The 2016 Natural Bridge Speedway racing season commenced on the first weekend in April. The slate was clean, and a large group of drivers, both neophytes and grizzled veterans, dreamed of claiming the points championship in whichever of the speedway’s five divisions they competed.
Entering the season’s final show Sunday afternoon after Saturday’s scheduled season finale was rained out, four of the five division titlists had already been determined, but the one that hadn’t, which happened to be the late model division, gave the fans a dramatic showdown to determine the late model points king.
When then-11-year-old rookie Carder Miller of Lynchburg won the opening late model feature of the season, there were those who found it unusual, but wrote it off as beginner’s luck. Miller, however, began to accumulate a few more victories and ran consistently in almost every race and entered Sunday’s in a dead tie for the late model points title.
On the other side of the late model championship coin was Rockbridge County veteran wheelman Tim Stalnaker, whose consistent points performance throughout the campaign, set up Sunday’s late model closer with the two drivers in a tie for the season title.
Essentially, it became a championship match race conducted while 13 other late models were whizzing and whirring all around. In all five of Sunday’s features, the field was set by the points order.
Therefore, Miller and Stalnaker started side-by-side in the 35-lap late model feature. Miller reacted well to the green flag and immediately jumped to the front of the 15-car field. On lap 9, Stalnaker cut Miller’s advantage in half between turns three and four. On laps 15, 16 and 17, Miller once again began to pull away and opened up an eight-car-length lead.
Meanwhile, wily Waynesboro veteran Joey Leavell, who started in the fourth row, continued and maintained a bold dash through the field. As the field passed the flag stand to put lap 17 on the board, Leavell got the nose of his machine just past Stalnaker, but the driver of the red-and-white No. 11 machine took the runner-up position back on the next lap. Miller extended his lead as Leavell and Stalnaker vied for the second position.
Leavell finally cleared Stalnaker on lap 26 and then began a desperate effort to catch Miller. Leavell gave it a great shot, going very low in turn four of lap 29 digging for a late-race pass, but Miller, who celebrated his 12th birthday during the racing season was able to react and respond and beat the hard-charging Leavell to the finish line to grab both the checkers and the points crown.
Phillip Woods also closed quickly to finish third, one slot ahead of Stalnaker, who finished second in the points. Eric Groah and Tyler Bare finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
Samuel Bryant of Fairfield closed out his sportsman championship season, which he earned during his rookie sportsman slate, finishing second behind Lexington’s Ronnie Martin Jr in Sunday’s final 25-lapper of the season.
Martin powered past Bryant, who started on the pole due to his points lead and took the lead on lap 1. Lap 1, however, proved to be difficult for the entire field to negotiate, and there were two total restarts followed by two additional restarts on lap 2. Once the field was able to get things in a groove, they chased Martin until a lap 20 restart. Once again, Martin pulled away and headed for the checkers.
Sunday was a good day for local street stock pilots. Jeremy Pooley of Buena Vista had already locked up the division points championship, and Fairfield’s Ben Hamilton picked up his first victory of the campaign, taking the point for good after leader Kieth Herring spun out. Brandon Ramsey of Lexington finished second to Hamilton. Buena Vista’s Keith Herring finished third. Lexington’s Scottie Hostetter finished fifth. Pooley struggled with mechanical issues throughout Sunday’s 25-lap feature, but his points advantage could not be challenged.
Brandon Link of Buchanan had the pure stock season championship in hand as he took Sunday’s green flag. Matt Whitten bolted to the lead on lap 1. On lap 3, Derek Wright passed Link for the second slot. On lap 7, mechanical issues sent Whitten’s machine to the pits. Wright took the lead and held it to take the checkers. Link finished second with Rich Zowaski finishing third.
Michael Demers knew that he had won the All American season championship as he startedon Sunday’s pole. It did not take fellow front-row starter, Jonathan Burnette, but just a few laps to take the lead, which he held to the checkers. Dustin Ferguson finished second. Division champion Demers placed third.
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