North Star Speedway holds season finale

North Star Speedway completed its 2001 racing season Saturday, crowning season champions at the conclusion of each division's feature race.

The quarter-mile asphalt track brought drivers from around the state to compete in a wide variety of car and truck divisions throughout the year.

Drivers earned points during the season based on the position they finished in feature events. The points are added to their standings each week to determine their position at the track.

Some of the divisions are sanctioned nationally by NASCAR, which means that points earned by a driver at North Star were forwarded to compete in standings against other drivers in the Lower 48 states. Alaska falls under the Pacific Coast region, which includes drivers racing on local tracks in Washington, Oregon, and California.

The track also features Baby Grand stock car racing, which are smaller versions of stock cars. They are sanctioned by the Baby Grand Stock Car Association, which also forwards points for national competition.

In Saturday's events, Mike Braddock won the feature race of the Legends division. Erik Johnson finished second in the race but walked away with the season points championship for Legends Pro division. Braddock, in his first year of racing Legends, finished in a tie with Michelle Kyte atop the Legends semi-pro division in season points. Steve Marineau won the Legends Masters division season championship.

In the Baby Grand feature event, John Klayum finished ahead of Larry Theobald and Mike Thomas. Theobald and Thomas battled bumper to bumper for half the race with Thomas making a last effort to pass on the final turn, but it was not enough. Thomas' third place finish gave him enough to seal the Baby Grand season points championship. Klayum finished second in season points.

John Schwochert led throughout the feature race for the Mini-Stock division, easily winning the 20-lap event. Theresa Page took honors as the season champion with Brenda Hecht as the runner-up.

Corey LaCosta won the feature race for the Late Model division. LaCosta had maintained a good lead throughout the race until another car spun out on the track, causing a yellow flag that regrouped the cars on the 18th lap. This made for a thrilling final two laps as LaCosta held off J.P. Hoff to win the event.

Hoff's second-place finish was enough to earn the season points championship, followed by Kevin Patrick.

Al Ulman won the feature race in the Sportsman division with Dave Alleman finishing second. Ulman's win kept him atop the standings to win the season points championship, followed by Dean Thompson.

Bobby Owens was able to stave off Alan Braden in the Truck division feature race, but Braden won the season points championship. Robert Mandell finished second in season points.

Tom Russell and Marty Moser came into the feature race tied in season points standings of the Thunder Stock division. The driver that placed higher in the feature race would win the season points championship. In the feature race, Russell took the early lead while Moser worked to catch Russell by passing cars at every opportunity.

Moser eventually got into second place and in contention to race Russell to the finish. A small problem occurred for Moser on his 18th lap when his right front tire broke away from the car and rolled into the track entrance with his car following behind, scraping asphalt along the way.

Russell went on to win the race and the season points championship. Moser maintained enough points to finish second in season points standings.

The Legends JAGS (just all girls) division did not race Saturday so the season championship was determined by earlier standings. Kim Johnson won the season championship, with Angie Hoppe as the runner-up.