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Poor
weather has plagued the racing at
Maryland Int’l Raceway for the last
few weeks. As this past weekend’s
Autofab Raider ET Challenge
approached it appeared the weather
was going to make things difficult
once again. Saturday was forecast to
be a complete wash with afternoon
storms nearly guaranteed in every
forecast available. Even with races
being cancelled all over the region
due to the forecast, the officials
at MIR optimistically got racing
started on Saturday hoping for the
best. Just as first round of Mod ET
was wrapping up, the clouds rolled
in and the wind picked up. First
round re-entry of Juniors was in the
lanes, but race officials announced
that drivers should return to their
trailers and load up with the bad
weather approaching. Once the rains
arrived, Royce Miller waited to see
if it would let up enough to get
back to racing Saturday night, but
about an hour into the storm he
called all racing for the day. The
plan was made to complete the
remainder of Saturday’s race and
Sunday’s race in its entirety on
Sunday.
Sunday brought cooler temperatures
and far less humidity, which along
with big money at stake, brought a
tremendous number of cars to the
lanes. Because first round re-entry
had not been completed in any class,
any new entry to the track Sunday
could enter both Saturday’s and
Sunday’s race for the advertised
discounted entry fee. The only catch
would be that new entries to
Saturday’s race would just go
immediately to first round re-entry.
With a double header of big money
races on hand, racers came from all
over and packed the lanes each round
trying to earn a big payday. As
Saturday’s race started to wind down
in Junior Dragster, only 4 cars
remained in 6th round. Kennedy Weis
took on Ray Snoots in the first pair
out. Weis got the big holeshot on
Snoots and was able to hold on for
the win as Snoots broke out trying
to run her down. Next up, TJ Estevez
took on Cory Maloney. Again, this
race was pretty much decided on the
tree with Estevez getting the big
jump with his .034 light to
Maloney’s .071. Estevez then ran
dead-on with a 1 to take the round
win and move on to the final. The
final was a great race between Weis
from Ashland, VA and TJ Estevez from
Waldorf, MD. Estevez got the slight
jump with his .049 to Weis’ .058. At
the stripe TJ did a great job of
squeezing the stripe up, taking just
.007 killing several mph in the
process picking up the win, and the
$500 cash that comes with it. This
is TJ’s second win of the year at a
MIR points event.
Heading into the late rounds of
Saturday’s Top ET race, 7 of the
eight racers remaining have big
money race wins to their credit.
Marc Williams was lone racer left
without a big check to his name. In
the first pair out in the quarters,
Brian Mollison took down defending
MIR track champ, Robert Jones. Jones
went red, but Mollison was going to
be very tough to beat with his .012
package. Marc Williams then faced
off with Tarrell Sinkler out of
Baltimore. Williams, the
Leonardtown, MD native took down
Sinkler after Tarrell broke out
taking too much stripe. Tommy Cable
then picked up a tight win over Lee
Dixon by just .008 at the stripe.
Cable, who had a very rare, “perfect
run” in round 3, would meet up with
EJ Parker from Hughesville, MD in
the semi-finals. EJ won a tight
quarter-final race over the very
tough Marty Dabney from Troy, VA.
Dabney, who has won several big
money races this year, made a nice
lap with his .010 dead-on 7 run, but
was bested by Parker’s .011 dead-on
1 run. In the semi’s, Williams faced
off with Stafford, VA’s Brian
Mollison. Marc Williams knocked the
tree over with a .001 and then ran
dead-on 1 for a .002 package and
spot in the final round. In the
other semi-final matchup, Tommy
Cable got the jump on Parker on the
tree with a .005 but broke out by
.002 as EJ ran dead-on his 5.87 dial
for the 5th time in the race. In the
final, Parker, who was driving the
same ’64 Chevy II his son won a $5K
race in earlier this year at MIR,
missed the tree with a .054, leaving
the door wide open for Williams to
pick up the big check. Williams may
have had some nerves as he posted
his worst light of the race in the
final with a .028, but was still
able to hold on for the win running
dead-on with a 0. Now Marc Williams
has a big $5,000 check to hang in
his trailer.
The final class competing in the
Autofab Raider ET Challenge was Mod
ET. Down to five cars in 6th round,
some tough racers remained. First
up, long time MIR regular, Bob
Waddell faced off with Willard
Hammond from Tappahannock, VA.
Waddell got the jump on the line and
was able to pick up the win when
Hammond broke out taking the stripe.
Next up was a very close race
between two of the best footbrakers
in the region. George Windsor got
the starting line advantage with his
.007 light to Jason Stern’s .022.
Stern ran dead on with a 1 on his
dial, but Windsor was still able to
take the stripe first by just a mere
.005 and move on to the semi-finals.
