After 15 rounds of hard-fought racing at Santa Maria Speedway, Arroyo Grande's Justin Crockett and Nipomo's Justin Marsh were only separated by three points going into their final main event of the 2008 season.

That meant that whichever of the two Justins could out-do the other in the 20-lapper would claim the ultimate prize: A second straight title for Crockett, or the first for Marsh.

In the end, Marsh came out on top with a third-place finish to Crockett's seventh, giving Marsh the title by a mere two points, 709-707.

“I said ‘No way! Are you serious?!' when they told me I'd won,” Marsh said. “It was a little nerve-wracking, but I was just going into it hoping to do my best.”

In the night's other action, Santa Maria's Kirk Morgan successfully defended his Factory Stock title with a runner-up finish in the last main of the season; Billy Griffin of Buena Park ended his run as Late Model champion with a victory in the last feature of the year, and Bakersfield's Eric Cimental won the final East vs. West Street Stock race of the year, while Santa Maria's Tim Randolph claimed the season title.

After both Marsh and Crockett finished second in their heat races, the field was put into a full inversion, putting them near the back of the 18-car field: Marsh started 13th and Crockett 15th. At the outset, it looked as if Crockett would get the best of the opening laps, as Marsh was caught in an opening-lap logjam caused when polesitter Phil Sewell of Santa Barbara bogged down at the start. Crockett made his move forward, reaching as far as 10th in the first three laps.

“Seeing him go by me didn't bug me very much,” Marsh said. “I was just trying to run my own race.”

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Then the momentum took a major swing back in Marsh's favor when a tangle between Arroyo Grande's Greg Noah and Van Nuys driver Matt Sweeney brought out the race's first caution. As other drivers were moving to avoid the prone cars at the exit of turn four, Crockett was spun around when Nipomo's Korban Ensign swerved to avoid Noah and Sweeney. The spin sent Crockett back to 16th, with Marsh up in seventh; an understandably-frustrated Crockett could be heard shouting over the other cars by some in the infield after the spin.

Both drivers continued to work their way forward as the laps progressed, with Marsh reaching fifth place and Crockett ninth on lap 11. But that's when Marsh began his march to clinching the title: He moved up one spot over the next four laps, then claimed two more with a daring move between brothers Robby and Aaron Cervantes coming out of turn four on lap 17.

A late caution gave Crockett one last shot at moving far enough ahead to claim the points needed to retain the title, but he was never able to get past Paso Robles' Ron German in the final three laps.

“I think someone (on the crew) was trying to give me updates (on Crockett's position), but I wasn't really paying attention,” Marsh said.

During that same caution, Marsh lined up second behind Atascadero's Darrin Davis, giving him a shot at going out with a victory. But Davis got a great jump off the line and cruised the rest of the way to claim his series-best sixth win of the season.

“I know we came in late in the season, but I feel we're doing really good for next year,” said Davis, who finished in the top five in overall points despite missing four rounds.

Aaron Cervantez was able to counter Marsh's late move to re-take second place; Ensign and Santa Maria's Frank Nyback - driving the entry normally piloted by Rob Gilbertson - rounded out the top five. German finished sixth, just ahead of Crockett.

Marsh did say that he would not be defending his title, instead moving up to the IMCA Modified ranks for 2009.

All Morgan needed to do in order to claim the Factory Stock title was to start the main event. Instead, Morgan pushed teammate Michael Frazier from start to finish en route to Frazier's second feature win of 2008.

“Earlier in the week, I just wanted to play it conservative,” Morgan said. “But as it got closer and closer, I wanted to race more and more, just like I've done all season.”

Frazier got past Atacadero's Mike Leland for the lead early in the 20-lapper and held on the rest of the way, but had Morgan just off his rear bumper for most of the night.

The race was a stilted affair, suffering through six caution flags over a an eight-lap stretch, helping Morgan in his quest to try and win the season finale.

Leland stayed close to Morgan for much of the race to finish third, followed by Terra Bella's Ray Pezz and Santa Maria's Glen Sparks.

Griffin was in a happy mood after claiming his first win of the season, jumping out of the car after making his way to Victory Lane.

“I thought I'd forgotten where this was,” quipped Griffin. “Rick (Fringer) gave me an incredible car toinight. This is a great way to end the season.”

San Luis Obispo's Steve Drake, the 2008 champion, finished second, ahead of Bakersfield's Doug Thompson and David Childress; Lompoc's Dana Beattie rounded out the top five.

One item of note was eighth-place finisher Logan Drake, son of the four-time champ in his first full night of action.

Also clinched on Saturday was the East vs. West title, but in slightly less dramatic fashion: Santa Maria's Randolph entered the night with a three-point lead over Bakersfield's Darrel Hood, and clinched the crown when Hood pulled in with mechanical issues eight laps into the 30-lapper.

Cimental took over the lead in the race when early leader Toby Randolph, Tim's brother and son of longtime former racer Gene Randolph, suffered an engine failure at the lap-17 mark.

“I won the race, he won the championship,” said Cimental of Randolph's title. “We've had a couple of bad runs here and there, but this is a good way to finish things.”

Randolph kept it simple in the post-race festivites, thanking his sponsors and coming forth with a simple wish.

“Hopefully, we can do it again next year,” he said.

September 28, 2008