Tyler Miller takes Stock Division title

When it came down to the final pairing for the Stock Division championship at the 2009 Soap Box Derby of Culpeper, two drivers were competing for their first trip to world championships in Akron, Ohio.

There was the crafty veteran, Tyler Miller, who at 13-years-old has been competing in the Derby for five years. In the other lane was Logan Culbert, a second-grade Soap Box rookie. In the end, experience won out. Miller edged out Culbert for the title a day after celebrating his birthday.

“Since yesterday was my birthday, I’ll probably go home and have more cake,” Miller said. “I’m excited to get to go to Akron.”

Miller will get to move on to the All-American Soap Box Derby world championships in Akron and will try to become the first Culpeper qualifier in the Stock Division to place at the big race.

Though he didn’t win on Saturday, Culbert was excited to have made it all the way to the finals in his first time racing.

“No, I didn’t expect to do this well,” Culbert said. “This is my first year.”

Zack Chapman, Daisy Stover and Katelyn Zobel finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively. Ethan Edwards finished in sixth-place and Jordan O’Bryant was seventh. Ciara Head also took home a trophy after finishing eighth.

All the drivers helped make the 2009 Culpeper Derby the world’s largest with more than 150 drivers, but the races still went off basically without a hitch.

“Today it took us just 30 minutes longer than it did with 125,” Derby director Frankie Gilmore said, reminding that Miller wasn’t the only one celebrating a birthday. “It was just a great day. What a great way to give to Culpeper for its 250th.”