Defending MIR Mod ET track champ,
Joe Goldey got the bye to the
semi’s. In the semi’s, Windsor was
drawn for the bye, so Waddell and
Goldey faced off. Goldey got a good
advantage on the tree with his .030
light to Waddell’s .066 and ran a
7.626 on his 7.62 dial to pick up
the win and move to the finals. In
the final, Windsor got the slight
jump in his Pinto by just .007 with
his .059 light. To take the stripe,
Goldey had to break out, handing the
win and $2,000 check to Windsor.
Windsor drove well all day posting
four “double oh” lights in
eliminations.
With Saturday’s race complete, and
Summit Super Series qualifying
points settled in the 1/8th mile
series, two runoffs had to happen to
qualify two racers for the Summit
Super Series runoff at the bracket
finals. First up was Top ET. Robert
Jones, the 1/8 mile qualifier faced
off with Jaycee Largent the ¼ mile
qualifier. The race was over quick
when Jones turned it red, giving
Largent the automatic win, and a
spot in the Summit Super Series
Runoff. Next up, Brian McLaughlin
the ¼ mile qualifier faced off with
Ed Talbert, the 1/8 mile qualifier
for the Mod ET spot in the Summit
Super Series. When the scoreboards
flashed, Talbert’s win light came
on, sending him to Richmond with a
little extra on the line. The last
class concerned was Junior Dragster.
With only one series, 1/8 mile, all
season, the qualifier would be based
solely on points. After the last
qualifying race was complete, there
was a tie between Christopher
Mattera and Brad Keyton. So it had
to go to the tie breaker. Both
drivers had the same number of wins,
but Christopher had made it to one
more final round this season giving
him the edge in the tiebreaker and
making him MIR’s Junior Dragster
Summit Super Series qualifier.
Racing for Sunday’s race got started
after Saturday’s race was completed,
the Summit Super Series runoffs took
place and every car at the track got
a time run. With the very packed
schedule, and it beginning to get
later in the afternoon, Royce Miller
made the decision to eliminate
second round re-entry for Sunday’s
race in an effort to get people home
at decent hour. Junior Dragster was
the first class to start wrapping
up. In the later rounds, two
familiar names from Saturday’s race
were still around. In the
quarter-finals, Cory Maloney was
making another deep run, and
continued it when Christopher
Mattera turned it red to him,
sending Maloney to the semi’s. Again
there was an Estevez late in
eliminations, this time Robert, TJ’s
younger brother, was making a run
for the money. Robert picked up a
relatively easy win when Max Jackson
totally missed the tree. Roger
Thornton got the bye to the finals.
In the semi’s, Maloney was drawn for
the bye, pairing up Thornton and
Estevez. Estevez got the slight jump
with a .022 to Thornton’s .029 and
was able to take the stripe by .018
to pick up the win in a close race.
In the final, Estevez got the jump
with his .030 light. Maloney, who
had a pretty successful day with a
semi-final and final round
appearance, had mechanical issues on
track, handing the easy win to
Robert Estevez sending the Estevez
family to the winner’s circle for
the second time in one day.
In Top ET, some tough racers
remained in the quarter-finals.
First up, former track and world
champion Tommy Cable faced off with
Quander Spain in his Chevette. Tommy
made a nice lap as he was .008 on
the tree and took .006 at the stripe
to send Spain home for the night.
Then Brent Martin faced off with
former Raider Series champ, Tim
Green. Both drivers were “double oh”
on the tree with Brent getting the
slight jump with his .006 to Green’s
.008. At the stripe Green did a
fantastic job of squeezing up the
stripe, taking just .002, but had to
break out by .004 to do it, as
Martin was putting down a dead-on 0
run beside him. Martin picked up the
win in an ultra tight race with a
.006 package. Jesse Albert was the
last man into the semi’s when he got
past defending MIR Top ET champ
Robert Jones. Jesse Alberts was
drawn for the bye and the free pass
to the finals, so that paired Brent
Martin against Tommy Cable. This one
was over quick when Tommy left with
the red light glaring at him. Brent
was once again good on the tree with
a .002 light. In the finals, Martin
found himself once again in a very
tight race. Jesse Alberts got the
slight holeshot with his .008 light
to Brent’s .010, but Brent was able
to run dead-on 0 for the second time
in 3 rounds to barely hold off
Alberts’ dead-on 6 run by just .004
at the stripe. Martin, who is a
professional golfer has just
recently started racing again after
taking a couple of years off to
focus on golf. With a $5,000 win to
his credit in just a handful of
races this year, MIR racers can
expect to see him around the track
more often.
Like in Top ET, past champions were
making their presence felt in Mod
ET. In the quarter finals, Bradley
Tippett faced off with Bernie Pyles.
Tippett put together a nice run with
a .037 light, running dead-on 6 to
take down the red-lighting Pyles.
Next up, Steve Cross Sr. squared off
with 8 time track champ Johnny
Mattera. Mattera got a bit of a
break when Cross went red by just
-.002. Johnny was a little late for
his standards with a .050 light.
