06/06/15
LORISH AND MORGAN FIRST IN S/P, PRO
KELLY NABS FIRST STREET
STEPHENS RUNS UP ANOTHER BIKE WIN
Scott Lorish collected his first of the season Super Pro victory this weekend with a final round take down of Dave Hebig. Hebig, appearing in his second final contest put up a valiant effort but ended up on the short end of the math. Meantime, Walt Morgan’s return to the Pro bracket earned his initial title for the year when he got the better of Craig Sonderfan, who was looking for his second appearance in the winner’s circle. Doug Kelly proved better than Bill Hakucsa in the Street decider and Barry Stephens rolled along on his way to a fifth victory in eight races so far.
Lorish started his run with a win over Barry Luyster and sent Michael DeBruin to the trailer in the quarters. The Center Valley dragster pilot took on the tough Todd Martin in the semifinal round and used a 6.26, 163.14 with a superior RT to push Martin under his dial at 6.29, 160.73. Dave Hebig worked his way to a second title round with wins over Michael DeBruin and the altered of Jason Anagnostis to stage up against Randy Wendtland’s Camaro in the semis. This race was super close as Wendtland gained .005 on the tree and hit a 7.44 at 138.94 only to fall ever so short to Hebig’s 6.24 and 154.39, a margin of victory of a mere .0006 seconds. A slightly better light for Lorish in the final sealed the fate of Hebig when the former cranked out a close to the number 6.27 at 158.58 and the latter posted up a sub-dial 6.18, 165.46 mph.
Pro eliminator worked through the initial three rounds to break down the last six cars with a chance to win. That round ended up with Craig Sonderfan besting points leader Jim Young on a break out, Mike Franek pushing Darrin Elia under his dial to advance and Walt Morgan running a little less under the dial than did Don Long. Morgan and his long-time ride, a red 69 Camaro, made a solo run in the semis and did so with a perfect .000 light. Mike Franek and his Dart was not as lucky with the tree and fouled out to toss away his 10.03, 132.33 and propel Craig Sonderfan into his second title dash for the season with a 9.68, 139.33 from his 69 Chevelle. In that deciding race Morgan was the better leaver and with the Chevys about wheel to wheel at the finish line both drivers bailed a little early to avoid a break out. Morgan managed to get to the stripe first on a card of 10.71 and 126.41 versus a runner-up slip for Sonderfan of 9.81, 126.92.
Doug Kelly fought his way to the Street deal to face off with Bill Hakucsa, who has taken the lead in points after an unusually slow start to the season. Hakucsa looked sharp in the early rounds with a couple of .00 something lights and moved in to the QF to defeat Jeff Rahner’s Buick with a .033 and 11.60 run to a red light start for Rahner. Bill Wackermann eliminated Bob Levers in the round while Doug Kelly was taking care of Brent Novitesky and Patty MacDonald too the measure of Doug Eberhart. Kelly and Wackermann hooked up in the semis and this one looked to go to Wackermann, until the timers showed a too quick 11.69, 108.59 that gave Kelly the light with a 13.82, 100.70. Hakucsa cut a .031 in his race with the Gremlin X of MacDonald and never looked back, taking the match with an 11.59, 119 against an 11.50, 114. Kelly and his Trans Am had been hot and cool on the starting line with his best effort in the semis, but in the last dash for the case his .061 was adequate when combined with a right on the number 13.851 and 100.03 mph. Hakucsa had his worst light of the evening when his .117 RT doomed his effort that resulted in a second place finish of 11.52, 122.57.
It’s almost becoming a mail merge in Bike with Barry Stephens running up his list of victories where he now has won five of six final rounds with only eight races contested. Stephens mixed just average starting line reflexes with top end savvy to beat Jim Totaro and Vinny Cianci early, fall into a bye on the ladder for the semis and face Don Hookway for the crown. Hookway took out George Bailey and Charlie Koenig to dust Art Romaliysky before taking on Stephens. The final was over pretty quickly with Stephens gained .08 on the tree and played the finish line two-step perfectly to collect the win on a 9.59, 123.49 while Hookway fell back for runner-up at 9.52, 135.95.
Modern Muscle was contested this weekend and Connie Wackermann made her second trip to the final better than the first. The Camaro driver from Stewartsville came up short back in April but seemed determined not to let that happen again. She took out Doug Kelly and Pat Campomizzi on her way to face Bob Trieschmann aboard his Pontiac entry. Perhaps as revenge for Trieschmann beating Bill Wackermann earlier in the race, Connie was ready for the green, even giving up the head start. Trieschmann caught a red light that negated his 12.35, 111.63 and made Wackermann the champ for the evening on an 11.94 at 112.40.
Joe Voris was better than Jim Bell in Trophy class when his 88 Vette ran a 14.24, 92.04 and the Camaro fouled out a 13.04, 101.94.
Robbie Boyd was the Consolation One winner on a solo pass of 6.34, 162 in his RED mount. And John Moreno used a borrowed car to win the Consolation Two title when he outlasted Gary Wyler’s Vega. Moreno, driving a Monte Carlo recorded a fine 11.24 and 116.29 after Wyler turned on the red bulb and slowed to a 10.91, 92.03 effort.
