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May 11, 2014
STANTON, HARRIS AND GOFORTH WIN AGAIN
AT RAIN-DELAYED PDRA GEORGIA DRAGS
CECIL, GA (May 11, 2014) -- It took a
day longer than planned, but Bubba
Stanton, Jason Harris and Cary Goforth
kept their perfect records intact with
the new Professional Drag Racers
Association (PDRA), as each followed
up victories at the season opener last
month in North Carolina with wins in
their respective classes May 11, at
the inaugural PDRA Georgia Drags. For
the second-straight event Stanton
defeated Mick Snyder in the marquee
Pro Extreme category, while Harris
prevailed again in Pro Nitrous and
Goforth repeated his success in
Extreme Pro Stock at South Georgia
Motorsports Park (SGMP), near
Valdosta.
Also picking up pro-class wins in
final rounds delayed to Mother's Day
by heavy rain falling the night before
were Kevin Fiscus in Pro Boost and
number-one qualifier Travis Davis in
Pro Extreme Motorcycle. In the bracket
racing Top Sportsman and Top Dragsters
classes, Dylan Stott and Brian Bednar
turned on the win lights, while top
qualifier Devin Isenhour won in Pro
Jr. Dragster and David Roloff took
home the Top Jr. Dragster trophy.
PRO EXTREME
Bubba Stanton, from Potts Camp, MS,
qualified his new Jerry Bickel-built
'69 Camaro second in NAS Racing Pro
Extreme behind only teammate Jason
Scruggs, then beat Michael Neal and
Wesley Jones on Saturday before rain
postponed the semi finals and finals
for all PDRA classes to Sunday. After
getting past a tire-shaking Joey
Martin in the semis with a 3.707 at
212.53-mph run that earned him lane
choice, Stanton met number-four
starter Mick Snyder for the
second-straight time in the final.
At Rockingham (NC) Dragway, Snyder's
'63 Corvette failed on the starting
line, allowing Stanton to make a solo
pass for the win. For a moment it
looked like it might have been payback
time at SGMP as Stanton's car started,
then fell silent on the line while
Snyder performed his pre-race burnout.
But after Stanton's car finally
refired he made a short burnout and
staged while Snyder and his
Powersource Transportation crew waited
patiently.
"I'm just thankful we were racing guys
that don't mind waiting and let you do
your thing and we got it. But I do
want to thank them for waiting on us;
they didn't have to do that," Stanton
pointed out after running a
traction-challenged 3.881 at 194.30 to
beat Snyder's off-the pace 4.696 at
just 112.96 mph.
"I had my fingers crossed, just hoping
it would go," Stanton said. "It took
off and it was shaking, but I didn't
ever see him; I was just trying to get
to the other end."
Snyder actually got away first with a
.036 reaction time to Stanton's .052,
but said that advantage quickly
disappeared when his car also went
into tire shake. "Once I saw him out
in front of me and I started heading
toward the wall I just got out of it
because it's definitely not worth
wrecking the car," he said. The
Demotte, IN-based driver then joked it
was his turn to win and Stanton
obviously hadn't learned his "sharing"
lessons very well.
"I can't afford to (share)," Stanton
responded. "The bad thing about it is
if we keep meeting in the finals I
can't ever get more than one round
(per race) ahead of him in the
points."
PRO NITROUS
Just as he had at Rockingham in April,
Pittsboro, NC's Jason Harris qualified
his '68 Firebird on top of the 16-car
Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous field. He
did it in convincing style, too,
running 3.779 at 200.68 mph,
representing the lone pass of the
weekend in the 3.70s for the nitrous
class. Then, just like last time,
Harris mowed through the field to set
the early example for the eight-race
series in 2014, the PDRA's first year
in operation.
"My crew deserves all the credit,"
Harris insisted. "We've struggled to
get it all together the last couple of
years but they've got it all sorted
out now with Robert Hayes Motorsports,
Hoosier tires and Pat Musi horsepower.
I have the easy job; I just let go of
the button and hang on."
