by Skip Wall

It first started out as bragging rights for the state of Ohio. Now it’s for a points championship in the Super Cup Stock Car Series.

Young Ryan Miller of N. Charleston Ohio replaced Miamisburg resident, Megan Reitenour in the points chase after winning his second race in a row last weekend at Newport TN.

And, it comes down to only the season finale at Hickory Speedway, the place where stars are born, to decide the champion. Miller now leads the points chase by a mere 32 points. Hickory Speedway is also a place where Miller won an exhibition race late last year to help get the Series on it’s feet.

Miller also served notice that he would be a force to be reckoned with, after he won the pole earlier in the afternoon. However the inverted start would find Miller starting third.

It only took fifteen laps for Miller to chase down defending Newport winner, Jim Crabtree, down and take the lead, never to look back in the 100 lap event.

While Miller has been on a roll in the Lonnie Rush development car, it’s been a tailspin for Reitenour. She got caught up in two spins during the race and had to rebound for a fourth place finish. One was with Jody “Hurricane” Harrison and the other, a second race in a row, was with Rob Jones.

The end result had Crabtree finishing 2nd followed by Harrison, Reitenour and Mike Williams.

Crabtree came to Newport hoping to repeat is earlier spring win.

“We came here, ran good and qualified good. We just got beat and that’s all I can say” he says. “That 71 car (Miller) seems to have gelled at the best time of the year. We will just have to go get him at Hickory.”

Ryan`s win made him the third driver to two races this year. And they both came back to back putting him as a solid contender to bring down the championship.

Miller started out the season on a slow note. But it was the momentum and the faith that Lonnie Rush Jr. had in the young seventeen year old.

“I knew this kid could drive a race car” says Rush. “He just had to prove it after being a little aggressive earlier this year. We coached him some and all of a sudden he has taken off.”

Now its on the Hickory Speedway for the season finale, October 25th, and at a track that series director Joe Schmaling has been wanting to call his home track all along.

Schmaling would like to end up all of his races at the famed speedway that’s a who’s who list of drivers that now run in the elite NASCAR series.

Can Miller hold off Reitenour for his first ever championship. Or can Reitenour muscle it back?

Meanwhile, Reitenour has been named to participate in a NASCAR driver diversity program later on this month at South Boston Speedway. If selected by the elite series, Reitenour would be leaving the Super Cup and moving over to NASCAR, a long dream for her. Perhaps with all of this in mind, that could be the reason why she has slipped in the points battle.

Miller on the other hand, is happy to be driving a development car in the Super Cup.

The Super Cup Stock Car series will be winding up it’s first ever season. Many have doubted that the former Hooters cars would make it this far including USAR officials. Schmaling and the competitors have proven all wrong.

Schmaling insists that the series will be coming back again next year and will compete at more and various tracks than it has this year.

With the demise of the Hooters ProCup Series, after it lost it’s corporate sponsorship, the Super Cup Stock Car Series could very well grow in a hurry next year. Schmaling is working on a title sponsor for next year and feels close to landing one.

Moreover, the series lasted thru one of the hardest economic seasons ever in the racing world where a lot of small tracks were forced to close. But just to survive the first year, now gets a lot of respect of drivers and other track owners throughout the eastern seaboard. It's a very big momentum for this series as it ends this year and works towards next year goal.

In addition to the Super Cup Stock Car Series race, there will also be an ISCARS race. ISCARS are the old Daytona Dash cars. Also appearing in this race will be former NASCAR driver Geoff Bodine.

For now Schmaling is trying various different venues for the up and coming series.

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