WEST HAVEN, Vt. — Jimmy Davis waited more than 24 years between wins at Devil’s Bowl Speedway.
The underdogs shone on Friend Construction Night in the Sportsman Modified division Saturday night. Following two short rain delays and a two-hour delay for a local power outage, the feature race was worth the wait for Jimmy Davis. Mike Fisher, who is 19th in the point standings, led the first 15 laps before the first yellow flag bunched the field for a restart.Â
Davis jumped out front and then held Fisher off on the second and final restart with four laps left. The win was the first for Davis at Devil’s Bowl Speedway since June 15, 1997.Â
Fisher and fourth-place Adam Piper scored career-best finishes. Championship contenders Justin Comes and Tim LaDuc finished eighth and 12th, respectively, and Comes holds an unofficial lead of 18 points.
Austin Comes, younger brother of Sportsman driver Justin, picked a good night to earn his fourth win of the season, as championship rival Troy Audet had a bit of an “off” night.Â
Comes started 16th on the field and sliced his way through traffic, reaching Gary English to take the lead away on lap 18. Audet struggled in the midfield, only reaching sixth place. Comes was able to cut a dozen points off of Audet’s lead in the standings, and now trails by 23. Apparent runner-up Randy Ryan was disqualified for an engine infraction, moving Evan Roberts up to the spot; Roberts started 19th on the field.
Former Devil’s Bowl Speedway asphalt champion Jim McKiernan led every step of the way in a caution-free race for his first win of the season, which came in the championship finale for the Super Stock division. Chris Murray clinched the title by 46 points over Paul Braymer, unofficially.
Mark Mahoney squeaked out the victory in the Mini Stock “A” Feature, just nipping Brian Blake at the finish line by about three feet, with an official margin of victory of just 74-thousandths (0.074) of a second. Mahoney’s victory was already his second in just nine career starts. Chris Sumner (finished 6th) continues to lead rookie Daryl Gebo by 37 points for the title, 921-884.
Joe Malzac, who started his racing career at Devil’s Bowl Speedway 34 years ago, posted his first win by leading all 10 laps of the “B” Feature for the Mini Stocks.
Ray Hanson left little doubt in wrapping up the 500cc Mini Sprint track championship. Hanson stalked early leader Scott Bachand and took over at lap 4, and then he made a statement by running away for his 11th win of 2021.