After an exciting season lasting from the very start in April to the very end in September, Sunset Speedway fans know they got delivered the action they wanted throughout each event. In the end, it was rookie Johnny Paradzinski picking up his first career championship. However, he wasn’t the only driver who surprised fans and/or racked up numbers.
Let’s take a look back at the season by looking at how the numbers tallied together.
No. 08 driven by James Levi had a solid rookie campaign en route to finishing 10th in points.
1 b-feature was run all season, and it was Melissa Bullen picking up the victory. She completed the season fourth in points.
2nd in points for Doug Wilman marks a huge accomplishment after finishing outside of the top-nine through his previous years of racing.
3 feature victories was impressive by rookie Daniel Montanari this season.
4 drivers scored more than two heat victories this season – Ken Townsend (3, Chandler Bos (3), Paradzinski (8) and Montanari (4).
4 drivers scored five or more fast qualifier dash top-fives this season – Paradzinski (9), Montanari (11), Dylan Holmes (5) and Robert Toope (5)
4 feature victories by driver No. 4, Paradzinski, led all drivers this season.
4 drivers scored more than six feature top-fives this season – Townsend (7), Paradzinski (12), Montanari (8) and Doug Wilman (7).
5 drivers scored more than 10 heat top-fives this season – Joe Dunlop, Paradzinski, Montanari, Holmes and Wilman.
5 fast qualifier dash victories by Paradzinski led all the drivers this season.
5 drivers won a fast qualifier dash this season – Chris Allard (2), Townsend (1), Paradzinski (5), Montanari (1) and St. Onge.
6 drivers scored more than 10 feature top-10s this season – Bos (12), Eric Rainey (11), Paradzinski (12), Montanari (11), Lisa DeLeeuw (12). and Wilman (11).
8 heat victories by Paradzinski led all drivers this season.
8th place points finisher Eric Rainey had a quiet, solid season with 11 top-10s this season, including a best finish of third twice.
No. 9 driven by Montanari led all drivers in fast qualifier dash top-fives with 11. He matched his car number with a points finish of ninth.
11 drivers scored at least one heat victory this season.
12 fast qualifier dash appearances by Paradzinski and Montanari led all drivers this season.
12 feature top-fives by Paradzinski led all drivers this season. Notably, he was the only driver to score more than seven top-fives this season.
12 feature top-10s by Bos, Paradzinski and DeLeeuw led all drivers this season.
14 heat top-fives by Montanari and Wilman led all drivers this season. With 14 nights on the year, it means they finished in the top-five every night.
16 drivers scored at least one fast qualifier’s dash top-five this season.
17 drivers scored at least one feature top-five this season.
Aug 20 saw St. Onge pick up his first career feature victory this season.
No. 21 driven by Townsend went to victory lane in three different features.
No. 22 driven by Bos picked up his first career feature victory on September 10. It marked a solid cap to his season which saw him finish third in points.
23 drivers scored at least one heat top-five this season.
23 drivers scored at least one top-10 this season.
No. 25 driven by Toope picked up his first career feature victory on July 30. He completed the season with a seventh-place points finish.
Apr 30 was the season opener, and Chris Allard went to victory lane. He then blew up night two, before moving up to the Mini Stock division for the rest of the season.
31 drivers ran at least one race this season.
45 points was the margin in which Paradzinski won the championship over Wilman.
No. 84 driven by Lisa DeLeeuw had a career-best season at Sunset Speedway with a fifth place finish in points.
No. 400 driven by Dylan Holmes picked up a sixth place points finish in his sophomore season of competition.
