 
Shoreham’s Anthony Warren erased recent bad luck with a second-place finish, followed by Orwell’s Lacey Hanson in third place. Middlebury’s Austin Comes earned seventh, and Brandon’s Matt Bilodeau was ninth. 
Devil’s Bowl Speedway returns to action on Saturday with its next-to-last weekly championship event. All five weekly divisions will be on the card in racing begins at 6 p.m.