Saturday marked the end to the regular season of racing at Cochran Speedway.With the exception of the annual Allen Sparks Memorial race to be held over the Thanksgiving weekend the season wrapped up in grand style.With tight points battles in most every division the night was filled with nervous excitement as a full year of hard work would come down to the final race.Starting in the late model division Dennis McDaniel raced to his second consecutive championship.McDaniel and the DMD racing team were consistent throughout the year and with a 3rd place finish in the finale the veteran driver took home the crown.Polesitter Stevie Jones bested a 12 car stellar field by leading every lap.After 2 failed double file attempts Jones powered away to win over Keith Edge in second.Ricky Burgamy took the sportsman crown in dominating fashion by winning the final race. Burgamy took the Fatbaby Racing entry to victory by starting on pole and walking away from the field.Eric Baggett was able to challenge momentarily on several restarts but Burgamy was just too strong.This has been a very competitive class with many strong contenders each week making this championship especially gratifying for Burgamy.Brian Waters had a good run finishing 3rd behind Baggett.In perhaps the closest battle,the pure stock title was on the line with a mere 6 point separation between leader Scooter Smith and Eric Register.Everything seemed to fall into place for Smith as he would win the race and nail down the title.Register had a great night finishing 3rd behind Channon Crabb but came up just a little short on points in the end.Smith and Register both were consistent frontrunners all year long with both winning multiple times.It was nice to see the sportsmanship as the Fatbaby Racing team congratulated Smith’s Buck Naked Racing team on the hard fought win.In cadet action Darryl Dunn took the race win by leading every lap but it was Dustin Miller taking the points title for the second year in a row.Miller and Kyle Conyer have battled all year but Miller was able to win the crown with a strong 2nd place finish ahead of late model regular Mitch Fulford.Miller who is a college student and a very nice young man raced hard logging several wins in the regular season.As good of a driver as he is Miller is probably best known as a clean driver by all of his fellow racers that is the best complement of all.It proves that patience does pay off and Dustin is a picture of that.James Blount took the road warrior win.The championship went to James Tucker who has been a hard racer all year.Tucker has won several times in what has to be one of the most difficult of all cases to win in.These guys and gals really go after it.I also want to mention a very sweet young lady who was in the hunt for the title all year her name is Renee Dixon.Tucker and Dixon have both been faithful to race all year and it is nice to see them both do well.It has been a good but trying year for all of us.We will always remember those that we have lost.Congtrats to all of our champs and to all of our fans racers and sponsors for making all of this possible.There will be a banquet probably sometime in December watch the website for news on that.Please rember the following folks in prayer;Wendy Newman,Butch Henry,Tracy Jackson,Nobles family, Odom family,and all of our racing family.I also want to let all of you know that Mrs.Frankie Young suffered a heart attack in the stands Sat.night.She is a member of my church and I along with her family were with her Sat.night-Sun.morning at the hospital.It looks as if she will recover but keep her in your prayers.Thanks to Rev. Gene Ross for a beautiful pre race prayer.And Mrs.Polly Crosby it was good to see you this week I’m glad you are doing well.God bless all of you. LATE MODELS 1-Stevie Jones 2-Keith Edge 3-Dennis McDaniel 4-Allen Rowland 5-Shannon Moye SPORTSMAN 1-Ricky Burgamy 2-Eric Baggett 3-Brian Waters 4-Ricky Brantley 5-Dustin Newell PURE STOCK 1-Scott Smith 2-Channon Crabb 3-Eric Register 4-Kim Floyd 5-Jason Floyd CADET 1-Darryl Dunn 2-Dustin Miller 3-Mitch Fulford 4-Kyle Conyer 5-Ryan Evans ROAD WARRIOR 1-James Blount 2-James Tucker 3-Tyler Carlson 4-Renee Dixon 5-Stephen Darden
