Rookie Payea Dominates At Devil’s Bowl For First Win
Story By: JUSTIN ST. LOUIS / DEVIL’S BOWL SPEEDWAY – WEST HAVEN, VT – Dylan Payea may be a rookie Late Model stock car driver, but he certainly did not drive like one on Saturday, August 12, as he dominated for the first win of his career at The Asphalt Track at Devil’s Bowl Speedway. Payea trounced the field on Heritage Family Credit Union “Member Night” to highlight an event that also saw R.J. Germain and Roo Forrest score meaningful victories.
Payea, of Henniker, N.H., led the 50-lap Driven Transport Late Model Series race from the drop of the green flag and stretched out to a nearly quarter-track advantage before the race’s lone yellow flag flew for debris with 37 laps complete. Robert Bryant Jr. mounted a serious challenge on the outside lane at the restart, and even crept ahead to lead lap 39, but Payea fended him off and sped away to collect the win.
Bryant settled for second place, ahead of a torrid battle for the final podium spot. Rookie Evan Hallstrom, 15, fought tooth-and-nail with Seth Bridge for much of the second half of the race, and their clash became physical as the laps clicked away. Hallstrom narrowly beat Bridge for third place, with Rich Lowrey Jr. a close fifth.
Bristol, Vt., racer R.J. Germain completed a busy few days in the 25-lap feature for the Rosen & Berger Auto Recyclers Super Stock division. Germain led every lap of the non-stop race to score his first-ever feature win, just eight days after the birth of his son, Cole, who made an appearance in victory lane.
Defending champion and current point leader Jim McKiernan chipped away at Germain’s lead in the final laps but ran out of time and finished second. Leading rookie Brett Wood was third, fending off a hard-charging Dylan Rabtoy in the final laps. Sixteen year-old Kelsea Woodard finished an impressive fifth in just her third Super Stock race. McKiernan’s run helped him maintain a six-point advantage over Rabtoy in the championship standings, unofficially (501-495).
Brendan “Roo” Forrest of West Rutland, Vt., scored his second victory of the season in the annual “3×10” special for the Portland Glass Mini Stock division. With scoring points distributed for each position in each of the race’s three cumulatively scored segments, Forrest won both the first and final 10-lap legs and finished third in the middle round for a race-low total score of five points (1, 3, 1 = 5).
Second-segment winner Shawn Moquin was the overall runner-up with eight points (4, 1, 3 = 8), while Andrew FitzGerald, Forrest’s older brother, finished third overall with nine points (3, 4, 2 = 9). Cam Gadue scored 11 points for fourth place. Johnny Bruno, with 20 points, took fifth place after a tiebreaker with Kyle Botala, due to Bruno’s better finish in the final round. The Mini Stock results are unofficial pending technical inspection.
Earlier in the evening, it was announced that Devil’s Bowl Speedway would return to full-time dirt track racing in 2018. After four years as a dual-track facility, the current half-mile Asphalt Track will be covered with clay beginning in early September to make way for a new era of dirt racing next season.
Devil’s Bowl Speedway is back in action on its 3/10-mile Dirt Track on Sunday, August 13, at 6:00 p.m., as Fabian Earthmoving of West Rutland presents the Sprint Cars of New England along with the Sportsman Modifieds, Super Stocks, Mini Stocks, and the Ladies Mini Stocks. General admission is $15.00 for adults, $13.00 for seniors (62+), $5.00 for teenagers (13-17), and free for kids age 12 and under.
Devil’s Bowl Speedway is located on Route 22A in West Haven, Vt., four miles north of U.S. Route 4, Exit 2. For more information, visit www.DevilsBowlSpeedwayVT.com or call (802) 265-3112. Devil’s Bowl Speedway is on Facebook at @DevilsBowlSpeedway and on Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat at @DevilsBowlSpeed; follow the action using the hashtag #DevilsBowl.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS – Heritage Family Credit Union Night
Devil’s Bowl Speedway Asphalt Track – West Haven, VT
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series
Saturday, August 12, 2017
Driven Transport Late Model Feature (50 laps)
Pos.-(Start)-Driver-Hometown
# – denotes rookie
1. (2) # Dylan Payea, Henniker, N.H.
2. (1) Robert Bryant Jr., Brooklyn, Conn.
3. (3) # Evan Hallstrom, Northfield, Vt.
4. (4) Seth Bridge, Mendon, Vt.
5. (5) Rich Lowrey Jr., Charlotte, Vt.
6. (6) Peyton Lanphear, Duxbury, Vt.
Did Not Start: Richard Lowrey III, Charlotte, Vt.
Heat Winner: Dylan Payea
Rosen & Berger Auto Recyclers Super Stock Feature (25 laps)
Pos.-(Start)-Driver-Hometown
# – denotes rookie
1. (2) R.J. Germain, Bristol, Vt.
2. (6) Jim McKiernan, Moriah Center, N.Y.
3. (4) # Brett Wood, Georgia, Vt.
4. (7) Dylan Rabtoy, Swanton, Vt.
5. (8) Kelsea Woodard, Waterbury Center, Vt.
6. (10) Scott FitzGerald, West Rutland, Vt.
7. (5) Jared Blake, North Hero, Vt.
8. (3) Austin McKiernan, Moriah Center, N.Y.
9. (9) Cooper Bouchard, Hinesburg, Vt.
10. (12) Matt Monaghan, Colchester, Vt.
11. (1) Tony Salerno, Mineville, N.Y.
12. (11) Bill Burlingame, Gansevoort, N.Y.
Heat Winners: Kelsea Woodard, Dylan Rabtoy
Portland Glass Mini Stock Feature (10 laps x3)
Pos.-(Start)-Driver-Hometown-Segment Points
# – denotes rookie
1. (7) Roo Forrest, West Rutland, Vt. – (1, 3, 1 = 5 pts.)
2. (8) # Shawn Moquin, Milton, Vt. – (4, 1, 3 = 8 pts.)
3. (4) Andrew FitzGerald, West Rutland, Vt. – (3, 4, 2 = 9 pts.)
4. (9) # Cam Gadue, Highgate, Vt. – (5, 2, 4 = 11 pts.)
5. (2) # Johnny Bruno, Castleton, Vt. – (7, 8, 5 = 20 pts.)
6. (6) # Kyle Botala, Grand Isle, Vt. – (8, 5, 7 = 20 pts.)
7. (11) John McCarron, Rensselaer, N.Y. – (2, 9, 10 = 21 pts.)
8. (1) Kaleb Shepard, New Haven, Vt. – (10, 6, 8 = 24 pts.)
9. (3) Zach Wood, Georgia, Vt. – (9, 10, 6 = 25 pts.)
10. (11) # Curtis Denton, St. Albans, Vt. – (11, 7, 9 = 27 pts.)
11. (5) # Mike Preston, Panton, Vt. – (6, 11, 11 = 28 pts.)
12. (12) Tim LaFountain, Keeseville, N.Y. – (12, 12, 12 = 36 pts.)
Did Not Start: # Russ Champine II, Rutland, Vt.
Segment Winners: Roo Forrest, Shawn Moquin, Roo Forrest
