Montgomery claims first team title

National Dragster, Nov 5, 2004 by McKenna, Kevin

ATLANTA DRAGWAY, NHRA Summit Racing Series Finals (Div. 2) - Riding a victory by Kelly King in Pro and a runner-up finish by Jacob Rutledge in Sportsman, Montgomery Motorsports Park won its first overall team championship at the Division 2 NHRA Summit Racing Series Finals.

King downed Mobile Dragway's Williams Pierre in the Pro final, and Rutledge lost to Music City Raceway's Leon Robertson in Sportsman. The rest of the team earned enough round-wins to secure a comfortable victory over second-place U.S. 19 Dragway. Compared to last year's event, which went down to the wire before ultimately being decided via a tiebreaker between Music City Raceway and New Bama Dragway, this one was a landslide as Montgomery outscored U.S. 19 by 10 points, 57 to 47. Silver Dollar Raceway and Music City Raceway finished tied for third with 41 points.

U.S. 19's Margie Richardson won Super Pro over teammate Jack Ivey Sr. Richardson drove her '66 Chevy II to a come-from-behind final-round win over Ivey's vintage '78 Dodge pickup.

For the second time in the last three years, Music City's Robertson claimed the Sportsman title. Robertson, a multi-time track champion who has been known to race as many as three or four cars in a single event, drove his '80 Malibu to victory over Rutledge.

Moroso Motorsports Park's Michael Fulks rode his '80 Kawasaki to victory over Music City's Leonard Adams in the Super Pro Bike final. Music City was especially dominant in the two-wheel class; four of its riders were among the final nine competitors.

Richardson, King, Robertson, and Fulks will now travel to Pomona Raceway to compete in the NHRA Summit Racing Series National Championship, to be held during the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals Nov. 11-14.

The winners of Friday's Race of Champions were Mobile Dragway's Jamie Alexander (Super Pro), South Georgia Motorsports Park's John Rollins (Pro), U.S. 19 Dragway's Franky Bishop (Sportsman), and Orlando Speed World Dragway's Dennis Stewart (Super Pro Bike).

Mobile Dragway celebrated another victory when Danny Paul downed Music City's James Rowlett in the High School final.

In addition to its strong showing in the points standings, Music City claimed the National DRAGSTER Team Spirit award.

Complete coverage of the Division 2 NHRA Summit Racing Series Finals begins on page 77.