By: Jon Wyler

On Saturday night September 10, the Rockford Speedway crowned champions as part of its historic 75^th Anniversary season. It was a season full of parity and excitement and when the curtain came down on a busy 2022 regular season, the following drivers stood tall above the rest at the end of the championship chase…

STANLEY STEEMER NASCAR LATE MODELS

Jake Gille took the top honors during the 75^th Anniversary season, winning the Track Championship in the NASCAR Late Models. Gille led the points from Opening Night onward, winning four features along the way while building a 50 plus point lead at the height of his run before winning the title by a final margin of 44 points. The championship is Gille’s second in the Late Models at Rockford Speedway (his first came in 2015) and makes him just the 16^th driver in the history of the Speedway to win multiple Track Championships in the Premiere Division (Late Models/Midgets).

Despite not winning a feature in 2022, South Beloit’s Dennis Smith Jr claimed second place in the Late Model standings, outrunning Jon Reynolds Jr for runner up by a margin of five points. Reynolds, the 2021 champion, won just a single feature race yet was consistent enough to finish on the podium in the final tally. Johnny Robinson II finished fourth in Late Model points, with one win on the season. Robinson’s efforts were good enough to claim the Late Model Rookie of the Year honors. Josh Thiering rounded out the top five in Late Model points. A tough end of the year overshadowed a great campaign for Thiering, who ended the season with three wins.

BARGAIN HUNTER SPORTSMEN

For the second time in his career, Chad Smith claimed the championship in a very competitive Sportsmen class. Smith ended the season white-hot, winning the last four Sportsmen feature races. The effort took Smith from third place in the points to a 51-point margin of victory, the highest margin of victory of any champion in any class. Smith’s final stats show five feature wins and six fast times.

The Sportsmen class saw eight different winners in the first nine races of the year before Smith took over in late July. Patrick Featherston captured second place in the standings, with one feature win to his ledger, while Josh Lundy turned many heads with a feature win in June and a third-place finish in the standings. Howie Ware was the only driver besides Smith to win multiple times in the class, collecting three wins. But late season ups and downs led in part to Ware’s fourth place finish in the standings. John Featherston rounded out the top five in Sportsmen points. Chad Lounsbury finished seventh in the standings and won the 2022 Sportsmen Rookie of the Year award.

MILLER LITE AMERICAN SHORT TRACKERS

Matt Berger has drove just about any kind of car at Rockford Speedway through the years and in 2022 he became a champion in second division. Berger, who was the Sportsmen champion in 2010, is the 2022 American Short Tracker champion. Berger paced the competition with four feature wins on the year and won the point battle by a final margin of 49 points. Berger finished the regular season in style, with a feature win in the Short Tracker Championship feature and a win in the NASCAR Late Model feature.

Steven Erickson did his best to keep up with Berger, settling for second place in the final rundown. Erickson was a three-time feature winner in 2022, finding his groove in the middle of the year. Amanda Bohn turned in a solid season, claiming third in the points, just 2 markers ahead of David Russell in fourth. Ronnie Robinson fought off gremlins and bad luck to round out the top five in the standings. Jeremy Watson, Erickson’s teammate, was crowned the 2022 American Short Tracker Rookie of the Year.

KICKSTART BANDITS

The closest battle at Night of Champions was the race for the championship in the Bandit division, with Stephen Hillary and Steve Dickson tied for the point lead headed into the final 20 lap feature of the year. Hillary was able to stay in front of Dickson by just enough to win his first ever Bandit crown, finishing just one spot (and two points) ahead of Dickson when the checkered flag flew. Ryan Finley finished a distant third, just seventeen points back of Hillary in the final rundown. Charlie Schork, who was crowned the Bandit Figure 8 champion a week prior, ended the season fourth, while Todd Snow rounded out the top five.

WINDSOR PIZZA PARLOR ROADRUNNERS

In a fight to the finish, Austin Fowler held off a furious rally by Kevin Memoli to claim the championship in the Roadrunner division. Fowler won three features on the way to his first Roadrunner championship, outlasting the 2018 champion Memoli by just 8 points. Eric Bennett parlayed a strong run at Night of Champions into a third-place points finish, followed by Tyler Vincetich in fourth and Ryan Smith in fifth. Smith claimed his second win of the year on Night of Champions and was one of eight different drivers to win a Roadrunner feature during the 2022 season.