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June in
Budds Creek normally means 90+
degree temperatures and very high
humidity. But racers were greeted
with nearly perfect racing weather
to kick off the 1/8th mile Speed
Unlimited Points Series at MIR with
the Top ET $5K Double Header. A good
crowd of over 100 Top ET racers made
their way to the lanes for first
round trying to get a head start in
the 10 race 1/8th mile points
series. As the first race started to
wind down, the door car racers were
holding their own. In 6th round, 7
cars remained. Jaycee Largent in his
’75 Pontiac Astre put together a
.019 package to get past a
red-lighting Matt Smith. Steve
Witherow took down Michael Harbaugh
when Harbaugh had problems after
staging. Jeffrey Jones knocked off a
dragster in his ’83 Dodge by putting
together a .005 package to take down
the always tough Scotty Bodmer.
Jason Parker took the bye run in his
’63 Chevy II. Down to 4 cars, only
one dragster remained. Steve
Witherow made it to the finals in
his dragster when Jeffrey Jones
broke out by .003 after a .005
light. In the finals Witherow would
match up with Jason Parker who got
past Jaycee Largent. Largent was way
red on the tree with some sort of
malfunction, but Parker was .002 on
the tree and would have been tough
to beat. In the final, Parker got
the jump with his .011 light to
Witherow’s .022 and was able to hold
off the hard charging dragster by
.007 at the stripe to take the win
and the $5,000 check that comes with
it.
While
the first Top ET race was finishing
up, the rest of the Speed Unlimited
ET Series was working their way
though competition. In Mod ET,
Saturday was the first race of their
1/8th mile points series as well. In
the quarter-finals, Rich Harger
overcame a significant holeshot by
Nicole Talbert, when Talbert broke
out against Harger’s dead-on run.
Bart Spicer put together a .014
package to take down Daryl Beaucamp.
The next pair featured a matchup of
the quickest car in the class
against one of the slowest. Steve
Witherow showed off some of his
footbraking skills as he was .012 on
the tree and ran 5.127 on his 5.12
dial, taking just .003 stripe
against Frank Thompson Jr. who broke
out on his 7.68 dial, trying to stay
out front. Rufus Hill ran dead-on in
his bye run. In the semi-final
matchup between Harger and Spicer,
both drivers turned it red, but
Harger had the quicker car in his
’87 Thunderbird and therefore got
the automatic round win. Rufus Hill
then matched up with Witherow. In a
tight race, Hill ran dead-on with a
1 to take the win by just .008
seconds overcoming Witherow’s
starting line advantage. In the
final, Rich Harger got the big
holeshot with his .017 light to
Rufus Hill’s .078. Harger ran 3 over
his dial but that was enough to hold
off Hill’s dead on run. This win was
Rich Harger’s first at MIR.
Brad
Keyton extended his current hot
streak on Saturday picking up
another win. Keyton doubled up
earlier this month at Richmond
Dragway during the Autofab Raider ET
Series and has showed no signs of
slowing his momentum. In the
quarter-finals, AJ Jenkins turned it
-.006 red to Robert Estevez. Estevez
would have been tough to beat with
.007 light. Keyton took down Ashley
Pumphrey when the young lady broke
out taking the stripe. Michael
Hankinson then took down Cory
Maloney in a tough double breakout
race where Maloney broke out just
.001 more than Hankinson. In the
semi-finals, Keyton showed off some
of his finish line skills. Michael
Hankinson was dialed exactly 1
second slower than Keyton, but
Keyton was able to take the stripe
by a mere .002 to take the round win
and move to the finals where he
would match up with Robert Estevez
who had the semi-final bye. The
final round was over quickly when
Robert Estevez turned it red handing
the automatic win over to Keyton.
Keyton finds himself atop the season
points standings by 5 rounds over
Christopher Mattera. Robert Estevez
sits third with Cory Maloney and
Josh Phelps rounding out the top 5.
Motorcycle ET will race all season
on the ¼ mile. Jermaine Proctor who
has enjoyed the points lead nearly
all season has seen the gap between
himself and second place slowly
shrinking for the last few races.
Jermaine once again made an early
exit in round 2, leaving the door
open for some other riders to keep
closing in on the points lead. In
the quarter-finals, Chris Clontz
faced off with Wardell Pinkney.
Pinkney enjoyed a nice holeshot over
Clontz, but was unable to run the
number and Clontz was able to get
past him in the lights. Darrell
Mahoney then faced off with Jimmie
Miller. Both riders were close on
the tree with Miller getting the
holeshot by .006, but Mahoney was
able to run .013 closer to his dial
in putting him in front at the
stripe by .007, moving him on to the
semi-finals. Jesse Marks then got
past Anthony Proctor’s .002 light
when Proctor took way too much
stripe and broke out handing the
automatic win to Marks. In the
semi-finals, Clontz and Marks faced
off, after Mahoney was drawn for the
bye. Clontz got the holeshot and was
able to run closer to his dial
picking up the relatively easy round
win. The final paired up a couple of
former track champs. While neither
rider was stellar on the tree,
Mahoney got the holeshot and was
able to take the stripe by .028,
picking up the race win in a tough
double breakout race. With the win,
Mahoney moved into 5th place in
points. Jermaine Proctor still sits
atop the points, but his lead is
just 11 points over Jeff Sweeney.
Jimmie Miller and Devin McLain sit
third and fourth in points, not far
back.
The day
was rounded out with the second Top
ET $5K race. Unlike in race 1, only
one door car remained heading into
the quarter-finals. Jeffrey Jones
was enjoying his second deep run
into the rounds in his ’83 Dodge. In
the quarter-finals of race 2,
Jeffrey faced off with Tommy Lago.
Jones got the jump with his .006
light, and was able to hold off
Lago’s dead-on with a 0 run to move
on to the semi’s yet again. Jeff
Brady was enjoying some success in
his latest ride, a ’08 American
chassis dragster. In the quarter’s
he had one of the tightest races of
the day against Dennis King. Brady
was .006 on the tree to King’s .013
and was able to take the stripe by
just .003, running 4.952 on his 4.95
dial. Robert Jones moved to the
semi’s with a dead on run against a
red-lighting Tarrell Sinkler. In the
semi-finals, the Jones’s faced off
after Brady was drawn for the bye.
The race was over quickly when
Jeffrey turned it red by just -.002,
but Jones was right there with a
.016 light and a dead-on 5.010 on
his 5.01 dial. In the finals, the
2011 Speed Unlimited Top ET champ
picked up the win in a very tough
double breakout race. Jones had the
advantage on the tree by just .002.
Brady then did a good job of
tightening up the stripe, taking
just .009, but broke out .013 while
Jones only broke out .002 beside
him. Even though Jeffrey Jones
didn’t win the big money, two
semi-final showings put him on top
of the points standings. Robert
Jones sits second, 9 points back,
with Steve Witherow in third, Jason
Parker in fourth and Jeff Brady in
5th, all bunched together tightly.
Next up
for the ET racers is a ¼ mile series
race this weekend June 23 featuring
the Team Challenge. Then in
mid-July, the IHRA Sportsman
Spectacular comes to town featuring
$5,000 to win in all the standard
IHRA sportsman classes as well as a
$5,000 Top ET race, a $2,000 Mod ET
race and $500 to win Junior Dragster
race.
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