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For the
competitors in the Speed
Unlimited ET Series at MIR, May 29th
could have been considered moving
day in the points. Due to some
weather complications earlier in the
season, a new double header was
scheduled and with two races in one
day, the chances to move up, or
down, in the points were abundant.
Several racers took advantage of the
opportunity.
Coming into the day, the Top ET
points looked very congested with 5
racers tied for 13th in points, and
4 more within one round of the top
15. With another good turnout of
cars in Top, the event was a 7 round
race, putting a lot of points up for
grab. Among the racers tied for 13th
was EJ Parker in his ’09 Race Tech
dragster. EJ raced his way to the
finals with great reaction times,
including a .007 in the quarters and
a .009 in the semi’s where he took
down John Semiklose. In the finals
he met up with Jeffrey Jones, who
was already comfortably in the top
15 in his familiar red ’86 Daytona.
Jones, who was having a great day on
the tree himself, .005 and .008 in
the quarters and semi’s
respectively, was better on the tree
in the final, .006 to Parker’s .022.
Both drivers both went dead on,
giving the victory to Jones with his
.013 package. The finish moved
Jeffrey Jones from 11th to 5th in
the points and bumped EJ out of his
precarious position and into 7th
place heading into the second race.
In the second race, another racer
was able to bump himself into a good
position with a win. Kevin Roof got
a hard earned victory with round
wins over the likes of Mickey
Nelson, Duane Marquess, who started
the day with the points lead,
Charlie Yingling, EJ Parker and
Bobby Spence who currently sits
third in points. In the finals, Roof
met up with Archie Davis. Both
drivers were great on the tree, with
Roof having the slight edge with his
.002 to a .006. Davis got to the
stripe first by a narrow .006, but
broke out getting there as Roof
threw down a .008 package, after
running dead on with a 6. Roof who
came into the day tied for 18th,
ended the day all alone in 9th. Will
Kivett is once again showing his
prowess as a driver, as he has
assumed the points lead and will be
battling for the first round bye in
the run-off. Notable name outside of
the top 15 include, Tommy Norton,
who started the day 7th in points,
Wesley Washington Jr, and Mickey
Nelson, who all sit two rounds out
of the Mean 15’s. Also, defending
Top ET points champ Tom Cable sits
way outside of the top 15, 9 rounds
behind the cutoff.
In Motorcycle, Shayne Proctor has to
love these double header events. He
won both races to start the season
and in this double header he once
again proved he is one of the
toughest riders around. Coming in to
the day, Proctor had a little more
than a 4 round lead in the points,
and there were four riders tied for
all important 15th position. The
first race came down to Shawn Smith
and Proctor in the finals. Smith got
a huge advantage off the line, .010
to Proctor’s .130 and was able to
hold off Proctor who slowed down
track. This win moved Smith all the
way to 7th in the points. In the
second race, Proctor once again made
it to the final where he ran into
Chris Hart who currently sits second
in the points. Hart got the
advantage on the tree .067 to .158
and was able take the win over
Proctor. With his two final round
appearances, Proctor was able to
stretch his lead into 7 rounds.
Another rider making a big move in
the points was Toure Turner who
started the day in 30th place and
moved to 8th with two semi-final
appearances.
The congestion in points was again
evident in Mod where 5 drivers were
tied for 12th, and 6 more were
within two rounds of the cutoff.
Stephen Cross Jr. started the day
with a huge 71 point lead in the
points over Robert Robertson, but in
the spirit of moving day, he didn’t
end the day with the lead. With two
first round losses, he opened the
door for Robertson to catch him in
the points. Robertson made his move
in the first race where he made it
to the finals and matched up with
Mike Keyton in his green ’80 Camaro.
Keyton had a huge holeshot as
Robertson was dead late with a .186
light compared to Keyton’s .041.
Keyton was able to run dead on his
10.23 dial and take the win. The
runner up put Robertson just 11
points back. And with a third round
finish in the second race, he was
able to take a 9 point lead trying
to pick up that first round bye in
the run-off. In the second race Bart
Spicer met up with Derek Johann in
the finals. Spicer got the advantage
.023 to Johann’s .069 on the tree
and was able to catch Johann and
take the win. The win took Spicer,
who started the day tied for the
cutoff position, to alone in 6th
place at day’s end. The
father/daughter duo of Ed and Nicole
Talbert are currently battling it
out for 3rd in points with Nicole
currently having a one round edge
over her dad. Jake Milstead, who has
won every Pro Street race in the
Speed Unlimited Midnight Madness
Series this year made a move in the
Mod points, jumping from a tie for
20th to a tie for 10th. Currently,
defending champion Jim Hanrahan, Joe
Goldey, and James Meador sit tied
for the 12th position winding out
the top 15.
Finally, in Junior Dragster, Jacob
Mattera started the day alone in
15th place with 6 drivers within 2
rounds of him. Robert Estevez
started the day leading the points
with a 21 point lead over Reese
Masiello. This was the one class
where there wasn’t a whole lot of
moving going on. Fourteen of the 15
drivers who started the day in the
top 15 ended in the top 15. The only
big move was made by Anthony Smith,
who started the day tied for 16th,
and ended it alone in 10th, knocking
David Saunders from the top 15, now
3 rounds out. Smith was able to do
this on the strength of a runner-up
performance in the second race. He
met James Getty in the finals Smith
just barely turned it red with a
-.008 light, handing the win to
Getty. Getty would have been tough
anyway, running dead on 7, with a
very respectable .033 light. In the
first race it turned out to be a
clash of two top 10 points runners
as Heather Schneider matched up with
Daniel Walker III. Walker got the
huge holeshot, .042 to Schneider’s
.130, and was able to squeeze up the
finish line enough to secure his
victory over Schneider who ran dead
on. This was Walker’s second win of
the season.
The Speed Unlimited ET Series picks
back up June 12th with the first
race in the 1/8 mile series. The Top
ET $5K Double Header will surely get
this series off to a very quick
start. The 1/4 mile series will wrap
up with three more races: July 24 at
the East Coast Door Warz, August 7th
at the Supercharged
Jet Wars and September 25th at the
Match Race Madness.
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