Harris set low ET in each of four
rounds of racing spread over two days,
as he beat George Williams III and
Chris Patrick on Saturday, then
defeated fellow North Carolinian
Travis Harvey in the semis before
taking on number-two qualifier Bob
Rahaim and his Michigan-based '69
Camaro in the final.
Harris led stripe to stripe against
Rahaim, leaving with a sizable .053
holeshot before posting his "slowest"
pass of the event at 3.914 at 196.67
mph on a very hot and still somewhat
"green" racing surface after overnight
rains thoroughly washed the SGMP
eighth mile. Meanwhile, Rahaim lost
traction early and coasted through in
just over five seconds and less than a
hundred miles an hour.
"We ran an .83 at 200 (mph) again in
the semis, but the track was getting
really hot so we left it alone for the
final," Harris explained. "We knew it
was probably going to slow up a little
in the heat and it rattled a little
about halfway, but I just stuck with
it and I'll take a .91 with a win all
day long."
While still early in the season,
Harris admitted he's already
cautiously aware of his championship
potential this year.
"I know we got a good jump on
everybody in the points, but right now
I just want to concentrate on things
race to race. If we can keep going
good like this, the points will be
there at the end."
EXTREME PRO STOCK
John Montecalvo edged out Cary Goforth
by just five-thousandths of a second
with a 4.092-seconds pass in Aruba.com
Extreme Pro Stock qualifying to take
the number-one spot into eliminations,
but when Montecalvo bowed out in round
one it cleared the way for Goforth to
post his sixth win in seven finals
since debuting his Jerry Haas-built
2013 Camaro last fall.
"I've got very good, capable hands
working on this thing, but it seems
like every car we get is just a little
bit better than the last one, which is
really amazing because they've all
been great cars," Goforth said after
beating John Pluchino, Lester Cooper
and Trevor Eman in the final to post
his second consecutive PDRA win. "This
car almost dares you to try and shake
the tires, it's that good and that
smooth."
Eman started his 2011 Mustang from the
fifth position in the eight-car field
to beat Goforth's teammate and crew
chief Jeff Dobbins in the opening
round. He then got past Richard
Penland in a side-by-side pedalfest in
the semis before running a 4.167 at
175.30 that just wasn't enough to hold
off Goforth's 4.153 at 175.84 mph.
"You know, I really appreciate the
PDRA sticking around today and getting
this race finished here; they really
didn't have to do that," Goforth said
while waiting in victory lane. "It
would've been real easy for the
backers and the people that run it and
they'd have been money ahead if they'd
just called the thing when it rained
last night and split up the points and
the purse and sent everyone home. I
think about the financial side like
that and I really appreciate that they
wanted to get the race finished up and
hand out the money and trophies here
so we can win the Georgia Drags while
we're still here in Georgia."
PRO BOOST
Just as he had at the previous PDRA
event in Rockingham, NC, Todd Tutterow
took the top spot in Precision Turbo/Proline
Racing Engines Pro Boost qualifying
for the PDRA Georgia Drags, running
3.892 seconds at 193.24 mph in his
roots-blown '68 Camaro. Just
six-thousandths back in second-place,
though, was Kevin Fiscus of
Jacksonville, FL, with his
twin-turbocharged 2012 Mustang.
Tutterow made short work of Tony
"Sandman" Williams in round one of
racing, but had to pedal the car in
round two, allowing Joe Baker to
advance and eventually beat Kevin
Rivenbark and face off against Fiscus
in the final.
Fiscus, meanwhile, ran low ET (3.940)
of round one to beat Canada's Jim Bell
in the debut of a new twin-turboed '69
Camaro after Bell destroyed his
previous ride at the Rockingham race.
In round two Fiscus took on Troy
Coughlin, who had just scored his
career-first round win in eighth-mile
competition when he put Clint
Satterfield on the trailer.
Regardless, Fiscus beat Coughlin in
the quarter finals, then Larry
Higgenbotham in the semis to reach
Baker and decide the Georgia Drags Pro
Boost champion.
