Stieg wins double points championship

Local Justin Stieg was recently named Super Stock Points Champion and Modified Points Champion at the 2022 Montana Bump-N-Run Awards Banquet held at the Double Barrel Saloon and Casino on November 5th in Fairview. There were thirteen total races in 2022.

In the super stock division, Stieg, #2, entered eleven races. He won once, had 9 top 5 finishes and 11 top ten races. Additionally, he won one heat race and one main B race over the course of the season and led for 19 A main laps. His point total was 1085.

After finishing runner up the past two seasons, Stieg finally got over the hump and won the modified points championship this year as well. He ended the season with five wins, 10 top 5 finishes and 11 top ten finishes. He led an impressive 42 total laps and won 3 heat races, finishing the year with 1148 points.

With wins in both divisions, Stieg became only the second driver ever to win both the Super Stock and Modified points championships in the same season. He also became the first driver to win the Super Stock division three years in a row.

Over the past three seasons, Stieg has entered thirty-two races in each class, winning 10 Super Stock races and 9 Modified races. He has totaled 26 top fives, 30 top tens, and won 9 heats in each class. In 64 total starts he has 19 wins, 52 top fives, 60 top tens, won 18 heat races, led 176 A main laps and won 2 B main races for a grand total of 6,442 points in total over that three year span.

Stieg credited much of his accomplishments this season to his family and friends. He was especially grateful to his parents (Doug and Sandy Stieg) for all the love and support, to Jennifer and Lucas Waterland for keeping things going while he was on the road and helping babysit, to Buck and Toni Kratzer for hauling cars and babysitting at the tracks, to David Adams for helping work on cars whenever needed, to Jesse Scott for babysitting at the track and at home, to Jeanette Adams for helping watch his daughter, Shiloh, at the tracks and to Mary Scott and Shiloh Stieg for all of the love, support, and constant traveling to the tracks this year.

Local David Adams, #50, finished in tenth place in the Super Stock division this year. Adams entered 10 races, finished in the top 5 twice, and finished in the top ten 4 times. Adams was also given the "Hard Luck" award for 2022.

Local Buck Kratzer, #27, a rookie racer in 2022, finished in fourth place in Super Stock. Kratzer entered 12 races. He won 2 heat races, 2 B mains, led a total of 5 laps in A main races, and finished with 3 top five finishes and 10 top ten finishes over the course of the season.

A complete listing of awards from the 2022 Montana Bump-N-Run season follow.

Bobby Ewalt was given a special volunteer award for his devoted commitment to helping all racers and at all tracks. The sportsmanship award, by vote of the membership, was presented to Kurt Young, #111. Nathan Schallenberger, #10, won the Rookie of the Year award in the Super Stock class and Scott Andreasen, #22, won the Rookie of the Year in the Modified class. The most improved racer award was earned by Darwin Stedman, #741, and David Adams, #50, was the recipient of the "Hard Luck" award.

Racer awards for the Modified class were: Modified Points Champion, Justin Stieg #2; 2nd place, Darwin Stedman, #741; 3rd place, Jerry Andreasen, #75; 4th place, Dustin McKinney, #23; 5th place, Willie Bice, #569; 6th place, Jason Moser, #64; 7th place, Scott Andreasen, #22; 8th place, Jeff James, #4; 9th place, Seth Eslinger, #26; and 10th place, Frank Williams, #102.

Race awards for the Super Stock class were: Super Stock Points Champion, Justin Stieg, #2; 2nd place, Dustin Eslinger, #3; 3rd place, Brett Johnson, #167; 4th place, Buck Kratzer, #27; 5th place, Seth Eslinger, #26; 6th place, Tony Monson, #78; 7th place, Cheyenne Tarno, #278; 8th place, Braden Nelson, #821; 9th place, Tom Allen, #52; 10th place, David Adams, #50.