Ramsey captures points crown at SoBo

Published: September 13, 2008

SOUTH BOSTON — The Sunoco 150 Barkhouser Late Model race was supposed to be Saturday night’s feature event but was virtually stripped of any championship drama before the green flag dropped.

Justin Johnson was second in points and only 31 points behind leader Wayne Ramsey when he blew an engine in practice, and after looking at the car count and figuring there was no possible way he could overtake Ramsey, withdrew from the race.

Ramsey had a 99-point lead over Deac McCaskill and knew he had the title before the race even started.

Despite it being almost impossible for him to lose the points championship, Ramsey still dominated the 150-lap feature and fought off Ronald Hill in the closing laps, leading the final 124 laps on the way to the victory.

“I knew it was going to be a tough race coming in,” Ramsey said. “I was able to get away on restarts but he (Hill) was better on long runs. He was going to have to pass me high because we were working the bottom pretty well.”

“This is incredible,” Ramsey said. “I used to come here as a kid and watch these guys run. This is the best feeling I’ve had in my whole life. It took me about half the year to get going but we got on a roll and did it. We might be celebrating till morning.”

Hill finished second, C.E. Falk was third and McCaskill finished in fourth.

Budweiser Pure Stock

To overtake Joe Allred and win the Budweiser Pure Stock championship, Courtney Crosby had to win the 30-lap season finale and get some help on top of that.
Crosby did all he could do by winning the race, but Allred did just enough with his fifth-place finish to capture the 2008 championship by only eight points.

“Our car was good enough to run a little better,” Allred said. “But I saw (Justin) Tucker and (Mike) Jones up there going at it and I decided to sit back and see what happens.”

Allred knew the points race was close, but was content to run a safe, consistent race.

“People said I had it locked,” Allred said. “But you never know what can happen.”

Tucker finished second, Jones was third and Quain Moore finished fourth.

Limited Sportsman

Lee Pulliam and Bruce Anderson came into Saturday’s race in a dead heat for the 2008 championship. Whichever driver beat the other to the finish line in the 50-lap season finale would be the champion. Pulliam started on the pole with Anderson in second. Needless to say, the pressure was on for both drivers.

Anderson was able to get around Pulliam early and lead the first part of the race but Pulliam was able to work around Anderson on lap 20 following a restart.

That is all it took for Pulliam to pull into a lead he would never give up, but it didn’t come without drama.

“I gave him too much,” Anderson said. “We’re not disappointed but I’d rather finish one position up.”

Pulliam knew he had a chance after the pass.

“We got under him in turn two,” Pulliam said. “Then we had to run smooth from then on out.”

Anderson tried to go back around Pulliam on the low side, but got loose and allowed Pulliam to pull out to a several-car-length lead at the halfway mark.

Greg Dejarnette spun in turn two on lap 43, setting up a seven-lap shootout between the two contenders.

Hollywood couldn’t have written a better script.

Anderson slipped on the restart, giving Pulliam a lead heading into the late stages on the race. It looked as if Pulliam was home-free with two laps to go, but Joey Throckmorton’s car came to a stop in turn four with two laps to go, setting up a green-white-checkered finish.

Pulliam pulled out to yet another lead on the restart and would fight off a hard charge from Anderson in the final turn to capture his seventh win this season and the 2008 championship.

“I want to thank the Lord,” Pulliam said. “This is just a dream come true. Words can’t describe it. I don’t know what to say, this is just awesome.”

Tommy Peregoy finished third and Jeb Burton was able to finish the season with a fourth place finish.