Feagan adds another title

After showing up on Blue Ridge Avenue a little before 5:30 a.m. Saturday, Brandon Feagan had a long wait before taking to the hill but his patience paid off as he claimed the Super Stock championship at Culpeper’s seventh annual Soap Box Derby.

“This feels pretty good because I hadn’t won the local super stock race yet,” the junior at Eastern View said. “This is my fourth year running local super stock so it’s good to get this one out of the way.”

Feagan originally wasn’t even going to compete in the race because he had already earned his third trip to the World Championships in Akron, Ohio, with rally points but he had a change of heart early Saturday morning.

“My goal has been to retire from the local races before I aged out and now I have,” he said. “Plus I have one more rally season left to get back to Akron that way.”

The 16-year-old Richardsville resident just squeaked by second-place finisher Rebecca Johnson by .091 seconds to claim his second Culpeper derby championship. He won the Masters Division in 2007.

“I guess I should feel proud of how I finished,” Johnson said. “I really wanted to move on to Masters next year but it is what it is.”

Johnson — a freshman at Orange County High School — has competed in Culpeper for four years and finished in the top four every year. Despite not winning the local title, she’s excited about heading to Akron for the second year in a row to compete as a rally champion.

“Rallying is a lot of work,” she said. “I’m out there pretty much every weekend. It’s basically my life, but I love Akron. It’s so much fun up there.”

Finishing third was Keeley Jones followed by Sean Brown and last year’s Stock Division champion Kaleb Marshall rounded out the top five. Brown also took home the inaugural Carol Anne Brown Sportsmanship Award, named after his late sister.

As sweet as his win and his third trip to Akron are, what Feagan is really basking in is catching local driver Hunter Chapman in the duo’s friendly rivalry.

“We’re like rally brothers,” Feagan said of his relationship with Chapman, who has also earned another trip to Akron thanks to rally points. “We’ve rallied together for the past two years. We’re now tied in local wins, but after Akron he’ll have one more rally win than me so I’m going to have to catch him next year.”