Content by: Langley Austin ~ [email protected]
*List Voted On by RACE22.com’s Panel of Late Model Stock Car experts
Salisbury, NC(June 18, 2011) — OK, so you know who the 23rd through 44th Late Model Stock Car drivers in the region are, right? If you don’t you can check out the list by CLICKING HERE.
Now here’s the Top 22 Drivers in Late Model Stock Cars for the Month of June 2011 … There was definitely some moving and shaking around the list, with a new number one driver, some drivers on the list that weren’t last month and obviously some falling off the list and on the 23-44 list published yesterday.
It was a lot of work to determine this list, so check it out and let us know what you think on our Facebook by CLICKING HERE. The July 2011 List will be out before you know it and your favorite driver has the chance to make a move up or …. down.
22nd – Danny Edwards, Jr. #26/Langley Speedway
Danny Edwards, Jr. was ranked 21st last month and while he didn’t slip but one spot, he’s not as hot as he was a month ago. He won the season opener at Langley Speedway and had solid finishes inside the top five following that, but the last month has only seen the veteran keeping up the top five finishes as he’s been shut out of victory lane. He’s still one of the Top 22 in Late Model Stock Car racing right now and as he runs up front every week, he’s bound to be back in victory lane soon.
21st – Natalie Sather #94/South Boston Speedway
Even though we didn’t have the rankings of 23rd through 44th last month to publish publicly, Natalie Sather found herself 23rd on our list. It gained her no recognition of course, but when it came time for this months list, she found her way up a couple of spots to 21st. This is through the fact that some weeks she has been the only car capable of contending with Philip Morris, who’s dominating South Boston Speedway right now. Though, Peyton Sellers has won two races this season at SoBo, the only two that Philip hasn’t won, Natalie in our eyes is the biggest threat to the “King”, week in and week out.
20th – Frank Deiny, Jr. #5/Motor Mile Speedway
This certainly hasn’t been the kind of season that Frank Deiny, Jr., known as FDJ was expecting heading into his first full season with Kiker Motorsports. After all, the team had won the 2010 Motor Mile Speedway championship with Brandon Dean behind the wheel and this season they’ve yet to win a race. However as dissapointing as his results are by FDJ’s standards, lets not get it twisted, he’s still one of the drivers to beat anywhere he travels. He’s finished second to his rival, Philip Morris on several occasions this season and at Motor Mile where he’s racing now, he likely would have been the winner of the second twin two weeks ago if not for a flat tire. He’s not up to usual FDJ standards, but by there are a lot of drivers who would gladly take his performances.
19th – Mike Darne #21/Caraway & Old Dominion Speedway
Mike Darne is one of the drivers to beat anywhere he travels and this season with a schedule that includes some North Carolina racing at Caraway Speedway and racing at his home track of Old Dominion Speedway in Virginia he’s got a tall task. His first win of the season however came on somewhat unfamiliar territory at Caraway and he now has multiple wins at Old Dominion, so he’s having a pretty good season.
18th – Jeremy Burns #81/UARA & Greenville Pickens Speedway
If this list was based on luck, Jeremy Burns would be somewhere toward the top of this list. Although he’s had his share of bad luck getting caught up in crashes in UARA races while trying to race his way to the front he’s had some good luck this season as well. His good luck, well it’s been the kind of luck any driver would like to have as it’s ended with his posing for photos with the trophy. However, that good luck has come in the form of bad luck for other drivers as he’s now won two races this season and not crossed the finish line first yet. He picked up a win at Greenville Pickens Speedway when Anthony Anders was disqualified for shocks and more recently picked up a UARA win at Anderson Motor Speedway after Ronnie Bassett, Jr. was disqualified for an illegal cam. It’s not the wins that’s got him on this list, but rather his performances before tech.
17th – George Miedecke #9/UARA-STARS Series
The Austrailan driver for Marcos Ambrose Motorsports was off to a hot start last month landing him 12th on the May 2011 list, but since he’s not been near as strong. He’s not really contending for wins anymore, but rather just a top five racer at each venue. It’s hard being a rookie in the UARA, it’s as competitive as any racing around and for this young driver he’s got to get back to winning form before he can move back up this list.