Jason Kirby then picked up a
relatively easy win over Mike Vito.
Vito was very late on the tree,
making it pretty easy for Kirby to
move to the semi-finals. Defending
Raider ET Series champ, Larry Keyton
got the free pass to the semi’s. In
the semi’s, Tippett and Mattera
faced off. Tippett once again had an
easy round when Johnny turned it
red, perhaps trying to tighten up
the .050 light from the previous
round. In the second pair, Jason
Kirby got the automatic win after
Keyton turned it -.006 red. In the
final, Tippett got the jump on the
tree with a .037 light to Kirby’s
.060. At the stripe, Tippett’s
Barracuda ran a dead on 6.818 on his
6.81 dial to shut Kirby out. With
the win, Tippett picked up his
second$2,000 payday in under a month
at MIR, as he also won at the
$10K/$2K Poker Bash back in late
August.
With so many races going on, and
each race counting for multiple
points series, the points standings
are now all shuffled up. For the
Autofab Raider ET Series, in Junior
Dragster, Robert Estevez’s win
catapulted him to second place in
the standings. Leading the way is
Brad Keyton who still has more than
a 5 round lead over Estevez on the
strength of two wins at Richmond
Dragway. Christopher Mattera and JC
Gloyd are tied for third, 50 points
behind Estevez with Roger Thornton
and Michael Hankinson sitting tied
for 5th. In Top ET, former Raider
Series champ Steve Witherow, didn’t
have a stellar weekend on the track,
but was able to maintain his points
lead with 381 points. Candi Derry is
second with 361. Todd Welzel is 3rd
with 341 and Wyatt Colbert sits 4th
with 301. Marty Dabney rounds out
the top 5 with 290 points. And in
Mod ET, defending Raider Mod ET
champ Larry Keyton moved to the lead
with his semi-final finish Sunday
with 350 points. Former Raider
champs, Rocky Pintavalle and Steve
Witherow sit just behind him with
341 points and 331 points
respectively. Tony Mattera sits 4th
with 320 and George Windsor made
move back to the top 5 this weekend
with 312 points. The Mod ET points
are very tight and will be a
shootout at the final Autofab Raider
weekend at MIR, Oct 13 & 14.
With one final race to qualify for
1/8 mile points left in the Speed
Unlimited ET Series, people are
vying for a coveted top 10 points
position to qualify for The Dash. In
Top ET, Robert Jones has a
stranglehold on the points lead,
with Duane Marquess, Mike Nelson,
Dale Smith and Willy Hess Sr.
rounding out the top 5. Jeffrey
Jones and Jake Milstead are tied for
6th, with Steven Klock Jr., Jason
Parker and Kevin Roof rounding out
the top 10. Several racers are
within reach if any of the top 10
struggle this weekend. Bobby Spence
sits just one round out and Marc
Williams is less than two rounds out
on the strength of his win this
weekend. Taylor Croson and Matt
Smith are just two rounds out of the
top 10, with several more within
striking distance. In Mod ET, Ed
Talbert still has the lead but
Bradley Tippett has closed the gap
with two wins in a month. Joe Goldey,
Nicole Talbert and Steve Cross Sr.
round out the top 5. George Windsor,
Frank Thompson, Bart Spicer and
Andrew Mattingly hold down spots
6-9. Then there is a serious mess at
10th – 14th. Jason Kirby, Johnny
Mattera and Tony Mattera all sit
tied for the last spot in The Dash
in 10th. Mike Vito and Steve Cross
Jr. sit tied for 13th, just two
rounds behind the 10th place tie.
It’s anybody’s guess who will
qualify for The Dash in Mod ET. And
in Juniors, who still have a couple
of races left to qualify since they
only run on the 1/8th mile all
season, are now being led by
Christopher Mattera again. Brad
Keyton sits second, and the two of
them have been exchanging the points
lead all season. After those two,
the two Estevez brothers Robert and
TJ sit 3rd and 5th respectively with
Cory Maloney sitting between them in
4th. Adrianna Estevez, Jacob Mattera,
Maria Estevez and Blair Buckler sit
6th-9th. Again, there is a very
tight race for 10th with 5 racers
within two rounds of 10th. Max
Jackson and Logan Hubbell are
currently tied for 10th with 670
points. Josh Phelps is less than one
round behind them with 662. Shane
Parker and Louie Estevez sit less
than two rounds behind 10th with 651
points. Again, it will be a mad
scramble to see who qualifies for
the The Dash in Junior Dragster.
Next up for bracket racers at MIR is
the final 1/8th mile points race
this coming weekend, September 15th.
Then there is some more big money
racing for Top ET with twin $5,000
to win races at the Superchargers
Showdown, September 21-22. Then
there is a break for the IHRA Team
Bracket Finals, then the 3 race
playoffs known as The Dash gets
started on October 6th. The Dash
wraps up with the final Autofab
Raider Weekend of 2012, October
13-14.
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