Burt Myers Sweeps Win and Championship at Bowman Gray - Speedway Digest

Saturday night was a long time coming for Burt Myers at Bowman Gray Stadium.

Myers won the Brad’s Golf Cars Modified Series championship Saturday night, which was the 11th of his storied career – and his first since 2019. And in winning the championship, he also won the season-ending AgSouth Farm Credit 150.

“Your goal, and you tell yourself, if we sit on the pole and we get out front that’s the safest place to be,” he said. “We knew that if we could get out front, if nothing crazy happened, if this car will keep performing like it has all year, actually the last two years, we knew we had a really good shot.”

Coming into the race, Myers was 26 points ahead of Brandon Ward, last year’s champion. In order for Ward to overtake Myers for the championship, he had to finish seven positions ahead of Myers. However, Myers had the fastest qualifying lap at 13.278 seconds and sat on the pole for the 150-lap race.

“I’ll say what old Coach Beaulieu (character played by Jerry Reed in the Adam Sandler movie) said on ‘(The) Waterboy,’ his daddy told him the only thing better than crawfish dinner is five crawfish dinners,” Myers said. “You want to win everything, every time. And you become a victim of your own success. Once you win a race, then you want more. Then you win a championship, you want more. And that’s what fuels this team and this family to do what we do.”

Ward finished the race in seventh place. He had five wins, second to Myers’ six.

“We knew coming in here tonight that it was going to be a stretch to try to pull off a consecutive championship,” Ward said. “Burt and I have run too close together all year long to gain that many points when you’ve got to have seven spots between you.”

Myers won the race, but his brother Jason, finished runner-up.

“It’s more special because it’s a Myers-Myers, 1-2 finish,” Burt Myers said. “I’d be OK if Jason won and I finished second, and I’d win the championship. But the team, we owed it to this team to just sweep the night, and we were able to do that.”

Myers, who is just one championship short of Tim Brown’s 12, also picked up his 97th overall win on Saturday. Brown, who has 101 career wins, finished third in the race Saturday night, followed by Mike Speeney and Danny Bohn.

The closest points race of the night was in the Law Offices of John Barrow Sportsman Series. Before Saturday’s 40-lap race, Zack Ore had a four-point lead over second-place Chase Robertson.

In order for Robertson, who was last year’s champion, to overtake Ore for the championship he had to finish two spots ahead of Ore. Ore ended up drawing the pole and Robertson started eighth.

Robertson wasn’t able to finish ahead of Ore. Connor Branch won the race, but Ore was fifth and Robertson was sixth.

“I think it worked about like I planned it and seen it happening,” Ore said. “We were really good on the initial first 20 laps. We started losing a little bit of grip the last 20 laps. He got under me trying to turn me down the infield. We all lost positions, got back on it, fell back in line, got back to his bumper on a restart, and I was just going to give him a little shot like he gave me. Nothing intentional.

“And I knew we were going to be together at some point. It was either going to be him in front of me or me in front of him. We just had to finish this thing off.”

On lap 26, Robertson bumped Ore.

“It’s definitely not a good feeling,” Robertson said. “You know, we started eighth, he started on the pole. So, I knew going into the race it was going to be hard to pass him since we’re so even, but tonight I truly felt like we had the better car. It showed.”

“We got into each other and chopped my nose a little bit, and I lifted,” Robertson said. “And I don’t know if it was a good choice now, but I just hope he’s happy the way he did it. Either way, it was a good year – four wins and a bunch of top-fives. I’m just blessed to be in this position three years in a row.”

The tap from Robertson sent Ore off the track and into the grass.

“He had me slide into the infield. There was no controlling it, so I just got back on the gas, get back in position, fall back,” Ore said about how he was able to get back into the field quickly. “We got back to him on a restart and I gave him a little shot in return, not enough to wreck him, and get by him. And then, we raced it from there on out.”

Ore’s championship was also his first, which added special meaning.

“I’ve tried for 10-plus championships to win a championship. The last three, I’ve been the bridesmaid,” Ore said. “So, I’m getting tired of that. I had to win one.”

As for Branch, it was his second win of the season.

Amber Lynn finished second, followed by Sterling Plemmons, Ward, and Ore.

In the 20-lap QRC HVAC & Refrigeration Street Stock Series, Christian Joyce defended his championship.

“Dylan Ward, DWR (Dylan Ward Racing), that’s all I can say,” Joyce said. “We wrecked it the worst I’ve ever wrecked it last week,” Joyce said. “And somehow, I ran my fastest laps of the year today. And it’s all cause of him.”

Brad Lewis, who finished second in the points standings, had to finish 10 places ahead of Joyce with it being double-points night. But in the race, Lewis finished third and Joyce finished eighth.

Bryan Sykes Jr. won the race, picking up his first win of the season. Sykes defeated Austin Jones. After Lewis, Cody Gum was fourth and Jim Shoaf was fifth.

“Man, we’ve been chasing this one all year,” Sykes said. “Billy Gregg gave me a fast race car. I know he can’t be here, but he’s here.”

Coming into Saturday’s 15-lap race in the Q104.1 Stadium Stock Series, A.J. Sanders was the favorite to win the title.

Sanders was 64 points ahead of second-place Connor Keaton entering the event, and Keaton had to finish 17 positions ahead of Sanders to be the champion.

Sanders finished fourth place in the race. It was his worst finish of the season but enough to get the job done. Keaton finished eighth.

“I’ve got to thank the good Lord above,” Sanders said. “I mean I couldn’t do this. You know, I pray every week before I get in this car and while I’m in this car for Him to keep me safe and give me whatever He wants me to have. And here we are, top-four every race.”

Sanders picked up his fifth win of the season and his third championship in a row.

“Five championships, three in a row, that’s a big accomplishment for this division,” he said. “People can talk junk all they want to and say I need to move up, I’ll tell you what I’ll do, I’ll give my son this car. You just give me the money to do it.”

Grayson Keaton, Connor Keaton’s brother, won the race. It was Grayson Keaton’s third win of the season.

Tyler McDonald was second, followed by Chuck Wall, Sanders, and Brad Mickalowski.

After the race, Connor Keaton took exception to Billy Andrews. Grayson Keaton became involved. Heated words were exchanged. Then Grayson Keaton was able to cool off before he spoke on the Winner’s Circle.

BGS Racing PR