7/26/14
WILK (S/P) AND DICKSON (ST) GAIN SECOND WINS
GALLI GETS FIRST PRO TITLE
STEPHENS GETS BACK ON THE WINNING TRACK
Rich Wilk and John Dickson each took their second victories of the season in their respective brackets, while Rich Galli earned his first of the year in Pro and Barry Stephens broke is recent losing streak to rise to the top in Bike.
Wilk and his RW Performance Transmissions/Active Disposal RED had to take a second bite of the apple to pull off his win after falling to Chris Hunt in the opening round of Super Pro on a foul start. Buying back into the eliminator, Wilk was as good as he needed to be the rest of the evening, marching through the field to arrive at the quarters opposite Bryan Mirsky’s 66 Chevy, where his 6.29, 161 run cut down the Biscayne’s 8.45 at 120. Todd Martin advanced from the round with a victory over Jeremy Dittmar’s Chevelle, 6.36 and 159 to an 8.27, 121. Mark Siegel got the better of Marc Pullen’s Ford truck, recording a 6.46, 157 ticket to overtake the loser’s 8.00 and 124. Wilk fell into a bye in the semis and Martin got by Siegel when he clocked a 6.396, 156 that was enough to push Siegel out on a 6.44 and 156.06. The two dragster pilots faced off for the trophy with Martin receiving the head start by less than a tenth of a second and leaving well. Wilk left just a tick quicker and legged out an on the dial 6.29 second, 157.96 mph pass for the win light. Martin dropped the race on a 6.40, 151.36.
Pro bracket had a new winner this weekend when Rich Galli made an appearance with his 66 Nova and managed to go all the way to the final. Galli had a couple of RTs in the .005 category, including in the QF where he had no opposition in the other lane. Mike Franek’s Dodge overtook the Camaro of Walk Morgan to advance out of the round while Rob Zetterberg, driving his S-10 truck easily handled the late starting Camaro of Bernie Kelly. The semis had Zetterberg on a solo, ensuring his third trip to a final round of the season with the hope of raising his record to two and one. Franek actually had a slight starting line advantage on Galli in their race but the BBC Nova was too much to handle and a 9.34 at 138.40 bested the Dart’s 10.19, 124.84. The title dash had the players leaving almost dead even on the RT timers and Galli managed to hit an on the dial 9.66 at 135.69 to get the stripe. Zetterberg fell to one and two at 11.16, 117.88.
The points situation in Street continues to favor Bill Hakucsa even with some early exits over the past several weeks. The Camaro from Flanders seemed to be on rails this weekend as Hakucsa went by Bob Gay in the quarters and Keith Burnham in the semis to gain his fifth trip to the deciding round of the year, with all his prior appearances having resulted in wins. Well, John Dickson, who has been irregular this year, had a different outcome in mind as he ran the table with a bye in the QF and easily beating Gary Coleman in the semis when the latter fouled out. Dickson, showing apparent unconcern for the reputation of his opponent in the final race, hung a small hole shot on Hakucsa and then carded a right on the dial 11.82 at a speed of 110.20 for his first victory. Hakucsa, in his first final round loss, still padded his points lead with a losing 11.91, 119.24.
The Bike points leader, Barry Stephens, has slipped a bit of late and a couple of others in the bracket were making small gains in an attempt to stop the train. Stephens, apparently somewhat superstitious, indicated he had figured out his recent losing streak and had taken measures to correct it (think Snoopy underwear and Joe Amato years back). Well, superstition or no, Stephens got the train back on track and won the eliminator, even with old nemesis and multiple time champion Ken George in the other lane. George took out Charlie Koenig in the quarterfinals and soloed the semis while Stephens ran alone in the QF and beat Neil Smith to get into the final race. George ended the suspense quickly when he moved too soon and went red to toss away an 8.71, 146.69 as Stephens collected the money, and the points with a 9.66 at 132.93.
Maureen Lennon drove her 2010 Mustang to the cup in Trophy eliminator when she took the measure of John Crowley and his Nova. Crowley was a little helpful when he fouled out in the trophy dash a d negated his time of 12.73, 101.02. Lennon got a ticket of 13.32 and 107.95 to earn the hardware.
Consolation races were picked up by Robbie Boyd in One and Randy Pobutkiewicz in Two. Boyd ran his Camaro hard enough to push the Camaro of John Tesori under his handicap and win with a 7.70, 127.02 to 6.95, 148.80 spread. Rand P survived a 15 car field to face Kevin Pelanne for the money and sent his 69 Chevy C-10 entry to victory on a 10.89 at 103.75 while Pelanne slowed for runner-up with a 10.32 and 102.44 slip.