Beech Ridge Motor Speedway closes out 62nd season with crowning of champions.
Portland,Maine- Dan McKeage, Chris Smith, David Vaughn and Matt Dow were the guests of honor at the 62nd annual presentation of awards at the Holiday Inn by the bay in Portland Maine Saturday night. The awards ceremony closed out the 2010 NASCAR Whelan All American Series at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in front of a capacity crowd in the banquet room.
Dan McKeage was honored with the championship awards for the Pro Series division. McKeage received his championship awards from NASCAR and Beech Ridge and addressed the crowd in attendance and spoke some heartfelt words to his Naughty Forty team. This was the second championship title for McKeage who scored the Wildcat title back in 1995. McKeage earlier in the evening also picked up the prestigious Driver of the year award. Chris Smith stepped to the podium to collect the Sport Series championship awards. Smith capped off a brilliant season by thanking his team and car owner George Libby This was the third championship for Smith in his racing career as he also scored Sport Series crowns in 2003 & 2004. David Vaughn collected his 1st Beech Ridge championship on Saturday night. In fact for Vaughn who is not known as a points chaser, it was his first championship of any kind in racing. Matt Dow was the Road Runner champion for the 1st time. Dow dominated the division leading the points race from start to finish. Several highly coveted awards were presented lead by the Driver of the year award which went to 2010 Pro Series champion Dan McKeage. The award for Outstanding new driver was presented to first year Road Runner competitor Ryan Phillips who finished his first season of driving in the runner-up position in the final Road Runner standings. Two members were inducted into the Beech Ridge Hall of Fame. Dick Berggren was honored in August at the speedway due to his duties in Miami for the final Sprint Cup race. Berggren took everyone’s breath away during his days of driving a sprint car around on the Beech Ridge dirt and moved on to become a very well respected journalist. Rick Zemla was inducted on Saturday night as the next member of the Hall of fame. Zemla blistered Beech Ridge for many years taking wins and championships before moving on to compete in the old NASCAR North Tour. The Lifetime Achievement award was presented postuminously to Bub Bilodeau and was accepted by Bub’s widow Terry and children Lori and April was well as Bub’s brother Rick Bilodeau. Rookie of the year awards went to Chris Thorne (Pro Series), Kevin Oliver (Sport Series), Laura McKeage (Wildcat) and Ryan Phillips (Road Runner). Performance Advancement awards were presented to Steve Carrier (Pro Series), Corey Bubar (Sport Series), Alby Ovitt (Wildcat) and Dave Cameron (Road Runner).
The 2011 NASCAR Whelan All American Series at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway will kick off in May. Expect to see return visits from the Pro All Star Series and the American Canadian Tour as well as the Modified Racing Series. Thursday Thunder and the Day of Destruction events should make for another banner season.