What was a beautiful night for stock car racing, was even more beautiful through the eyes of Ritchie Tosh. Tosh who started twenty fifth in the twenty seven car field captured the win at the 25th Annual Schoenfeld Headers Mid-America Street Stock Championship at Batesville Motor Speedway.
The 50 lap, $10,000.00 to win street stock feature race got underway with an all Tennessee front row. Pole sitter T.J Herndon of Atwood, and Dale Nelson from Milan, paced the field to the green flag. The Tennessee duo would lock down the front two positions till just past the halfway point of the race with Herndon leading.
During this time Ritchie Tosh of Salado, Arkansas, driving the Allgood Racing Monte Carlo, was patiently and methodically working his way through the field. Hard racing on the track would cause slight contact between Tosh and Kevin Salter of Batesville, Arkansas, bringing out the caution. Salter would then exit the speedway for pit road.
Moments later while track officials were putting drivers back in their proper position for the restart, Salter returned to the track. Salter then spun Tosh’s car around on the back straightaway while the race was under caution. Salter would then be disqualified from the race.
The race resumed as Tosh had worked his way all the way up to third. Tosh then set his sights on working second place away from Dale Nelson. A couple of laps later Tosh was able to work his way around Nelson.
Just past the half way point Tosh then closed in on the race leader T.J. Herndon. As Herndon continued to race hard it was apparent that he was not going to give the lead up easy. Then on lap 28 Herndon opened up space for Tosh to slip down underneath and take the lead.
Tosh would the lead the remainder of laps to win his fourth Schoenfeld Headers Mid-America Street Stock Championship. Tosh said following the race. “It’s really exciting to win this race for the fourth time. I’ve got great people working with me, and my family supporting me. It’s because of all the things that they do that make these wins happen.”
T.J. Herndon would go on to finish second, while Derek Brown would move forward fourteen positions to finish third. Dale Nelson would finish fourth, while Peyton Taylor rounded out the top five finishers.
The three day event featured six, twenty lap qualifying heat races were run on Friday night, and line ups were determined from Thursdays night’s time trials. Ritchie Tosh was the fast time qualifier for the event with a lap time if 16.601. He was followed by Derek Brown of Stoutland, Missouri, and T.J. Herndon. The top three finishers in each of the qualifying heat races would advance to Saturday nights $10,000.00 to win feature race sponsored by Schoenfeld Headers of Van Buren, Arkansas.
Heat race number one, took the green flag as Jeremey Russell of Jonesboro, Arkansas led the field for several laps in a leaf spring Camaro, before being over taken by Ben Waggoner of Mt. Vernon, Arkansas. Waggoner would lead the most of the twenty laps before suffering a flat on the right rear. This enabled Cody Frazon of Lamonte, Missouri to take of the lead and the win, with Kenny Carroll of Camdenton, Missouri, and Jeremy Russell to lock in to Saturday nights feature.
Heat race number two started with Jeff Davis of Jonesboro, Arkansas on the pole. Davis would lead the early laps, with Johnny Coats of Joplin Missouri, taking the lead, and leading the remainder of the race getting the win. The race was an exciting race as five different drivers battled for second place for most of the race. In the end, Andy Morris of Fort Gipson, Oklahoma, and Scooter Sruggs of Little Rock, Arkansas advanced with Coats to the Feature.
The third heat began with John Brooks of Warrensburg, Missouri on the pole. Brooks would lead early as well as Tim Pulley of Wynne, Arkansas. But after several laps Kevin Salter of Batesville, Arkansas would take command of the race, and lead until the finish. Also advancing with Salter was Jon Hayes of Jonesboro, Arkansas, and Tim Pulley.
Heat race number four started as Jeremy Tharp of Bald Knob, Arkansas paced the field to the green flag. Tharp maintained the lead for several laps before T.J. Herndon of Atwood, Tennessee would take the lead with a pass on the back straightaway. The “Atwood Outlaw” would lead the remainder of the laps taking the win, followed by Jared Hayes of Jonesboro, Arkansas, and Brian Ritchie of Newark, Arkansas.
Heat race number five started with Justin Jarrett of Maynard, Arkansas on the pole. Jarrett would lead the early portion of the race, before Peyton Taylor of Batesville, Arkansas would take the lead. Jarrett would battle the remainder of the race for a transfer spot, but came up short as Walnut Ridge, Arkansas Tony Anglin would finish second, followed by Derek Brown.
Heat race number six began as Tommy New of Russellville, Arkansas would start from the pole. The race drew several cautions with Dale Nelson of Milan, Tennessee eventually getting the win. Austin Vincent of West Plains, Missouri would finish second, with Jason Winkle of Senath, Missouri third.
Three B features were run on Saturday night with the top two drivers advancing to $10,000.00 to win main event. The first B Feature advanced Ben Waggoner, and Blake Schmidt of Jonesboro, Arkansas. The second B feature allowed Whitney Nunally of Black Rock, Arkansas, and Fort Smiths Arkansas Tye Evans to progress. While the third B feature saw Carl Murphy of Caulfield Missouri, and Chuck Knight of Fort Smith, Arkansas advance to the race.
It is without a doubt that the 25th Annual Schoenfeld Headers Mid-America Street Stock Championship proved again to be one of the most exciting dirt track events in the United States. If you unfortunately missed this year’s event, make your plans now to attend in 2021. You won’t regret that you did.
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