AFTON – The final night of points, otherwise known as championship night, brought the weekly racing curtain down for the 2017 racing season at the Afton Motorsports Park.

The racers were greeted with an all new clay racing surface that was applied during the week in the corners by Mike Ford of ZMK Construction.

Nick Nye has been knocking on the door for a feature win all season long, and tonight he put it all together in the Randy Metcalf owned car – as he dominated the 30 lap Modified feature for his first win of the year. Nye took the lead on lap 10 from Paul Jensen and was never headed after that. Alan Barker, Jensen, track champion Andy Bachetti, and JR Hurlburt completed the top five.

Claude Hutchings, Jr. won the 20 lap Open Sportsman feature to win the track championship. He took the lead on lap 17 from Don Hart, Jr. and went on to the win over Hart, Craig Pope, Aaron Shelton, and Travis Smith.

Allan Hodge won the 20 lap Crate Sportsman feature, Hodge inherited the lead when leader Cody Clark was penalized one spot for rough riding during a lap 13 yellow flag period. Hodge and Clark battled tooth and nail over the final seven laps with Hodge taking the win by a couple of feet over track champion Clark, Matt Cole, AJ Digsby, and Tim French II rounded out the top five.

Matt Bowman wheeling the Polhamus Motorsports entry won the 20 lap Street Stock feature. Despite leading the entire distance Bowman withstood the race long challenges of Shane Wolf, Jr. who ended up second, Dustin Harris, track champion Damon Decker, and Fred Christ rounded out the top five.

Ralph Cuozzo won the Four Cylinder Truck track championship. Ralph then he went out and won the 12 lap feature as he took the lead on lap five from Bob Crandall, Brandon Clapperton, Pete Christensen, and Jeff Young completed the top five.

• Jeff Sheeley and Paul Jensen brought the 30 lap Modified feature field to green with Jensen using a new motor under the hood grabbing the lead over Sheeley, Charlie Hendrickson, Jr., JR Hurlburt, and Jim Becker.

Nick Nye took a liking to the all new clay surface in the corners and he immediately jumped up to the extreme high groove to move into fifth on lap two from his eighth place starting spot, Nye moved into fourth on lap three.

A grinding homestretch crash on lap four saw the fortunes of many drivers altered for the remainder of the evening. Five cars were stopped blocking the track after the dust settled, but another five cars who made it through the melee also had damage. Only two (Jeff Sheeley and Kyle Weiss) of the ten cars involved were unable to continue, there were no driver injuries.

On the restart Jensen opened up a big lead over Hurlburt, Nye, Mitch Gibbs, and Alan Barker. Nye quickly disposed Hurlburt for second and set his sights on Jensen for the lead. Meanwhile Gibbs, Barker, and Andy Bachetti were in a crowd pleasing race for positions four, five, and six.

After a lap nine restart Jensen and Nye raced side by side for the lead and entering turn three coming around to complete lap ten. Nye using the extreme high groove grabbed the lead and opened up a big lead.

With the rest of the race going non stop Nye left little doubt who was going to win as his lead kept getting bigger and bigger. Meanwhile behind him Jensen and Hurlburt were now in an all out battle for second with Barker breathing down their necks as he was in fourth, Gibbs and Bachetti raced for fifth.

With five laps to go in the race Nye entered heavy lap traffic, but it didn’t phase him one bit and he raced through it cleanly. But the lap traffic did cause problems for the remainder of the top six as positions changed on every lap.

Nye in for the dominating win with Barker inching past Jensen for second at the line, Bachetti sneaked past Hurlburt for fourth and JR held off Gibbs for fifth.

Qualifying races were won by Jensen and Nye.

• Steve Andersen and Dennis Greenier brought the 20 lap Open Sportsman feature field to green with third place starter Don Hart, Jr. taking the lead over Andersen, Aaron Shelton, Greenier, and Dan Burman.

On a lap four restart Hart remained in the lead over Shelton, Craig Pope using the extreme high groove moved into third and he was followed by Andersen and Travis Smith.

Pope moved into second on lap six and tried to close in on Hart for the lead. But the crafty veteran, who has had a rough year kept his line consistent and even opened a bigger lead.

With Hart in the lead the second half of the feature became the Claude Hutchings, Jr. show and he showed why he was the track champion. Hutchings started 11th and took his time coming up through the field, and entered fifth on lap ten. Hutchings moved into fourth on a lap 11 restart, took third from Shelton on lap 13 with a nifty inside pass. Hutchings quickly got past Pope for second on lap 14 and settled in behind Hart for the lead.

After watching where Hart was racing and he knew he wasn’t going under Hart for the win. Hutchings found the new clay to his liking as he jumped to the outside groove and took the lead exiting turn four to complete lap 17.

Hutchings in for the win over Hart, Pope, Shelton, and Smith.

Qualifying heat races were captured by Andersen, Shelton, and Greenier.

• Rich Coons and Colby Hendrickson brought the 20 lap Crate Sportsman feature to green with Coons taking the lead over Matt Brewer, Hendrickson, Matt Cole, and Tyler Ward.

A large rash of yellow flag fever took place which saw four yellow flag periods taking place before another lap was scored and officials called for a single file start. This seemed to work as Coons held the lead over Brewer, Cole, Cody Clark, and Allan Hodge.

Clark aggressively got past Cole for third on lap four and was immediately called for rough rding and a one spot penalty at the next yellow. Hodge also got past Cole for a position, thanks in part to the contact made by Clark.

Coons and Brewer checked out from the field and were setting up their own private race for the win. The veteran Coons and the youngster Brewer were racing cleanly as they entered lap traffic on lap 13.

Going into turn three coming around to complete lap 14 disaster struck the top two as the lap car of Craig Monroe spun in turn three. Coons and Brewer were left no place to go and piled into the disabled car of Monroe to bring out the caution.

Clark inherited the lead but due to the rough riding call earlier in the race, he was placed into second with Hodge now the leader. First time visitor Leo McGurrin was now third with Cole in fourth and AJ Digsby in fifth.

The last seven laps of the feature had more action than you could shake a stick at. As you didn’t know where to watch as there was racing action all throughout the field, with a majority of the attention on the race for the lead.