Baker took a slim .003 lead off the
start, but his "Medicine Man" '53
Studebaker soon lost traction, while
Fiscus pedaled his way to a
4.162-seconds win at 194.72 mph.
"The Traction Twins (Cody and Cale
Crispe) did a great job getting the
track back into shape after all the
rain last night, but there's a little
transition about 70 feet out, right
where we go from our one-to-two shift,
and it spun there, I pedaled it once,
and got it to hook back up and got the
win," Fiscus said later. "I could hear
him popping and banging in that blower
car and then it went away. I think I
might have heard him try to get back
in it, but by then I was on my way and
fortunately got the win."
PRO EXTREME MOTORCYCLE
After spending the off season coming
up with an all-new tune-up for his
nitrous-boosted Timblin Chassis
Suzuki, local rider Travis Davis
arrived at South Georgia Motorsports
Park ready for his first PDRA
experience. He turned the experience
into a lasting memory by winning from
the pole position.
Davis earned the top step on the
eight-bike ladder with a 4.096-seconds
ride at 172.06 mph. He then took down
Christopher Jones, the son of veteran
rider T.T. Jones who made his PXM
debut at the PDRA Georgia Drags, and
past class champion Ashley Owens on
Saturday evening shortly before the
race was interrupted and the final
postponed to Sunday by rain.
"I would have loved to finish the race
last night because I feel certain we
could've run in the 4-ohs again
because the track was good and tight,"
Davis said after going 4.113 at 175.14
on a hot Sunday afternoon to take the
final over Ron Procopio, who posted
4.198 at 171.93 aboard his own 2010
Suzuki.
"But today with the sunshine beating
on it today it got pretty hot and
greasy. Last night we had a 1.02 60
foot (time) and that last pass was
1.04, so we definitely lost some
there. And then I felt it spin a
little too not long after the start,
but luckily I had enough to keep it
going and get the win. I'm pretty
happy."
TOP SPORTSMAN
Dylan Stott's last big win came nearly
two years ago, but the Columbus, NC,
racer found his way back to victory
lane at South Georgia Motorsports Park
May 11, when he beat Dan Ferguson in
the Magnafuel Top Sportsman final for
the PDRA Georgia Drags.
Driving an RJ Race Cars-built '67
Mustang, Stott opened with a big win
over veteran driver Bruce Thrift, then
followed up with victories over Rick
Hord and Billy Albert before rain put
a temporary end to the event on
Saturday evening and postponed the
final to Sunday.
"We've struggled with this car the
last couple of years, but we finally
got it figured out to run in the low
4.20s and this thing has been on a
string all weekend," Stott said after
posting 4.311 against a 4.25 dial in
for the final. Ferguson dialed in 4.17
for his '02 Firebird, but ran 4.249 in
a runner-up cause.
"I never saw him (Ferguson), so I
dived it a little bit at the finish
line," Stott said. "Just wanted to be
safe."
TOP DRAGSTER
Brian Bednar of Ocala, FL, could
barely contain his excitement as he
turned off the end of South Georgia
Motorsports Park's long shutdown lanes
after winning the Top Dragster final
of the inaugural PDRA Georgia Drags.
He could be heard hootin' and hollerin'
inside his helmet as his '09 Spitzer
dragster rolled to a stop.
"We got one; we finally won one,"
Bednar happily declared after dialing
in at 4.25, posting a .021 light and
running 4.277 seconds to the SGMP
eighth-mile stripe, while his
opponent, Danny Payne, dialed in at
4.12 and left with a .020 light that
led to a 4.164-seconds pass.
"I'd like to thank PDRA for putting
this on; they really did a great job
with the track under a little bit of
adverse conditions," Bednar said. "I'd
also like to thank James Munroe of
KillerRons.com for the tune-up, he's
awesome, and everybody who came out
and was watching at home. This is a
big thrill for me!"
PRO JR. DRAGSTER WINNER: Devin Isenhour
TOP JR. DRAGSTER WINNER: David Roloff
The PDRA will next be in action May
23-24, with the inaugural PDRA Memphis
Drags at Memphis Motorsports Park. |
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