Media Contact: Steven Ovens - woodhullracewaypr@gmail.com or (315) 729-3825
For Immediate Release – September 2nd, 2016 – SWL Awards photos -
(WOODHULL) – In what has been a spirited battle for the Joe Willcox Performance Automatics Street Stock title, two drivers have emerged as the title contenders going into Saturday night. Kurt Stebbins from Wellsville, NY and Teddy Morseman from Cameron Mills, NY are prepared to battle for the championship, with Stebbins possibly just needing to start the feature event to clinch the championship.
Stebbins has raced full-time at Woodhull in 2016, and has won five races along the way. He would take the $750-to-win event back on July 9th as his only non-point victory of the season. But it has been a combination of heat race points, luck at the redraw window and performance on the High Banks that has put Stebbins in position to win this championship.
Morseman, who comes from a long lineage of racers at "New York's Toughest Bullring" has also put himself in position- trailing by twenty-one points. The driver of the No. 44 won his two checkered flags of the season back on May 28th and July 16th.
While Morseman won three heat races in the beginning of the 2016 season, it is Stebbins who has capitalized on seven out of his last eight heat race opportunities. That stat alone garnered Stebbins 21 points. Those that say heat race points are not important at Woodhull, take notice. Heat race points have been a factor in nearly every division title fight.
But it all comes down to Saturday night for Stebbins and Morseman. For Morseman, the task is simple- win everything you can Saturday. Morseman needs to win his heat, hope that Stebbins does not score heat points and then go out and take care of business and get Scott Lyon's checkered flag in the feature.
Stebbins hasn't locked up the title just yet. He has to at least take the green flag for the twenty-lap feature event. From there, it will depend on heat race points earned as well as how many cars are signed in for Saturday's event. If Stebbins scores no heat race points and Morseman gets three, he will still have an eighteen point lead going into the feature.
At that point, Stebbins would need a fourteenth place finish to win the championship outright. A finish of fifteenth, coupled with a Morseman feature and heat win would land the two drivers in a tie.
Regardless of how it turns out on Saturday night, it has been great entertainment in 2016. The wins, the losses, the rivalries and the door-to-door action on the High Banks.