Daily Sun sports
After the dust settled on the 2008 regular racing season at the Beatrice Speedway last weekend, five drivers emerged as track points champions.
Beatrice driver Monty Fralin had the slimmest margin of victory in a points race of all division champions, claiming the IMCA Sport Compact title by one point over runner-up Scott Parde of Beatrice.
Monty Fralin finished with 500 points to Parde’s 499.
Nick Lindblad of Beatrice finished third in the Compact points race, while Jordan Junker of Beatrice was fourth and Jeremy Graham of Odell was fifth.
The next closest “race” came in the IMCA Sport Compact division where Gary Saathoff outdistanced fellow Beatrice driver Benji Legg by eight points.
Gary Saathoff amassed 489 points during the season, while Legg finished with 481.
Craig Evers of Beatrice finished third in the Sport Mod division, followed by Max Harder of Blue Springs in fourth and Ricky Rohr of Pickrell in fifth.
In the Factory Stock division, Beatrice’s Jeff Watts finished 14 points head of Beatrice’s Adam Armstrong in the final standings.
Watts had 455 points during the racing season, while Armstrong had 441.
Gary Laflin of Beatrice was third overall in the Factory Stock division with Neal Mittan of Wymore fourth and Jeff Shew of Beatrice fifth.
The only non-Beatrice driver to claim a track points title was Belvidere’s Robby Marsh in the IMCA Hobby Stock division.
Marsh won his championship by 23 points over Beatrice’s Matt Fralin.
Brian Langdale of Beatrice finished third in the Hobby Stock standings, while Murray Haugen II of Deshler was fourth and Lee Beethe of Beatrice was fifth.
Beatrice’s Jordan Grabouski enjoyed the largest margin of victory in final points standing races.
Grabouski won the IMCA Modified track championship by 42 points over fellow Beatrice driver Johnny Saathoff, 488-446.
None of the five division’s point champions were repeat winners from the 2007 season.
Third place in the final Modified division point standings belonged to Dan Nelson of Beatrice with Jordy Nelson of Marysville, Kan., fourth and Josh Carpenter of Diller fifth.
The final checkered flags of the 2008 season at the Beatrice Speedway will fly during the annual Octoberfest two-day special, Friday and Saturday, Oct. 3-4, for IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Mods and IMCA Hobby Stocks and “The Day After” races Sunday, Oct. 5, for IMCA Sport Compacts, Factory Stocks, Cruisers and Outlaw Vintage Lites.