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21 HIT THE ASPHALT AT DEVIL'S BOWL SPEEDWAY |
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"Vermont’s Fastest Half Mile" made its conversion from a dirt racing facility to an asphalt speedway for 2010. For those who know their racing history, they may remember when C.J. Richards founder paved the track in 1970, returning to dirt two years later. Now in 2010 once more Devil’s Bowl Speedway has returned to asphalt racing and Star was proud to be invited to be part of their opening. If you never been to Devil’s Bowl you are in for a surprise. The country side was breathe takings with miles and miles of beautiful green fields and streams and the hospitality was outstanding. Star made it appearance on May 30th at the Devil's Bowl Speedway in West Haven, Vt. On hand to represent Star were 21 of the finest restored vintage stockcars. Cars came from all over New England, VT, ME, NH, MA, CT, RI, and NY to drive on this beautiful newly asphalt track. To begin the day Star had practice for both the Sportsmen division and then the modified division. Then the crowd was in for a very pleasant surprise, even I had to stop my drivers meeting and watch this show as a stunt plane roared all around the speedway doing some of the most unbelievable stunts I have ever seen. Image holding a plane in one spot for a long period of time or driving backward horizontally up as far as the eye could see. You really had to be there and see it for yourself. Then it was time to go racing. Star Sportsmen rolled out on to the track first for their 10-lap heat race. Positions changed from lap to lap and it was anyone’s win, until Gary Moore from NH in the #84 Pinto took the second groove and shot to the front taking the first victory for the Star tour for 2010. Then it was time for the modifieds to hit the track for their 10-lap heat. It was a tight race as the modifieds ran side by side lap after lap. Then Charlie Lima from Ma in his 2X coupe and Bob Bateman from RI in his #17 Pinto raced to the finish. Bateman stated “it was like he was the fox being chased by the hounds” But the fox won as Bateman crossed the finish line first to take the second win for the tour that day. At feature time Star lined up and before they hit the track Jerry Richards owner of Devil’s Bowl Speedway went to each and every car and shook the hands of all the Star drivers and thank them for coming and being part of the show. The Sportsmen hit the track first for their 15-lap feature and quite a show it was. Robert Harless from NY in his #8 had problems early during the day but when it came time for the feature race he showed the Sportsmens how it is done by taking the #8 to Victory Lane. Charles Grassie from Ma in his #99 Pinto came from the back of the pack and gave Gary Moore from NH in the #84 a race to the finish as Grassie took down second place with Moore topping the field off with a third. In the Modified feature race it was Dick Murphy from Ma in his #99 Vega from the outside lane coming down the front stretch to take the victory for the Star Modifieds that evening. Jamie Ferland from NH in his #194 Pinto and Charlie Lima from Ma in his #2X coupe battled lap after lap to see who would finish second. Lima on the last lap pulled away only by inches to take second place from Ferland. Ferland topped the pack off with a third. The best part of the wins was there was a winner from each state. Harless from NY, Bateman from RI, Murphy from Ma and Moore from NH.
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