This past weekend, New-London Waterford Speedbowl hosted competitors from across the states and Canada for the 2016 Asphalt Nationals. Car count for the three day show topped off at 128, making for the best nationals' attendance since 2008.

The event kicked off Thursday morning with open practice, giving driver's an opportunity to learn the track. That evening, the Speedbowl staff invited all participants to stop in, and share a meal before the competition began.

Friday brought qualifying and two rounds of heat races.  Each division was given three practice rounds, and times from those rounds were used to set qualifying groups.

In our Young Lion division, Eddie Fatscher, Ryan Kuhn, and Brody Pope, each won their first heat race, and finished second in the next. Jake Johnson, Andrew Molleur and Austin Teras, all took second in their first heat races, then  took the checkered flag in their second; leaving the feature line up to be based on points gained from qualifying. This resulted in Eddie Fatscher on the pole, followed by Ryan Kuhn, and Brody Pope, rounding out the three.

Our Semi-Pro division was one of the weekends largest. These rounds of qualifying and heats were necessary to lock in a spot in the A-Main. Matt Mead, Noah Korner and Nichols Naugle all dominated in both of their heat races, leaving top three of our feature lineups to qualifying finishes. Mead, with the best qualifying time was set to be our A-Main pole sitter, followed by Korner, and Naugle.  The top 20 locked themselves in, forcing the remaining driver's to race for a spot in the feature event.

Canada's Ira Laughy, raced his way to the pole for our Master's division. Laughy qualified second, and took first in both of his heat races. Scotty Scott, the fastest in qualifying, fell just short of the pole, by finishing second in his second heat of the day. Scotty Edwards, third in qualifying took him the win in his first heat race, followed by a second place finish, putting him in the third starting position for the Master's Feature.

The Pro division wrapped up qualifying day with David Garbo Jr. dominating all three rounds, putting him on the pole for the A-Main feature. Carson Ferguson followed close behind, with two heat race wins, and a second place time in qualifying. First year Pro, Austin Green, held his own through both heat races, finishing first in both, and third in qualifying, to land himself the third place start in the feature. Like the Semi-Pros, the Pro division was split into two feature races, locking in the top 20, and forcing the rest to battle in out for a spot in their main event.

As qualifying ended, we moved into Friday night's Race of Champions. These races were open to all former National Champions, current state and international champions, and the drivers currently holding top ten spots in overall points. In our Young Lion division, Eddie Fatscher, New York Points Leader, and number one in Young Lion overall points took the checkered flag. Will Bristle, North Carolina Semi-Pro Points Leader, took the win in his division. For the first time in ten years, Master Carl Blandia, took him a win. Finally, Austin Green, NC Points Leader and seventh place in National Points, took home the Pro Race of Champions victory.

 After experiencing competitive heat races and our Race of Champions, Saturday promised to be an exciting day. The foggy morning started out with a last chance practice, giving drivers one last opportunity to hit the track before features went green. Our Semi-Pro B-Main was first, only seven drivers, excluding the three provisional winners, would move on to the A-Main. After 20 laps of racing, Timothy Pipps, Tim Depizzol, Christopher Burgess, Glenn Korner, Breanne Gilligan, Adam Avedisian, Cassandra Colem Rachel Forte, Treyce Capers and Collin Hanley were locked into their spot.

The Pro B-Main, excluding provisional winners, would only allow six drivers to move on to the main feature. Michael Womack, Jordan Lamothe, Kevin Nowak, Trever Sanborn, Todd McCollum, Kyle Youngs, Robbie Johnston, Vinny Dellany, Dalton Rombough and Kevin Girard Jr. were able to lock in those final positions.

Once lineups were updated, the 2016 Asphalt Nationals were under way. First division on track, our Young Lions went green, Fatscher, Kuhn and Pope battled back and forth for the top three spots. Going into lap 15, an on track incident caused a cation. As crews were working to clear the track,  cars were pulled off due to rain, and unsafe track conditions.

