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Maryland International Raceway once
again hosted the annual $10K/$2K
Poker Bash giving local racers in
both Top and Mod ET a shot at a big
payday. Even with threatening
weather in the forecast for the
whole weekend, over 200 racers from
around the area made the trek to
Budds Creek in an effort to have a
big payday. On Saturday in Top ET,
with just 7 cars remaining in 6th
round, Mike Nelson Jr. found himself
as the lone door car left in
competition. Nelson was drawn for
the final bye run of the night,
since four cars would come back for
the semi-finals. Duane Marquess and
Tommy Cable squared off first. The
race was over early, when Cable lit
the red bulb with a -.004 light, but
Marquess was going to be really hard
to beat regardless, throwing down a
.011 package against the former
track champ. Next Adam Polikoff kept
up the tight package theme when he
put together a .012 package, leaving
Edward Hunnell no room at the stripe
after he was .012 on the tree. The
final pair of the round featured
former track champ, Wesley
Washington Jr. and Richard Jelich
out of Baltimore. The race was over
quickly when Washington turned it
-.002 red, sending Jelich to the
semi-finals. In the semi’s, Nelson
and Jelich faced off. Both drivers
were .014 on the tree, but Nelson
prevailed in his Camaro when Jelich
gave it one too many rips at the
stripe giving the finish line back
by just .002. In the other semi
match up, Polikoff got around
Marquess when Duane took a little
too much stripe and broke out by
.004, sending Polikoff to the
finals. In the final, Polikoff was
nearly perfect on the tree with a
.001 light. Nelson missed the tree a
little with a .028. At the stripe,
Nelson got there first by .006, but
had to breakout to overcome the
starting line disadvantage. Adam
Polikoff is more of a part time
racer these days, only making a few
appearances at the track each year,
but he proved on Saturday night it
doesn’t take long for him knock the
rust off. Maybe picking up a $10,000
paycheck will get him back to MIR
more regularly.
In Mod ET, Bradley Tippett was able
to work his way through 8 tough
rounds of racing to pick up the
$2,000 check at the end of the
night. In 6th round, Mod was down to
5 racers. Tippett was drawn for the
bye and the automatic berth into the
semi-finals. Janet Baden of
Millersville, MD faced off with Bob
Weller in his ’79 Chevette. Baden
got the big holeshot in her ’70 Nova
by more than .040, and was able to
hold off Weller at the stripe for
the round win. Next up, Nicole
Talbert took on Clayton Garber.
Nicole had taken over the points
lead from her father Ed with her 5th
round victory. Nicole got the easy
win over Garber when he turned it
-.018 red. In the semi’s, Janet
Baden was drawn for the bye, which
pitted new points leader Nicole
Talbert against another top 5 points
runner, Bradley Tippett. Neither
driver was stellar on the tree, but
Tippett had a decent advantage with
his .056 light to Nicole’s .080.
Nicole broke out big time taking the
stripe, handing Tippett a spot in
the finals. In the final, again
neither driver really knocked the
tree over, but Tippett had a big
holeshot with his .045 light. At the
stripe, both drivers ran dead on,
but Tippett picked up the win based
on his starting line advantage. With
the win, Tippett moved to 3rd in the
points, behind Nicole and Ed
Talbert. Frank Thompson Jr. and
defending champ Joe Goldey are tied
for 4th, just one point behind
Tippett.
In Juniors, a bunch of top 10 points
contenders were battling it out in
the late rounds Saturday. In the
quarter-finals, 2nd place points
runner, Brad Keyton faced off with
Robert Estevez who sits 3rd in
points. It was over quickly when
Estevez turned it red handing the
round win to Keyton. Next up,
Adrianna Estevez faced off with
Jacob Mattera. Adrianna currently
sits 4th in points, while Jacob is
tied for 6th. Jacob got the slight
holeshot but took too much stripe,
breaking out .020, and handing the
win over to Adrianna. Blair Buckler,
who is 8th in points faced off with
JD Walker. Both drivers were ready
on the tree with Blair posting a
stout .006 light. JD cut the tree
just a little too tight, and turned
it -.003 red handing Blair the easy
him. Ray Snoots got the bye to the
semi’s. In the semi’s Ray Snoots and
Adrianna Estevez was the first pair
up. Adrianna got a little lucky with
this one. She was .118 on the tree
but Snoots was way red in the other
lane, turning it -.031 red. Adrianna
ran dead on her dial, giving her
confidence in the car heading to the
finals. Brad Keyton and Blair
Buckler squared off in the next
pair. Keyton got the advantage over
Buckler with his .044 light Keyton’s
.092. At the stripe, both drivers
were playing the game, with each
driver killing several mph, but
Keyton was still able to take the
stripe and move on to the finals. In
the finals, both Estevez and Keyton
stepped up their game. Keyton was
good on the tree with a .023 light,
but was still behind with Adrianna
cutting a .010 beside him. Keyton
had a little room to still take the
stripe but got behind by .010,
handing the win to Adrianna. With
her second win of the year, Adrianna
moved to 4th in the points.
Currently, Christopher Mattera still
has the lead with Brad Keyton in 2nd
and Robert Estevez in 3rd. Corey
Maloney sits behind Adrianna in 5th.
In Motorcycle, it turned out to be a
battle of the families. The Davies
from Virginia, and the Proctors from
Maryland squared off head to head in
the semi-finals. First up, Matt
Davies raced Anthony Proctor.
Although the lights weren’t that
great, it turned out to be a really
good race. Davies had the slight
advantage on the tree, by .007 and
both riders ran .010 over their
dials, putting Matt Davies into the
finals by his narrow .007 holeshot.
In the second pair, the always tough
Shayne Proctor faced off with Clay
Davies. This one was over quick when
Shayne pushed a little too hard on
the tree and turned it -.002 red.
But he may have had trouble
regardless with Clay being .012 on
the tree and close to his dial. In
the battle of the Proctors and
Davies, the Davies came out on top
this time. The final was really good
race for the Davies family. Clay got
the slight jump by .004 with his
.020 light to Matt’s .024, but Matt
was able to run .006 closer to his
dial and take the stripe by a mere
.002 for his first win of the year
at MIR. Jeff Sweeney still maintains
the points lead with Devin McLain
and Jimmie Miller tied for second.
Jermaine Proctor and Kenny Colbert
round out the top 5.
Weather put a halt to things midway
through first round Sunday. The
staff at MIR tried to hustle through
the time runs and rounds as fast as
they could, but Mother Nature
intervened. A light rain fell for
several hours, keeping racers off
the track. The racers voted to stick
it out for a little while longer and
see what happened, but the weather
system stalled over the track and
race officials had to make the call
to cancel the rest of the event.
Next up for the ET racers is a
$5,000 to win Top ET race this
weekend at Jet Wars. Labor Day
weekend features a Speed Unlimited
ET Series race on Saturday followed
by the Quartermaster’s Challenge on
Sunday. The first of two Autofab
Raider ET Series weekends come to
MIR on Sept 8 and 9. Congratulations
to all the winners from the weekend.
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