2017 Fastrak World Challenge & Championship

2 Nights Of Fastrak Racing, 2 Winners, And Massive Amounts Of Goose Bumps

Ross Bailes and Justin Williams each pocketed the biggest paycheck of their Pro Late Model career in the Fastrak World Challenge and Championship.

Sep 19, 2017 by Dan Beaver

2 Nights Of Fastrak Racing, 2 Winners, And Massive Amounts Of Goose Bumps

Two weeks after flipping his car at another track, Justin Williams found himself victorious in the Fastrak members-only World Challenge at Virginia Motor Speedway in Jamaica, Virginia, this past Friday and taking home the biggest check of his career in the $5,000 show.

"Getting this win is pretty awesome," Williams said. "I have to thank Tyler Bare for running me clean right there at the end. He probably had the faster car. I was slowing him up there in three and four. This is pretty awesome -- it is the biggest money race I have ever won."

Tyler Bare, who was a track local before picking up with Fastrak at the beginning of the season, charged hard to challenge for the win in the final laps. He had to settle for second when Williams proved to be too difficult to get around.

Walker Arthur rounded out the podium Friday night after starting on the pole next to the race winner Williams. Arthur easily held the lead in clean air but had problems when the leaders started battling lapped traffic on lap 14. Williams took the top spot over on lap 16.

Once clear of traffic, Williams took off and left Arthur, Bare, and Stephen Childress to fight for second. Arthur lost second to Childress on lap 18.

Arthur kept pressing the issue until the two made contact on lap 33, sending Childress for a ride.

Arthur did not get to hang on to his newly claimed spot for long. On the restart, Bare found his way under and by him in turn one. Bare tried hard to use his dominant speed to get by Williams but ended up crossing the line just inches behind.

Henry Hornsby and Logan Roberson completed the top five.

World Championship

On Saturday, the pits were flooded with fresh talent for the World Championship -- an event open to all Pro Late Model cars.

Night two of the two-day show saw Ross Bailes victorious as he led the feature flag to flag. Bailes was dominant all night and ended up crossing the line with a 0.985-second lead over Chris Ferguson. Bailes also grabbed quick time earlier in the evening with a 18.449-second lap.

Bailes credited his car make for his win.

"If you don't have a Barry Wright ICON race car you need to get you one," he said. "This car was flawless all weekend; I can't thank Barry Wright and the crew enough for putting such a great car under me."

Before Ferguson secured second, several others were in the hunt for the second step on the podium. Bailes originally led Corey Almond before Jake Hawkins made it by Almond on the second lap. Hawkins was unable to hold the spot for long, bringing out the first caution when his engine blew on lap three.

Bailes continued to be dominant in and out of traffic including splitting two lapped cars to take it three wide into a corner. Despite the bold move, he continued to pull away from second that was now held by Ryan Montgomery.

The first red flag came in lap 19 with Almond spinning in front of the majority of the field on a restart, collecting Thomas Robinson and Friday night's winner Justin Williams in the process.

Once the field reset and it was determined all involved were uninjured, the field tried again to take the green. As the field came to green, an eight-car pileup occurred to bring out the red flag for the second time.

With the next green flag, the field ran without issue and started logging blisteringly fast laps.

By the halfway point, Bailes had pulled to a four-second lead and the action continued for second. Montgomery had a new car on his tail as Ferguson had moved up several spots into third. On lap 38, Ferguson made it past Montgomery.

Bare, who had the dominant car Friday night, was quickly moving through the field after being part of the eight-car accident. With 10 to go, he was up to sixth.

A final caution flag flew on lap 52 for Daryl Charlier, who slowed in turn two. Bailes lost his lead and had to race Ferguson hard for an eight-lap sprint to the end. Bailes easily sailed across the line first.

For the second straight year, Montgomery held on to the final podium finish. This came in spite of Arthur's and Bare's best efforts to make it around. Those two rounded out the top five.

World Challenge Top 10

1. Justin Williams
2. Tyler Bare
3. Walker Arthur
4. Henry Hornsby III
5. Logan Roberson
6. Matthew Nance
7. Ryan Montgomery
8. Cla Knight
9. Matt Quade
10. David Smith
Full Results

World Championship Top 10

1. Ross Bailes
2. Chris Ferguson
3. Ryan Montgomery
4. Walker Arthur
5. Tyler Bare
6. Trent Ivey
7. Jensen Ford
8. Devin Moran
9. Banjo Duke
10. Lee Cooper
Full Results