By: Clayton Johns/Dirty Fast Racing
October 5 2016
Rossmore, Ontario – Justin Ramsay’s 2016 season may not have been perfectly smooth, but the ‘Rossmore Rocket’ still paved a path to a pair of championships in 2016.
The season culminated in two titles last weekend as Ramsay won the final race of the Duel on the Dirt Series and claimed the Brighton Speedway Pro Stock championship. It is the second straight year Ramsay has won both titles.
Ramsay led the point standings from start to finish at Brighton, but the title wasn’t a sure thing. A blown motor in the middle of the season and a handful of incidents kept Ramsay on his toes.
“It makes it a little more special having a motor failure and having a buddy come out of nowhere to buy me a new motor. I broke a lot of parts and got in a couple wrecks,” Ramsay said.
“I didn’t think I was going to do anything special this past weekend because it’s got a bent clip and bent frame rail. I ended up with the win and the Duel on the Dirt championship.”
Ramsay’s Empey Tire/ABC Taxi/K-D Transmission No.03 parked in victory lane nine times in 2016, the most of any driver in any division at the track. The championship and victories may be recorded in his name, but there are a number of people behind the scenes who deserve to have their names alongside his, Ramsay says.
“This is awesome. I don’t even have words to explain it. It’s not all me though. It’s everybody else. It’s all the sponsors and everybody who helps me in the garage. It’s awesome to pull it all off two years in a row,” Ramsay concluded.
The final win of Ramsay’s season will be the most memorable, he says. He stole a win from triple track-champion Dave Bailey to earn a victory and the Duel on the Dirt series championship on the final night of the season at Brighton last Saturday.
“I looked up and saw there was four laps to go. I was counting points and when I was in third, Dave Bailey and I were going to tie. I thought “I need to do something here.”
“I was actually points racing for once. Than the caution came out and I thought “perfect, it’s starting to go my way now,” Ramsay said of his thoughts before taking the lead with two laps to go.
In his 23 races this season, Ramsay only finished outside the top-10 once, including his handful of starts at Humberstone and Ohsweken Speedways. The level of consistency is due to a pretty simple formula for success. Plenty of hours in the shop working on his car and that of girlfriend Shelby Mills led to results on the racetrack.
“It’s just hard work I guess. We worked constantly. It’s a full-time job with mine and Shelby’s cars and helping everyone else,” Ramsay said.
Next year brings even more promise for Ramsay, who is preparing a brand new car for the 2017 season.
“That was the last Brighton Speedway round for that chassis. I don’t want to sell it because it’s got some sentimental value and it’s a good car,” he said.
This season will certainly hold some sentimental value for Ramsay too, but don’t expect him to revel in it too long. He’s already focused on a three-peat in 2017.
SEASON STATS
23 Races – 9 Wins, 17 Top-5s, 22 Top-10s
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Twitter: @Dirty_Fast_03
Justin Ramsay’s 2016 Pro Stock season is supported by several dedicated corporate sponsors, including: Empey Tire, K-D Transmissions, ABC Taxi, APC Auto Parts Centres, Just Havin’ Fun, Hotch’s Auto Parts and Dirty Fast Racing.