16th – Michael McGuire #22/Motor Mile Speedway
Often when we’re working on these rankings, a name will come up and his place in the rankings after all the votes are tallied isn’t where we really expected to see him. Last month that was exactly the case for young Michael McGuire as he missed the list by just a couple of spots. He along with a couple of the people on last months “missing out” list are the reason that we decided to go to ranking 44 drivers, it simple wasn’t fair in our eyes to see some of these guys miss out. And, though Michaeal isn’t bouncing up this list fast, he is solidly in the Top 22 now and if he can take advantage of situations like he did two weeks ago to get his first win, he’ll stay up here and maybe climb a little closer to the front.
15th – Lee Tissot #27/Kingsport Speedway
There was a time when Lee Tissot was one of the top five guys in Late Model Stock Car racing, whether that was at a weekly track or on the UARA-STARS Series tour. Today, he simply doesn’t have the finances to run as much as he’d like, but he’s making the most of it as he’s one of the guys to beat week in and week out at Kingsport Speedway. Though he’s played second fiddle to Nate Monteith for much of the 2011 season, he’s got his wins too and kept himself among the Top 22 Drivers in Late Model Stock Car racing.
14th – Kyle Moon #19/Hickory Motor Speedway
Kyle Moon was one of those guys that for the last couple of years we all knew it was only a matter of time before he burst into the spotlight and started winning races. Now that he’s focused for the last two seasons on Hickory Motor Speedway, he’s reaping the benefits as he’s now one of the best racers in the region. Though, he hasn’t been back to victory lane since our last Power Rankings, he kept his spot in the Top 22, by being in contention for wins and now to stay here for next month he’ll have to get back to winning races.
13th – Barry Beggarly #82/Ace Speedway
It’s really hard to rank a legend like Barry Beggarly in 13th …. he could easily be the greatest Late Model Stock Car racer of all time and today he’s still winning races. He’s winning at the tough Ace Speedway bullring against some of the best competition in Late Model Stock Car racing right now and that’s at the age of over 60 years old. He’s simply a beast and he continues to show it every Friday night.
12th – Ronnie Bassett, Jr. #04/UARA-STARS Series
He deserved to be on last months list … he’s been racing in the top five every race on the UARA tour and he’s another of those drivers missing this list by a few spots last month. With a renewed confidence after making a crew chief change, RBJ is turning up the wick and most recently went to victory lane at Anderson Motor Speedway. Though that win was stripped due to a technical violation, it was evident to all that were in attendance at that race that he was the car to beat and was on a rail, no one would beat him, illegal cam or not. Now he’s got to bounce back and prove that wasn’t what won the race for him and beat them even worse at Hickory next weekend.
11th – Garrett Campbell #72/UARA-STARS Series
Though his stats still command attention, winning two of the four races he’s entered this season, Campbell slipped a little in this months Power Rankings from fifth last month to 11th for June. With a win at Newport in the UARA and a win at Ace(even though he was DQ’ed) in weekly competition, he’s still one of the hottest drivers in Late Model Stock Car racing right now. He’s got a new car on the way and once he gets it dialed in, he might just be the man to beat all over.
10th – Greg Edwards #21/Langley Speedway
We’ve talked about those “Edwards Brothers” before and as long as these guys are still racing, we’re going to have to talk about them more. Greg has been the winningest of the two brothers this season and although they’ve both slipped behind CE Falk, the reigning two-time champion at Langley Speedway, Greg is still one of the guys to beat in every race. Greg will have to get himself back to victory lane, so he can climb up this list for July.
9th – Davin Scites #06/Motor Mile & Caraway Speedway
Davin Scites is having a season much like his competitor, Frank Deiny, Jr., where both drivers aren’t exactly knocking down victories at a record pace. However, Scites does have one win to his credit and several second place efforts, but for Davin Scites, that’s not exactly record numbers and no where near the numbers he wanted coming into this season. Scites as he’s said before is just “one adjustment away” from recording victories regularly at Motor Mile Speedway.
8th – Anthony Anders #86/Anderson & Greenville Pickens Speedway
Anthony Anders was the surprise of the first part of the 2011 season, recording wins in record fashion at both Greenville Pickens Speedway and Anderson Motor Speedway. Those wins weren’t without a lot of controversy however as he isn’t one of the “Names” of the Upstate South Carolina racing scene and fans aren’t too keen on someone who isn’t a Porter, a Ward, a Pressley or some other name. Anders however is the new sheriff in town whether they like it or not and the fans there can get used to it. He may not be leading the points at Greenville Pickens, but only because of a disqualification or two, which happens when you win a lot down there. He slipped a little over the last month, but with the summer heating up, Anders might just heat up as well.
