The Vores Compact Touring Series coronated Jake Albright as its King of the Highbanks. The championship contest covered three of the fastest and most steeply banked paved ovals — Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee, Salem Speedway in Indiana, and Winchester Speedway in Indiana.
The unique series awarded a unique prize to the champion — a ring. McIntyre Jewelry, of Anderson, Indiana, designed the winner’s hardware.
“We’ve never awarded a ring before,” VCTS series director Dan Redmond said. “Anyone who can master the incredibly fast and challenging high-banked tracks at Bristol, Winchester, and Salem deserves something special. There is no match anywhere for the speed of these tracks — and our guys compete at those speeds in compacts.”
Likewise, Albright had never won a ring before.
“Racing on those three, high-banked tracks is just wild,” Albright, of Tippecanoe, Ohio, said. “It is fitting to have a special prize for winning this series. Trophies come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. This [trophy] is so special.”
Albright started off the King of the Highbanks Championship with a 17th place finish at Bristol. However, he fought back, winning at Salem and then claiming the top spot at Winchester to earn the title. David Yoder took second, 10 points behind, and the winner of Bristol, Tom Gossar, finished third.
With literally being treated like royalty for the King of the Highbanks Championship, Jake Albright loves racing sport compacts with VCTS.
“I don’t have any pressure to move up,” said Albright. “I love the competition. The drivers are great. And it doesn’t cost nearly as much money as it would to be racing a late model. I like where I am at. Besides, the front-wheel-drive cars are fun to drive. You’re steering and accelerating through one set of wheels. It takes a special talent to drive one of these cars on a high-banked half-mile.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
