Posted by Tim Southers on January 15, 2008, 2:36 pm
Board Administrator

By TIM SOUTHERS FasTrack Editor There were plenty of smiles to go around Saturday night as the UARA-Stars held its annual awards banquet in the Holiday Inn Select in Hickory, North Carolina. Nearly 200 people were attendance to celebrate the 2007 season and crown Ross Furr the champion while Matt DiBenedetto was honored as rookie of the year during the ceremony. For the first time in the history of the Late Model touring series every driver who finished in the top-10 in the season-ending point standings were on hand to collect their share of over $60,000 in cash and awards. While Furr took home the lion’s share of the cash and prizes, highlighted by a $10,000 check for the title, series co-owner Kerry Bodenhamer said the night was celebrated by everyone who helped make the sixth annual event a reality. “We are very proud of our series and everyone who has played a part in its success,” said Bodenhamer. “We are fortunate to have a great mixture of young and veteran drivers who compete every race for a win. We also have the best sponsors in racing who believe in our series and keep coming back year after year. We are very fortunate.” Harold Crook got the night started announcing several special awards and introducing special guests to the podium. Among those guests was Wayne Estes, vice-president of communication and events at Bristol Motor Speedway. Estes was on hand to thank the series for being a part of their program in 2007 and also welcomed the series back for two events that will be held in 2008. The night, however, belonged to Furr. The Concord, N.C. driver finished a year in a very different way than he started but was able to put together enough strong finishes to rebound from a disastrous start. Furr failed to qualify for the season opening race at Hickory Motor Speedway that would leave him in last place in the point standings following the weekend. But Furr and his team, owned by his father Tim, rebounded to finish the season with 14 top-10 and 11 top-five finishes the rest of the season. In doing so Furr became the first drive in the history of the series to win the championship after missing a race edging B.J. Mackey and Mark Setzer by 20 points for the title. “When we missed that first race and had to stand on top the trailer (at Hickory) that was a heartbreaker for us,” said Furr. “We got back to the shop and I told everybody we have the next race at Concord and we need to go test and we worked on our qualifying runs. When we finished second in that race it turned our season around for us in a big way.” Furr would win his first race of the year on the return trip to Concord Motorsport Park in the fall. Furr also was honored as the Race22.com Most Popular Driver during the ceremony. Mackey led the series with three wins during the season despite driving for two different teams during the year highlighted by winning the season-ending race at Caraway Speedway. “I just want to thank everyone who helped me this year.” said Mackey. “It was definitely an up and down year for me but thanks to a lot of great people I was able to finish out the year. Hopefully we can come back next year and see if we can race Ross for the win.” Mackey collected $5,500 for his runner up finish in the standings while Mark Setzer ended the night as the most decorated driver to finish on the podium without the title. Setzer finished tied with Mackey in the final standings and fell to third on tiebreakers to but he also collected several awards in addition to his $4,000 cash award from UARA. Setzer also was recognized during ceremonies for finishing the season winning the Ronnie Thames Memorial Most Laps Completed award, most Sunoco pole awards, and most laps led. Setzer also collected his lone win of the year in the first race at Bristol. Matt DiBenedetto honored his crew, family, sponsors and supporters during his speech after he was recognized for winning Melling Select Rookie of the Year. DiBenedetto won twice during the season taking wins at Concord Motorsport Park and Franklin County speedways finishing fourth in the final standings. Roger Lee Newton completed the top five in the final standings. Jake Crum was selected as the most improved driver in the series while Roy Dies of ARP bodies delivered new bodies to Furr and DiBenedetto for their respective titles. Former series champion Lee Tissot was recognized for finishing sixth while Clay Greenfield, Crum, Lucas Ransone and Daniel Pope completed the top-10 drivers to be recognized. The 2008 UARA-Stars season will begin in just a little over two months on March 29th at CMS and Furr is expected to defend his title. “We plan on being back and defending our title and I would love to win at Concord again to have a better start on the season than we did last year.”