7th – Jesse LeFevers #43/Hickory Motor Speedway
Jesse LeFevers has had his own set of ups and downs the last three or four seasons from winning regularly at Tri-County Motor Speedway to getting disqualified there and returning full time to Hickory a few seasons ago. Last season he didn’t seem to be able to get out of his own way at Hickory and coming into this season he wasn’t on anyones radar as a driver to beat, but boy has that changed. After winning five races in the last seven weeks, the young driver is the man to beat at Hickory Motor Speedway, even racing to the top of the points standings at the historic track. If his momentum keeps up he’ll be rocketing to the top of this list.
6th – Nate Monteith #44/Kingsport Speedway
Nate Monteith has had a great season so far at Kingsport Speedway, his new home track after spending the last several seasons winning championships at Lonesome Pine Raceway. Monteith has six wins on the concrete oval in Kingsport, TN and he’s making it his own personal playground despite the efforts of Lee Tissot and Daniel Pope II to knock him off his perch. Monteith now needs to travel a little and perform at that same high level to move himself up the list and into the top five.
5th – BJ Mackey #98/Caraway Speedway
At Caraway Speedway, the #98 car owned by the Barber’s has been one of the cars to beat off an on for years and this year with a crafty veteran like BJ Mackey behind the wheel, things have only got better. Mackey has won all, but one race he’s entered on the 4/10 mile track this season, well two if you count his disqualification from the second Super Five Series race a few weeks ago. Mackey has been on a tear dominating the track he’s calling home this season despite not running every race there so far. Following what many considered a questionable call to disqualify him and the second and third place finishers from the Super Five Series race a few weeks ago, Mackey is even more poised to dominate a usually competitive track.
4th – CE Falk III #40/Langley & South Boston Speedway
With three wins in the last three races at Langley Speedway, you can certainly say that CE Falk is on a tear one his home track. Which comes as no surprise as the young man has won the track championship there the last two seasons straight and looks to be on his was to a third right now. What places him this far up the list on the heels of three wins is also his finishes away from his home track as he has finished third twice at South Boston, only behind Lee Pulliam and Philip Morris, the dominators there. CE’s willingness to travel around the region is one of the things that makes him one of the top five drivers in Late Model Stock Car racing, but to continue to move up without win numbers like Morris and Pulliam, he needs to travel to more than one other race track.
3rd – Brennan Poole #7/UARA-STARS Series
The number one driver from last month hasn’t done anything wrong … in fact his finishes since the last rankings have been first and second. However, he’s not racing a Late Model Stock Car as often as some of the other competitors as he has his hands full with some ARCA racing as he tries to move up the ladder. That has stalled him out from his top spot in the Power Rankings, but if we could count his performances in the ARCA car, he’d be right back to number one.
2nd – Lee Pulliam #1/Motor Mile & South Boston Speedway
Once jokingly known as the “Morris Mile”, Motor Mile Speedway has it’s new owner, Lee Pulliam has been whipping the competition all season long. Now, the “Pulliam Mile” doesn’t have as nice a ring to it, but if he keeps dominating like he has so far this season people are probably going to hate the very likeable young man just as much as they do his biggest rival. Pulliam has seven wins this season at Motor Mile Speedway and a couple of second place finishes to Morris at South Boston, but what’s more impressive is the way he kicked Morris’ butt in a pair of twin races where Morris started on the pole for both and Pulliam started sixth in both. The young man is definitely on the heels of knocking off the reigning “King” of Late Model Stock Car racing if only he could beat him at South Boston as well.
1st – Philip Morris #26/South Boston & Motor Mile Speedway
It probably wasn’t too hard to figure out this months #1 driver, I mean after all Philip Morris has been taking these guys to the woodshed all season at South Boston. If not for a wreck in the season opener and a flat tire in the most recent race, he would have won every race this season on the 4/10 mile track. He does have nine wins to his credit and two runner-up finishes at his former home track of Motor Mile Speedway to Lee Pulliam. He’s had an incredible season and it’s likely to continue as the veteran shows no real signs of slowing down and now that he’s at the top of this list someone’s going to have to do something special to take him down.
