Race Recap
Top Fuel
Keith Longerot took the TF win in the Longerot & Stires "Two Shy" entry.
Charlie Brown had a great weekend qualifying #1 with a 2.45 and reaching the final round.
Scott Whipple ran low E.T. of the weekend with a 2.44, but fell to a red light in the semi-final round.
Dennis Rieck became the first small block in the 2.4's running a best of 2.476 during the weekend.
Terri Blair and the Fugowie team suffered a tough break in round one when they could not get the car fired.
Michael Peasley ran a 2.72 best in his TF debut with the Leggitt Engines dragster.
Top Alcohol
Shane Sanford had a tough start to the weekend, but was able to fight his way to the victory in Top Alcohol on Sunday. Shane had problems on his only attempt in Friday night’s qualifying session, and it looked as if the TA class would be wide open over the weekend. Mike DeNunzio ended up #1 after Friday’s sessions with a 2.701 barely edging Dan Allen’s 2.703. Saturday’s qualifying sessions definitely lived up to their billing though. Gary Mink would put the “Bad to the Bone” entry in the top spot after qualifying was completed with a great 2.558 E.T. to edge out Sanford’s 2.560. Rounding out the top half of the TA ladder would be Dan Allen and Mike Davis. The big match up in round one would see 4 and 5 qualifiers Mike Davis and Mike DeNunzio square off. Both racers qualified at 2.699. DeNunzio would win the battle as both cars struggled down the track in a 2.780-2.948 decision. Dan Allen would run low E.T. of round one with a great 2.556. He was followed closely by Sanford’s 2.582 and Mink’s 2.604. The semi-final round would see a titanic pairing as Allen and Sanford squared off. Dan would lay down another great 2.588, however Shane parlayed a 2.633 and a hole shot advantage into the victory. The other match up saw Mink record a great 2.577 to take care of DeNunzio. The final round would go down as one of the greatest races in the history of sand drag racing. Sanford would pull out the victory over Mink on a hole shot 2.637-2.624. The margin of victory would end up being five ten-thousandths of a second (.0005). Shane extended his points lead with his second victory of the NSDA season.
Shane Sanford took the Top Alcohol class victory.
Gary Mink was the #1 qualifier with a 2.558 and made it to the final round of TA.
Dan Allen ran the low E.T. of TA for the weekend with a 2.556 in round one.
Mike DeNunzio made it to the semi-finals of TA in the Canidae dragster.
Carey Mahoney debuted his new car at this race and ran a best of 2.809 for the weekend.
Mike Davis qualified in the top half of the field with a 2.699 in his first race of the season.
Tim Martin qualified for the TA show with a 2.765 in the final session.
Top Eliminator
TE had a huge entry list for the second race of the season with a total of 19 entries vying for 16 spots on the ladder. DL King and the “Animal Control” dragster would end up in the top spot with a 2.966 followed by John Keller (2.989), Jeff Mamer (2.990), and Jim Williams (2.995). Round one would see a major upset as point leader and February race winner Jeff Mamer had problems at half track allowing Don Diffenbaugh to get by for the round win. Steve Hoffman had the best E.T. in round one in the “Smooth Sucka” car with a 2.958. Jim Williams would defeat Hoffman in round two, who broke out with a 2.909. The semi-final round started off with King advancing to the final round with a 3.134-3.186 win over Jim Williams while John Keller advanced to the final against King with a 3.009-3.072 win over Chris Adamson’s entry. The number one and two qualifiers would have a close race with Keller taking the victory 3.029-3.061.
John Keller took the TE class win in his first NSDA event.
DL King was the #1 qualifier in TE and made it to the final round.
Chris Adamson ended up with a nice semi-final round finish in TE.
Terry Crawford took the Yabba Dabba Doo car to a second round finish.
Shawn Thompson qualified well with a 3.08 before experiencing problems in round one.
Craig Sines qualified for the tough TE field with his "Thunder Struck" altered.
Pro 1
Steve DeNunzio and the DeNunzio Racing Engines dragster took the Pro 1 class victory over Jaret Nelson’s dragster in the final round. Bill “Wild Willy” Swim made it to the semi-finals in the class before falling to Nelson.
Steve DeNunzio took the Pro 1 victory.
Jaret Nelson ended up with a final round finish in Pro 1.
Pro 2 Steve Anthony’s dragster topped the Pro 2 category defeating Mike Record’s jeep in the final round. Stacy Bolton’s rear-engine jeep and Clayton Record’s conventional jeep were the semi-finalists.
Pro 2 Final Round - Steve Anthony (near lane) vs. Mike Record.
David Stidham ended up with a late round finish in his Mr. Grinch jeep.
Pro 3 Arend Schouten’s buggy was the winner in Pro 3. Arend defeated Jerry Peripoli’s Jeragsters motorcycle-powered dragster in the final round. Eddie Spears was the semi-finalists in this class with his jeep.
Arend Schouten took his buggy to the Pro 3 victory.
Jerry Peripoli ended up 2nd in Pro 3 with his motorcycle powered dragster.
Chris Hickey made it several rounds in Pro 3 with his jeep.
Steve DeLeon took the class victory with a final round victory over Lito Estrada. Greg Partsatas and Frank Prock both were defeated in the semi-final round.
MC Pro 2 Bo Crossland ended up with the MC Pro 2 victory defeating Rob Winkle in the final round. Joey Weaver was the lone semi-finalist.
Bo Crossland took the MC P2 class win.
Pro Mod
Geoff Gill stayed atop the Pro Mod class despite a big challenge from Larry Minor at this event. Geoff qualified number one and would take Larry out 3.33-3.34 in the final round. This gives Gill a huge early season lead in the point standings.
Geoff Gill in the Black Tie jeep won the Pro Mod class.
Larry Minor was the runner-up in Pro Mod despite running in the low 3.3 range.
Pro Index
Steve Foster led a jeep sweep of the top four spots in the Pro Index class. Foster took the victory over Al McKinney’s entry in the final round. Stacy Bolton and Wes Johnson rounded out the top four spots.
Steve Foster took the Pro Index class win.
Al McKinney ended up with 2nd place in the Pro Index class.
Sportsman 1
Mike Record had a great weekend winning S1 and taking home 2nd in Pro 2.
Billy Morris took the "Dolla Bill" buggy to the final round in S1.
Donnie Burns took 3rd place in S1 with his Bronco.
Sportsman 2
The S2 class featured an all-jeep final with Eddie Spears winning over Fran McKinney. Wendy Thompson and point’s leader Carl Jennings were the semi-final round victims.
Eddie Spears won the S2 class with his jeep.
Fran McKinney had a great outing ending up 2nd in S2.
Wendy Thomspon ended up with a nice semi-final finish in S2.
MC Sportsman 1
MC Sportsman 2
Randy Mings took the victory in MS2 and the class points lead. Mings defeated Shane Bedford in the final round. Scott Kinney and Joey Weaver went out in the semi-final round.
Randy Mings did a nice job taking the MC S2 class win.
Junior Classes
Junior Dragster was won by Jake Smith who defeated Aaron Mamer in the final round. Jordan Mings won the Kids class over Cameron Madrid. The Youth class was won by Caleb Mings who defeated Cole Johnson in the final round.
Jake Smith won the Junior Dragster class.
Aaron Mamer got 2nd place in the Junior Dragster class.
Caleb Mings won the Youth class on his Polaris ATV.
Jordan Mings won the Kids category on his ATV.
Cameron Madrid ended up with 2nd place in the Kids class.
All photos courtesy C3 Productions - www.c3productions.net