2016 AST Voltson Super Trucks season
| 2016 AST Voltson Super Trucks season | |
| # of Rounds | 10 |
| Ovals | 9 |
| Road Courses | 1 |
| Driver's Champion |  Darrell Quick
|
| Owner's Champion | Too Quick Motorsports
|
| Season Opener | Saar Nebraska 100 |
| Season Finale | Voltson Marne 100 |
| Championship Overview | |
The 2016 AST Volston Super Trucks season was the third season of the AST Voltson Super Trucks; a lower-budget, semi-professional auto racing series that utilizes pickup trucks with V6 engines primarily on short tracks around the Great Lakes Basin region of North America.
Over the course of the ten-race season, nine drivers visited victory lane. This includes seven first-time winners: John Bennett, Jack Clark, TM Master Cup Series racer Joel Rodriguez (in a one-off appearance at Nelson Ledges), Wilson Timothy, Kevin Thompson, Jenny Jackson, and Camden Rhodes.
Forty-five-year-old Darrell Quick, driver of the #82 Saar for his self-owned team Too Quick Motorsports, won the drivers' championship after winning two races and earning one pole position. After winning the season-ending Voltson Marne 100, he became tied with Michael McKinley as the winningest driver in the series with five race victories. It was the third consecutive championship for both Quick and his team.
Bryan Kelly, the 30-year-old driver for Binford Racing Team, won the Rookie of the Year Award with two top 5 finishes and a second-place rank in the championship standings.
Pre-Season Overview[edit | edit source]
In its third season of competition, the series continued to attract more teams from Michigan and beyond with the arrival of several new teams and drivers. The full-time entry list of 19 trucks was four greater than the 15-truck roster from the year before.
With an expanded entry list and the potential for an increase in the number of races where qualifying races will become necessary, the officials considered a restructuring of the qualifying format for events that receive more entries than available starting spots. One idea that was presented resembles a twin-race format that, essentially, would be similar to the points system that was used by the TM Master Cup Series for the 2007 Round of Russia. However, no such changes would be implemented.
The driver lineup for the entry of the #6 truck for Binford Racing Team presented the series with a situation that it had not previously seen; a full-time entry shared between multiple drivers. The part-time #77 truck for Legendary Motorsports is also split between multiple drivers. After consideration, officials decided that points will be scored separately for the individual drivers, as opposed to awarding points collectively to the truck that they share. Binford, however, later decided to let Kelly drive truck #6 for the full schedule upon him achieving the points lead following the race at Toledo. He would go on to finish second in the championship standings.
Both Saar and Lycoia returned with the Nebraska and Rebel models, respectively. In addition, Isanni was approved for competition with its own model of pickup truck, originally developed for use in the FARC Truck Series. The series continued to allow former FARC Truck Series chassis to be used, as the regulations remain unchanged.
Schedule[edit | edit source]
The schedule consisted of ten rounds, the same number as the previous year. Eight races were on short tracks.
All of the venues that were visited in 2015 returned to the calendar with the exception of Dells Raceway Park, which did not host a race after being the only addition to the 2015 calendar from the year before. Taking its place as the host venue for the eighth race of the season would be DuQuoin State Fairgrounds. The one-mile dirt track became the second-to-largest oval for the series to visit, and was the first venue in Illinois to host a Super Trucks race. The track was also the oldest on the series calendar.
With the addition of DuQuoin, the schedule included three dirt ovals, six paved ovals, and one paved road course.
The races at both the Michigan International Speedway and the Berlin Raceway retained their title sponsorship, with several new participating sponsors contributing to the race at MIS as it continued to grow in popularity. The race at Nelson Ledges Road Course was unable to find another title sponsor after Nilbog decided not to return.
Team Chart[edit | edit source]
- Numbers marked in blue indicate a part-time entry.
Points System[edit | edit source]
The series continued to use the same points system that was used by the FARC touring series in 2014.
The most points that a driver can score in a single race is 110 (by winning, leading the most laps, and either earning the Pole Award or the High Climber Award). There is a 66-point difference from last place in a typical 20-car field, and a 106-point difference from last place in a full 40-car field. To date, 33 is the greatest number of trucks that have started a single race.
| Position | Points |
|---|---|
| 1 | 100 |
| 2 | 80 |
| 3 | 78 |
| 4 | 76 |
| 5 | 74 |
| 6 | 72 |
| 7 | 70 |
| 8 | 68 |
| 9 | 66 |
| 10 | 64 |
| 11 | 62 |
| 12 | 60 |
| 13 | 58 |
| 14 | 56 |
| 15 | 54 |
| 16 | 52 |
| 17 | 50 |
| 18 | 48 |
| 19 | 46 |
| 20 | 44 |
| 21 | 42 |
| 22 | 40 |
| 23 | 38 |
| 24 | 36 |
| 25 | 34 |
| 26 | 32 |
| 27 | 30 |
| 28 | 28 |
| 29 | 26 |
| 30 | 24 |
| 31 | 22 |
| 32 | 20 |
| 33 | 18 |
| 34 | 16 |
| 35 | 14 |
| 36 | 12 |
| 37 | 10 |
| 38 | 8 |
| 39 | 6 |
| 40 | 4 |
Bonus Points
- 5 points go to the pole sitter
- 5 points go the leader of the most laps
- 5 points go to the driver whose finishing rank makes up the most positions from his or her starting position