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Two huge fields of Top ET cars were
on hand for 2012 edition of the
Mountain Motor Nationals at Maryland
International Raceway. With a good
forecast and nearly perfect racing
weather on hand, more than 125 cars
made the call for first round each
day in Top ET, producing two 8 round
races over the weekend. Racers came
from all over, including Delaware,
Pennsylvania, West Virginia and even
as far away as South Carolina.
Racing got started Friday evening,
with Top ET the only bracket class
running. In 6th round, defending Top
ET points champ, Robert Jones got
past Robbie Parlett on the strength
of a .006 light. Dave Brodsky drove
his new 6 second Miller dragster to
the semi’s with a win over Donna
Nelson when Donna couldn’t run the
number. Greg “Roscoe” Thompson put
together a .010 package to take down
Michael Boswell. And, Dink Holmes
drove his ’68 Camaro past Will
Kivett by just .005 at the stripe.
In the semi’s, Robert Jones faced
off with Roscoe Thompson. Jones got
the jump at the start and was able
to hold off Thompson who broke out
by .018 trying to make up the
starting line difference. Dink
Holmes got the competition single
when Brodsky couldn’t make the call,
moving to the final. In the final,
neither driver was stellar on the
tree, with Dink getting the
advantage with his .059 light to
Jones’ .062. Jones was able to catch
Holmes by .021, but took just a
little too much stripe, breaking out
by .005 handing the win and the big
$5,000 check to Holmes.
Saturday, the entire Speed Unlimited
ET Series was on hand to race in
front a nearly capacity crowd. Top
ET again featured $5,000 to win.
Things got started early, and even
with over 130 cars making the call
first round, the race was completed
before midnight. As the race made
its way into the 6th round, 6 racers
remained. Ricky Harbaugh faced off
with John Salzman Jr. Harbaugh got
the jump on the tree with his .008
light. He killed what he needed to
at the stripe and was able to take
down Salzman’s dead on run. Tommy
Cable then took down Marcus Henry in
a very tight race. Henry got the
slight jump on the line with a .023
to a .029 for Cable. At the stripe
though, Cable was able to tighten it
up to just .001 and move to the
semi’s. Duane Marquess got a bit
lucky when his opponent Geeman Dyson
turned it -.008 red. Duane
uncharacteristically was late on the
tree with a .054. In the semi’s,
Cable was drawn for the bye run.
Marquess and Harbaugh’s race was
over quickly. This time, Harbaugh
got the lucky break when Marquess
turned it -.006 red. Harbaugh was
-.017 red behind him, but it didn’t
matter, he had the automatic win.
The dragster Tommy Cable was driving
is owned by Ricky Harbaugh, so for
Harbaugh it was a win/win situation.
But that didn’t mean he didn’t want
the big check for himself. And in
the final, he certainly didn’t pull
any punches. Both Cable and Harbaugh
were strong on the tree with both
drivers posting .004 lights.
Harbaugh then went down and ran
7.130 on his 7.13 dial for a very
stout .004 package, leaving no room
for Cable pick up the win. A good
day for the Harbaugh racing team was
capped off with two cars in the
final and a big check for $5,000.
In the middle of all the other
racing going on throughout the day
Saturday, Devin McLain finally got
his chance to Pick Royce’s Pocket
and earn some free entry to points
races. McLain was supposed to make
this run a couple of weeks ago, but
mechanical issues kept him from
making the run then, so now he was
back and ready to make his run. All
he had to do was run dead on to the
hundredth of a second in a time run
and Royce would have to pay up for a
while. No racer from any class other
than Top ET has ever successfully
picked Royce’s pocket, so the odds
were stacked against him. Plus, with
thousands of people in the stands
watching every move the pressure had
to be tremendous. Royce placed Devin
in the left lane, and Devin dialed
in on an 8.01. After the burnout,
the bike stalled and Devin had some
trouble restarting. All the while,
Royce was piling on the pressure
pointing out how many people were
watching. Finally, the bike
re-fired, and McLain staged up. He
streaked down the track, hit all his
shift points perfectly, and as he
crossed the stripe, the scoreboard
showed a dead on 8.01 run, earning
Devin free entry for a while at MIR.
As if that wasn’t a good enough day,
McLain made it to the final round
after being drawn for the bye in the
semi-finals. In the other semi-final
matchup, the always tough Shayne
Proctor faced off with Louis Green.
Green handed the win to Proctor with
a -.003 red light, so Shayne moved
on to face McLain in the finals. In
the final, Proctor got the jump on
the tree with a very nice .017 light
to McLain’s .060. McLain was able to
take the stripe but broke out doing
so, handing Shayne Proctor his first
points win of the year.
In Mod ET, a couple of racers made
pretty big moves in the points. In
the quarter-finals, defending points
champ Joe Goldey faced off with Jim
Devane. Goldey left first with a
perfect light and Devane pushed the
tree just a little too hard, turning
it -.004 red. Peter Kivett then
faced off with Francis Reynolds Jr.
Kivett got the jump with a .024 to
Francis’ .041. Francis was able to
take the stripe, but to do it he
broke out handing the automatic win
over to Kivett. David Meador then
faced off with Wendell Denny Jr.
Meador had the advantage on the tree
with his .017 light to Denny’s .073.
To make up the starting line
disadvantage, Denny broke out by
nearly .07 handing the win to
Meador. In the semi’s, Meador and
Kivett faced off. Kivett got the
jump on the tree with a .016 to
Meador’s .032, but wasn’t able to
run close enough to his dial to get
around Meador’s dead-on 1 run. In
the final, Meador would meet up with
his close friend Joe Goldey who had
the bye to the final. In the final,
Goldey had the better light with a
.035 to Meador’s .061. At the
stripe, Goldey tried to tighten up
the stripe, but took just a little
too much, breaking out by .004, and
handing the automatic win over to
Meador. With the win, Meador jumped
to the points lead and Goldey moved
into third, with Brian McLaughlin in
second place.
The Junior Dragster racers also got
their shot to race in front of the
big crowd. In the quarter-finals, TJ
Estevez got past Blair Buckler with
a starting line advantage based on
his .021 light. Willy Hess Jr. got
around a red-lighting Lexxi Hubbell.
Brad Keyton got past Logan Hubbell
who turned it -.003 red. Maria
Estevez ran dead-on 1 in her bye run
to the semi-finals. In the semi’s
Maria got past Willy Hess when Hess
broke out .007 taking the stripe. In
the final she would meet up with TJ
Estevez, who got past Brad Keyton in
another breakout race. This time,
Keyton took too much stripe handing
the round win over to TJ. In the
final, TJ and Maria were within .005
on the tree with Maria getting the
slight advantage. TJ couldn’t run
the number while Maria ran dead-on
with a 7 to take the race win.
Christopher Mattera maintains his
points lead, but Brad Keyton moved
to second with his semi-final finish
and Maria moved to third with her
race win. This coming weekend is the
Junior Dragster Open for Juniors,
featuring three races in one day.
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