After a long offseason, racers, families and friends gathered at the Holiday Inn in Colonial Heights, VA for the yearly championship banquet to celebrate and recognize the previous year’s track champions in a number of different categories. We at Virginia Motorsports Park are extremely proud of all of our racers, their accomplishments and the families and friends who support them all year long.
We began our night highlighting our Chesterfield Auto Parts Ladies Night champions, a big shoutout to all of the associate partners as well as JC Richardson for all of his hard work for making our 2019 Ladies Night series a success.
5.49 Index was won by David Clark, claimed back to back championships and his fourth overall. Bootie Harris, Timmy Clark, Marc Chambliss, Jr. and Roger Walters rounded out the top five.
5.00 Index was claimed yet again by Mark Reese, driving for Keith Cox. Reese locked in his fourth consecutive 5.00 Index championship last season and has been a dominant force. Brian Pryor was the season runner-up, Keith Cox, Jamie Van Cleef and Dan Osborne rounded out the top five.
The two index categories also have a “Battle for the Belts” shootout every year of the top four points earners to gain some exposure and even more bragging rights heading into the offseason. In 2019, Jamie Van Cleef (5.00 Index) and Marc Chambliss, Jr. (5.49 Index) laid claim to the custom belts.
Our final Friday night class of the year was L&W Racing Transmissions Street ET. Glenda Cochran rose above the rest of the category in 2019 after a long, hard fought season to claim her first track championship. B&H Racing claimed the runner-up slot while B&B Racing, Dale Farkas and Abbie McDonald rounded out the top five. Gregory Dix, Family Tradition Racing, Justin Schaal, Shawn Clavon and Daryl Gough finished up the top 10 points earners in Street ET.
As we opened our AED Competition Fuel Systems ET Bracket Series classes, we kicked it off with the stars of tomorrow – the junior dragster category. We are proud to announce that Battery Barn of Virginia has signed on as the primary class sponsor for the junior dragster category for the 2020 season, as well. Anthony Suppers outlasted over 60 junior dragsters in our points program to earn the 2019 championship. Landon Palmer, Justin Kerby, Katie Hall and Chase Marrs were your top five while Cobi Toliver, Louis Crockett, Phillip Whitney, Nyck Shirkey and Hayle Harrell rounded out the top 10.
The two wheel wild men and women of Pro Bike eliminator were up next. Claiming not one, but two track championships in 2019 was none other than Craig Marable. The 2019 championship marked Craig’s sixth at VMP and a double up season with his championship at Richmond Dragway. Roy Johnson, Delton Dove, Luke Boykin, IV and Derek Burkhead, Jr. landed in the top five while Derek Burkhead, Sr., Luke Boykin, III, Mike Reid, Wilson Burkhead and Joel Burkhead landed in the top ten for the 2019 season.
Our next to last class of the evening were the bottom bulb warriors of Pro. Scott Halsey wheeled the deal to the championship stage over the course of a tough 2019 season, bookended with two victories. Jonathan Martin, Daniel Duff, Sean Sparkman and Darrell Holmes were the top five while Jacob Jackson, Keith Dunkum, Jr., Jeff Littlepage, David Hoffman and Wade Giles capped off the top ten of the best who come off the bottom.
Super Pro rounded us out with our final championship class for the evening. In a class mixed with door cars and dragsters, JB Donati’s first-gen Camaro ended up reigning supreme after one of the toughest points fights of the year. Tim Williams, Ray Holmes, Troy Williams and Bill Dooley rounded out of the top five while Tracy Sillman, Greg Showns, Eric Whitehurst, Gordon Holmes and Darryl Morris laid claim to spots in the top ten.
We want to thank everyone who came out to support the racers who were presented their accolades and a number of fun giveaways and times. A thank you also goes out to DJ Wolfman and the Holiday Inn for hosting our banquet and dropping some music for the evening’s festivities. Our track photographer, Clarence Hannon, did a masterful job on the slideshows along with the photography for the evening. Virginia Motorsports Park is proud to announce that we will have 12 exciting ET points races this season and VP Racing Fuels has signed a multi-year deal to become the title sponsor of the ET Bracket Series at VMP. We have a number of exciting announcements coming very soon and we look forward to our bracket racing season kicking off on March 21-22nd for the VP Racing Fuels ET Bracket Series season opener!