As the night went on the storm continued to hit the track, and did the same all day Sunday, ultimately causing all tracks activates to be cancelled.

We'd like to thank everyone that joined use for the 2016 Asphalt Nationals. You made it one of the best nationals we've had yet, and we're excited to see what the 2017 season has to bring! We'd also like to congratulations our 2016 INEX Point Champions; Young Lion - Eddie Fatscher, East Northport, NY. Semi-Pro - Noah Korner, Bloomfield, CT. Master - Scotty Scott, Arvada, CO. Golden Master - Tim Brockhouse, Savage, MN. Pro - Brandon DeBrakeleer, Mill Village, PA. 

Click here for full 2016 national point results!

Not ready to put your car up for the year? We still have two Legend Car Nationals left! Join at 141 Speedway, October 20 through 22 for the 2016 Dirt Nationals and November 11 through 13 at Dominion Raceway for the 2016 Road Course World Finals!

Finishing Order

Young Lion:  1. Eddie Fatscher 2. Brody Pope 3. Ryan Kuhn 4. Jake Johnson 5. Alex McCollum 6. Andrew Molleur 7. Austin Teras 8. Sammy Smith 9. Joshua Parsons 10. Vincent Midas 11. Johnathan Puleo 12. Thomas Everson 13. Jake Matheson 14. Steven Chapman 15. Daniel Carter 16. Johnny Kraft 17. Harrison Haulder 18. Anthony Marvin

Semi-Pro: 1. Matt Mead 2. Noah Korner 3. Nicholas Naugle 4. Jacob Heafner 5. Nolan Pope 6.Will Bristle Jr. 7. Gus Dean 8. Teddy Hodgdon 9. Johnny O'Sullivan 10. Kevin Youngs 11. Adam Pechman 12. Gillian Kirkpatrick 13. Dillon Fetcho 14. Jensen Jorgensen 15. Hudson Haulder 16.  Lee Jordan 17. Darrel Stewart 18. Devyn Stocker 19. Adam Sturgill 20. Jordan Churchhill 21. Timothy Phipps 22.  Tim Depizzol  23. Christopher Burgess 24. Glenn Korner 25. Breanne Gilligan 26. Adam Avedisian 27. Cassandra Cole 28. Rachel Forte 29. Treyce Capers 30. Collin Haley

Master: 1. Ira Laughy 2. Scotty Scott 3. Scotty Edwards 4. John Beatty 5. Tim Brockhouse 6. Todd Midas 7. Gary Ham 8. Carl Blandina 9. John Lemke 10. Randy Gunton 11. Carl Cormier 12. Gene Traxler 13. Scott Anderson 14. Joe Graf Sr. 15. Dennis Pantani 16. Han Roeschili 17. Gregg Erhardt 18. Danny Cisson 19. Bob Weymouth 20. Art Marrero 21. Dave Riopelle 22. Cuz Bruce 23. Tom Gray 24. Daryl Stewart 25. Scott Wessel 26. Vern LeFave 27. Jeffery Lefcourt 28. George Whitney 29. David Johnson 30. James Sylvester

Pro: 1. David Garbo Jr.2. Carson Ferguson 3. Austin Green 4. Derek Lemke 5. Dillon Spain 6. Brendon DeBrakeleer 7. Mikey Flynn 8. Stevie Johns 9. Dana Dimatteo 10. Kyle Beattie 11. Joey Ternullo 12. TJ Thompson 13. Mike Alcaro 14. Brady Fox-Rhode 15. Will Martin 16. Richard Davidowitz 17. David French 18. Connelly Dubisson 19. Justin Ashley 20. Cameron Morga 21. Michael Womack 22. Jordan Lamothe 23. Kevin Nowak 24. Trever Sanborn 25. Todd McCollum 26. Kyle Youngs 27. Robbie Johnston 28. Vinny Delany 29. Dalton Rombough 30. Kevin Girard Jr.