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More than 200 racers were in
attendance for the opening day of
the 2012 Speed Unlimited ET Series
at Maryland International Raceway on
April 7th. The double header event
featured two races for each class,
kick starting the 20+ race series.
The opening day event also served as
the qualifying event for the Pick
Royce’s Pocket program. This is the
5th year of the Pick Royce’s Pocket
program, where one racer in each
class could earn a half a year’s
worth of entry fees by running
dead-on in a time run. The points
leader in each class at the end of
the opening day would then qualify
for a shot to Pick Royce’s Pocket at
the next Speed Unlimited ET Series
event.
In Top ET and Mod ET, the defending
points champs proved their
championships were no fluke. In Top
ET, defending champ Robert Jones
worked his way through 5 tough
rounds to match up with Bert Lewis
of Mechanicsville in the
semi-finals. Jones was able to
string together 3 consecutive
“double oh” lights starting in round
4, including a .005 against Lewis in
the semi’s. The .005 light gave
Jones all the room he needed to pick
up the win and move on to the final.
There he would meet up with Jaycee
Largent. Largent took down Willy
Hess Sr. with a very stout .006
package in the semi’s. In the final,
Largent picked up the immediate
victory when Robert Jones turned it
-.006 red. Largent who is
campaigning a different car this
year, a ’75 Pontiac Astre, jumped to
the top of the points after the
first race.
In Mod, defending champ Joe Goldey
drove a new car deep into
eliminations, reemphasizing his
reputation as one of the toughest
bottom-bulbers around. In the
semi-finals, Goldey was drawn for
the bye in his ’95 Firebird. In the
other pairing, Brian McLaughlin
squared off with David Butler in his
’74 Maverick. Butler got the head
start, but left the red light
glowing with a -.004 light handing
the immediate win over to McLaughlin
in his familiar green ’86 Mustang.
McLaughlin was -.002 red behind him,
but it didn’t matter with Butler
turning it red first. McLaughlin had
been really tough on the tree all
day. With one exception, his worst
light of the day had been a .027 in
the third round. The final round
pairing matched up two close friends
who have been racing together for a
long time. No punches were pulled in
the finals as both drivers were up
on the wheel. McLaughlin got the
slight holeshot with a stellar .007
light but Goldey wasn’t far behind
with a .018. Both drivers jumped on
the brakes at the stripe, with the
win light coming on in McLaughlin’s
lane running dead-on with a 4, for a
very tight .011 package. The win
threw McLaughlin to the top of the
heap in the points standings, with
Goldey right on his heels.
In Junior Dragster, Christopher
Mattera took control of the points
after the first race. In the
semi-finals he matched up with Harry
Ackinson of Churchville, MD. Mattera
got the huge jump on the starting
line with a .039 light to Ackinson’s
distracted .164. Mattera then put
his several years experience to good
use killing nearly 7 mph ensuring he
didn’t break out against the
slightly quicker car. In the other
pairing, Blair Buckler took on Jenna
Cockrell. Blair got the jump with a
.104 light to Jenna’s .152. Buckler
was able to squeeze up the stripe to
just .012 and take the victory and
move on to the finals. In the
finals, Buckler got the holeshot
with a .027 light to Mattera’s .051.
But at the stripe, Buckler fell
behind by .007 handing the win over
to Mattera with his dead-on 3 run.
The win placed Christopher at the
top of the points list heading into
the day’s second race.
In Motorcycle, a rider with the last
name Proctor took home the first
Iron Tree of the season. But it
wasn’t the notoriously tough Shayne;
rather it was his cousin Jermaine
Proctor who got the win. Shayne went
down in round two to Devin McLain.
McLain carried the momentum right
through to the semi’s where he
matched up with Tommie Adams. McLain
got the huge jump on the starting
line and with Adams having trouble
down track was easily able to pick
up the win and move to the finals.
Jermaine moved to the finals when he
picked up a very tight win by just
.004 over former track champ Chris
Clontz. In the finals, Jermaine got
the head start and had a good .028
light, but it was over shortly
thereafter when McLain turned it
-.017 red handing the automatic
victory to Jermaine Proctor.
Things were on time for the second
race, but two lengthy clean-ups
slowed the race to a near halt,
putting the second race behind
schedule. With the added delays, the
second race was unable to be
completed by the time curfew.
Motorcycle was able to complete its
semi final round. Jermaine Proctor
went down in the third round,
leaving the door open for Devin
McLain to get around him for the
day’s end points lead. McLain made
his way to the semi’s, where with
the round win he would take over the
points lead. He proved he was up to
the task, when he strapped a .001
light on Darrell Mahoney, forcing
Mahoney to breakout. Shayne Proctor
would have been the other finalist
after he picked up a tough double
breakout win over Tommie Adams. With
the semi-final win, McLain took over
the points lead by 9 points, and
earned his shot to Pick Royce’s
Pocket.
In Juniors, Christopher Mattera was
showing no signs of slowing his
momentum from the first race.
Juniors completed their
quarter-final 4th round, where
Mattera had picked up another round
win, this time over Jake Bevard.
Brad Keyton got a tough double
breakout win over past champ Josh
Phelps. TJ Estevez moved on to the
semi’s with a win over the
red-lighting Michael Hankinson. And,
Cory Maloney had a perfect light in
his bye run that made him the 4th
semi-finalist. With Mattera still in
the race, nobody could catch him,
and he secured his place in the Pick
Royce’s Pocket runoff next weekend.
The 4 racers remaining in
competition will complete this race
at the next ET Series event, April
14th.
In Mod, points leader Brian
McLaughlin fell in round 3 to Mike
Keyton. Mod racers completed the 4th
round, where Johnny Mattera picked
up the win over Peter Kivett, Ed
Talbert got the double breakout win
over Steve Long, and Steve Cross Sr.
got past the red-lighting Mike Vito.
Also in round 4, Bernie Pyles was
.003 on the tree to take down the
dead-on run of Donald Jones and Mike
Keyton moved on with the bye. The
drivers left in competition elected
to split the purse and call it a
night, ending anyone’s chances at
picking up more points. With three
rounds remaining in the race, Steve
Cross Sr. could have taken the
points lead outright if he had won,
and John Mattera and Mike Keyton
would have tied McLaughlin if either
of them had won the race. But with
the purse split, it is a completed
event, and McLaughlin will get his
shot to Pick Royce’s Pocket on
Saturday.
Top ET also made it through the 4th
round. And, as was the case with
Mod, the driver’s left in
competition decided to split the
purse and call it a night, ending
anyone’s shot at catching Jaycee
Largent. Charlie Yingling had picked
up the round win over a red-lighting
Dale Smith. Jake Milstead got past
Casey Cole who also turned it red.
EJ Parker picked up a win with a
.006 light over Lamont Cotfield and
Duane Marquess got the round win
over Nate Brunson in a real tight
race. David George picked up the win
over Dave Brodsky who broke out and
Will Kivett would have moved to
round 5 with the bye run.
Kivett or Yingling could have taken
the outright points lead with an
event win, and Milstead and Marquess
would have tied Largent if either of
them had won. But with the race
completed, Jaycee Largent will try
to be the 5th straight Top ET
competitor to Pick Royce’s Pocket.
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