Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Egbert IV Stock Car Winner at Devil's Bowl

  Monday night, March 5th found the Sniper Speed Lone Star Stock Car Tour at race number three of their six night schedule as they were racing again for the second of three consecutive nights at the Devil's Bowl Speedway in Mesquite Texas. Along with the Stock Cars, the 305 Racesaver Sprints would be racing for the first of two straight nights with the Southern Sport Mods and Factory Stocks also running as support classes. 

However, the highlight event of this night was the Stock Car feature where G.W. Egbert IV would come from the ninth starting spot to win the twenty five lap feature in what was a rousing four car duel right to the finish. The Racesaver Sprint feature would see Robert Vetter fight off a series of challenges by Kevin Ramey to get the win while Cody Smith dominated the Sport Mod feature and Chris Lewis would survive the repeated rear end ramming by Brett Jensen to win the Factory Stock finale. 

Monday night would mark my first visit to the Devil's Bowl Speedway in many, many years. So many, in fact, that I could remember little of the track from my earlier visit. However, some of it came back to me once in was on the grounds of the speedway. 

Devil's Bowl is a big half mile oval with long chutes and sweeping corners. There are no outside walls around the track which instead as a large, flat run off area for errant race cars. There are guard rails protecting the inside of the track which has pitting on both the infield and behind the back chute. Both of these are used by race cars which then shuttle to the infield for lineups with both the outside and middle of the track providing a "hot pit" if needed. 

Devil's Bowl is famous for having the uphill back chute as the back straightaway is, I believe, forty feet higher than the front chute so fans in the large grandstands can see the racing on the back chute even though large haulers are pitted in the infield. From the entrance to turn one to all the way down the back chute, the track goes uphill so drivers have to race each half of the track totally different. Corner number three starts to go back downhill and then levels off down the front chute and it is apparent that the drivers can race harder into turn one as they are going uphill all the way. 

Devil's Bowl offers plenty of seating with a huge grandstand that runs the length of the front chute. the midway behind the grandstand is paved as is the parking lot with lines designating parking spots for fans which is very handy. Lighting is good for both the track and grandstands and while it is an old facility, it is still well maintained by the Edwards family. Of course Devil's Bowl is most famous as being the birthplace of the World of Outlaws Sprint Car series with their first ever race held there. 

However, this week it was Stock Cars that were the featured class. The Sniper Speed Stock Car Tour is a six night series, split over three tracks here in Texas. However, rain forced a change up in the series schedule with the first date at Kennedale Speedway Park rained out. In a last minute schedule change, however, Devil's Bowl picked up that race on what was originally scheduled to be a practice night here on Sunday. Instead they raced at "The Bowl" on Sunday and then would follow it up with races on both Monday and Tuesday before they head down to Heart O' Texas Speedway in Elm Mott to finish up on Wednesday and Thursday. Kevin Courchaine from Wisconsin is the Tour Director for this series. 

Thirty eight Stock Cars would sign in for the racing on Monday night, a number that I frankly figured would be somewhat higher than it was although I was told that over fifty cars raced at Kennedale, a track that does race Stock Cars on a weekly basis which is not the case here at Devil's Bowl. Four big heats and a pair of B Features and would set the field for the Stock Car feature. 

On Sunday, racing an afternoon show, I was told that the track got very dry and slick and dusty which, by the way, is understandable. However, the track prep crew apparently didn't want anything like that to happen on this night as they tiled the track up and then dumped the water on it right before race time. The result was a slippery track that no one could get around easily with much sliding around and very little passing as everyone hugged the inside line and about the only way to make a pass was to boot a car in front out of the way or hope they slipped up and out of the groove. 

By feature time for the Stock Cars, the track was finally just starting to get good, which unfortunately, was also the last race of the night. Twenty one cars, a surprisingly low number given the size of the track and the number of cars on hand,  took the green flag for the twenty five lap main event which would be worth two grand to those drivers that had pre entered. Cody Smith started on the pole as he looked for his second straight win, having topped the feature on Sunday. However, in his Sport Mod feature race victory lane interview, he indicated that he might have adjusted his car too tight for the Stock Car feature and that seemed to be the case as he led lap one but then pushed up the track as William Gould was able to duck under him and take over the lead. 

