Bobby Varin Makes It 3-In-A-Row On King Of Dirt Tour; Takes 358 Series Opener At Devil’s Bowl
Column By: DYLAN FRIEBEL / RPW – WEST HAVEN, VT – If you asked anyone around the Capital Region last fall who was the hottest driver on dirt was, the answer was easy; Bobby Varin.
He captured back-to-back King Of Dirt 358 Modified Series wins at Albany-Saratoga and Fonda as well as the 100-lap Super DIRTcar Series event at the Track Of Champions for the Thunder Along The Mohawk Weekend sweep last September.
The hot streak followed Bobby and the Palmer Service Center team all the way to Green Mountain State Wednesday Night.
Jeremy Wilder and Steve Bernier paced the field to the green flag of the KOD 358-Modifed Series opener at Devils Bowl. When the first caution of the race flew on lap eight, Varin was right behind Jeremy Wilder and just 10 laps later, went around the outside of Wilder in turns three & four to take command of the race and never looked back.
However, the win did not come easy for the cagey veteran.
“We didn’t start out the night very good,” Varin said. “We went out for hot laps and just did not feel good. We made some adjustments for time trials but just did not have the handle on the car. Made some more changes, went out and ran the heat. We were getting close and we made changes for the feature, but it took me about 10 laps to figure out the right line to run. Once we did, I felt like we had a pretty good car.”
However once you get the lead, the great equalizer can come back to bite you.
“When you get into lap traffic, you just never know,” Varin said. “There were some holes in turns one and two, and trying to get through the traffic with them was like trying to straddle the holes. Inside of one and outside of the other.”
To say Varin was happy was an understatement.
“The car worked good and for the first time at Devil’s Bowl,” he said. ” To go straight to victory lane is awesome. I love the track. Mike is very professional and we wanted to come and give it a try and support the track.”
Bobby also knows a streak can only last so long
“Hopefully we can keep the hot streak going,” he said. “We want to keep on winning. I want to keep getting a bunch more wins for the Palmer team.”
Despite finishing second to a driver he battles every Saturday night, Jeremy Wilder was nothing but happy.
“We timed well tonight,” he said. “We were fast all night and had a good draw, but there’s only one way you can go when you draw the pole. We led a few laps but Bobby (Varin) was on rails tonight. When he rolled around me in the middle like he did, I thought ‘that’s going to be hard to beat if he does that.’ Once they get a few of those holes squared away it’s going to be a awesome place to race. I had a blast here tonight.”
Third place finisher and last year’s winner at Devil’s Bowl, Marc Johnson, was pleased with his result as well.
“We redrew fourth and had a good car,” Marc said. “We were a little tight at first and had to dial some rear break into it and then we were good. Those guys were just better than we were tonight. We will regroup and get them next time. Tonight was like the old Devil’s Bowl but just a lot slicker. It was fun.”
