COPPER HILL, VA :: Limited Late Model champions have been crowned and some of the season’s biggest races are now in the books – including the Mischa Sell Memorial and the Halloween Spooktacular. With those races now complete and two more Limited Late Model races ahead on the season, we take another look at our Limited Late Model Power Rankings.
15. Taylor Stricklin
Taylor Stricklin showed consistency all season at Hickory Motor Speedway, finishing in the top-five in almost every single race he ran. He scored two wins over the summer and went on to score the Limited Late Model championship at Hickory Motor Speedway. Stricklin comes in at 15th on our list.
14. Karl Budzevski
Karl Budzevski scored the victory in the final Limited Sportsman race of the year at Motor Mile Speedway. Budzevski was one of only a couple drivers from Motor Mile who traveled outside of the confines of the Radford facility. During the summer months, he recorded some solid performances at Ace Speedway. His late season success puts him on to the power rankings in 14th.
13. Kyle Moon
Kyle Moon’s lone victory of the season came in Hickory Motor Speedway’s biggest Limited Late Model race of the year, the Fall Classic. To our knowledge, this was one of only a couple races he ran at in a Limited Late Model in 2014. He also had one other start at Hickory in 2014 where he finished in second. Moon made the most of his very limited schedule. We hope he’s able to race a lot more in 2015 because, if he does race more often, he’ll certainly make more visits to victory lane.
12. Andrew Grady
Andrew Grady scored more wins than anybody at Southern National Motorsports Park in the Limited Late Model division, scoring five wins by the end of August. He also had two more wins in the season opener at Wake County Speedway. Grady had a great season, one he feels was championship-worthy. When the calendar changed to September, however, Grady was shut out of victory lane – a theme that continued on Sunday when he surrendered the lead in the closing laps of the Halloween Spooktacular, fading to a sixth place finish. Grady has a couple races left in 2014 and nobody would love to get back to victory lane more than he would.
11. Daryn Cockram
Daryn Cockram was the other Motor Mile Speedway regular who traveled. He scored a win at Motor Mile, scored a handful of top-five finishes at South Boston Speedway and, in late-October, he picked up two wins at Franklin County Speedway, pushing his win total to three. Cockram’s one of those drivers who can contend wherever he goes – something he showed at Southern National when he was competitive in his lone appearance there.
10. Boo Boo Dalton
Boo Boo Dalton scored wins this season at Ace Speedway and at Caraway Speedway. Late in the season, he spent much of his time racing at Southern National Motorsports Park where he frequently ran up inside the top-five. Dalton comes in 10th on our list with his rock solid consistency everywhere he goes – including with his sixth place finish at Caraway over the weekend.
9. Dylan Ward
Dylan Ward scored five wins at Ace Speedway over the summer with two of those wins coming in September. In fact, he was almost a regular on the podium at Ace Speedway this season. Ward scored a top-five finish in the Mischa Sell Memorial Race at Ace Speedway and also ran in the SELLM race at Caraway Speedway where he scored another top-five finish over the weekend.
8. Haley Moody
Haley Moody had a breakthrough season in 2014, scoring three wins and winning the track championship at Southern National Motorsports Park. She won that championship in style, by scoring a victory in the regular season finale. She backed that championship up by scoring a top-five finish in her first ever start at East Carolina and then again surpassing expectations by scoring a top-three finish in the Halloween Spooktacular at Southern National over the weekend. Hopefully, Moody’s able to travel more in 2015 to prove she is more than a one-track Wonder Woman.
7. Chris Chapman
Chris Chapman was red hot late in the season, scoring four late Summer wins at Southern National Motorsports Park. Three of those wins came on the final weekend of the regular season at Southern National. Chapman’s late season surge puts him on our power rankings in seventh.
6. Rusty Daniels
Rusty Daniels may not make a lot of friends when he races but he does win a lot of races and that’s what he’s there for. Daniels was a winner five times in 2014 with four of those wins coming at Southern National Motorsports Park against several drivers on this list. Daniels is usually running up front when he races. We hope he’s able to travel some in 2015.
5. Louis White
Louis White was dominant at East Carolina Motor Speedway, scoring 12 wins and winning the Limited Late Model championship at the tough and tricky track in Robersonvile, North Carolina. White scored the victory in East Carolina’s biggest race of the year, the Ronnie Barnette Memorial, and he did so in dominant fashion – much like all his wins. White comes in at fifth.
4. Mack Little
Mack Little scored two wins on the season at Caraway Speedway and recently recorded a strong top-five performance in the Southeast Limited Late Model Series race at Caraway Speedway. Little also traveled to other racetracks this year, including Ace Speedway where he scored two top-three finishes. Little comes in fourth on our list.
3. Clay Jones
Clay Jones was dominant at Wake County Speedway, scoring 12 wins (nine consecutive) en route to the track championship. He also picked up three wins at Dillon Motor Speedway and, in his most recent race appearance, he finished second in the Halloween Spooktacular at Southern National. Jones is one of those drivers that, when he comes to a track, everyone knows they’re going to have to beat him. We rank him in third on our Limited Late Model list so hopefully his fans will be satisfied now.
2. Bradley McCaskill
Bradley McCaskill slips to number two despite his win in the Southeast Limited Late Model Series at Caraway Speedway. McCaskill swept both SELLM races at Caraway Speedway while also scoring wins at Dillon Motor Speedway and East Carolina Motor Speedway this season. Anytime he shows up at a racetrack, he’s going to be tough to beat as he’s proven in his six wins in 2014.
1. Joey Throckmorton
Joey Throckmorton’s win in the Halloween Spooktacular at Southern National solidified his place atop the power rankings. That win was Throckmorton’s fourth win of the year but it came at a third different track as he won at Orange County Speedway the week before as well as at South Boston Speedway during the summer. Throckmorton beat some tough competition at Southern National to score the win. It was an impressive win in what has quite possibly been the biggest Limited Late Model race of the year to date.