Gould, Smith, Angel Munoz and Trevor Egbert would battle in the early going, which saw the race slowed three times in the first eight laps for various reasons. By lap eight, E.W. Egbert IV had moved up into the fourth spot after starting ninth and he joined the battle for the lead. 

The last eighteen laps of this race would go nonstop and the best racing of the night would take place as Munoz would move into second and constantly challenge Gould for the lead. Gould had opened up a few car lengths but a tight condition in his car would see him slow and suddenly there was a four car battle back again for the lead. G.W. Egbert would really start to pick up speed as his car was handling smoothly on the inside while the other challengers seemed to want to push up the track. 

On lap nineteen, Egbert IV dove low in turn four and when both Munoz and Gould pushed up the track, he dove past both of them on the hub and took over the lead. He then showed that he was the fastest car on the track as he opened up a several car length over the pack and would drive on for the win. Gould continued to fight his car and in the last few laps he slipped back to fourth as both Munoz and Smith would gain a position on him. Lance Hanson Jr would complete the top five with just over half the field still on the track and all on the lead lap. 

The 305 Racesaver Sprints are a part of the program here for both Monday and then back again tomorrow while the other tracks in this series are just running the three classes. The Sprints are using both Monday and tomorrow as tune up races for the 305 Racesaver Sprint Nationals that will be held here on Friday and Saturday night of this week. Twenty one Sprints signed in for the race tonight but there were drivers on hand from Nebraska, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Indiana as well as Texas. 

All twenty one cars would take the green for their twenty five lap main event and it would be Robert Vetter who would lead all twenty five laps to get the win worth fifteen hundred dollars. However, it was not an easy victory for Vetter . He was chased in the early going by Cody Price for the first three laps until Price was passed for second by Kevin Ramey. The race was stopped for a red on lap nine when Trey Burke flipped in turn one. He was OK but out of the race. 

The race then turned into a two car battle with Vetter having Ramey all over him as he looked for a way past the leader. Ramey repeatedly tried to get by Vetter but Robert was strong in his line and failed to make any mistakes. One more yellow slowed the field and the last nine laps ran green to checkered. 

Vetter would continue to hold the lead and despite Ramey giving it his all, it would be Robert Vetter who would drive on for the win. Price would finish third with Colby Stubblefield and Wisconsin visitor Owen Carlson completing the top five. 

The two support classes would see a pair of repeat winners as both winners were also the winners on Sunday night. The Factory Stocks raced as the first feature and their track was still very narrow with passing at a bare minimum and everyone hugging the inside line. 

When Jason Hood pushed up the track on the first corner and took Rick Murray with him, Chris Lewis took advantage of this to slip into the lead and he would hold the top spot the rest of the way. However, Brett Jensen was moving up rapidly after starting seventh and he quickly moved into a challenging position. By the halfway point of the race, he had driven up to second as he got by Michael Dabney for that spot and closed on the leader. 

This set up a battle for the lead after Grant Wollam lost a driveshaft, triggering the lone yellow of the race with thirteen laps complete. After this, Lewis would continue to hold the lead but he was pressured lap after lap by Jensen. Jensen, using his best NASCAR like moves, would literally hammer the back of Lewis' car on every corner, sometimes hitting the back of Lewis' car quite violently. In fact, Jensen hammered the back of Lewis' car so hard that he actually folded in the nose of his car and perhaps slowed his run. 

The last few laps saw Lewis hold off every assault by Jensen and drive on for the win. third place went to Dabney with Murray and Hood trailing. 

A small field of Sport Mods was on hand and Cody Smith won in ridiculously easy fashion. He started right on the pole and seemed in a different zip code than the rest of the field. Following two yellows with four laps completed, the rest of the race ran green to checkers and Smith pulled away from the field. By the end of the race, he had three quarters of a lap lead on the rest of the pack and that is a lot on this big track. Steven Ashcraft would finish second but he couldn't even see the winner at the checkered!. Elliott Davis would complete the top three. 

A familiar voice was calling the action on Monday night as Marshalltown Speedway promoter and Boone announcer along with many other special events all over the country , Jerry VanSickle was behind the mic. I didn't catch the name of the flagman but he was also working at Rocket Raceway Park over the weekend and he does a fine job. All racing was completed before 11 pm after they got a half hour late start due to the wet track which just didn't seem to want to roll in. All four classes will return for series race number four on Tuesday night. 

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