8/15/2009 Cecil County / Finishline Performance Real Street Car Shootout Picture Gallery
12.0 Index
Road Runner Kev Walsh set the tone during qualifying with a 12.008 pass, to take the #1 qualifier spot out of the 8 car field. Eugene Townes, winner of the two previous 12.0 races at Cecil, was in the #4 spot with a 12.036, just going to show how tight the qualifying ladder was.
Round 1
Lots of Steve's in 12.0 today, making up 3/8ths of the field
Steve Gurnick and Steve Hardwick come to the line first, Hardwick going red by .025 and putting on Gurnick's win light. Gurnick took the freebie and ran it out for a 12.020 elapsed time. Eugene Towns comes up next against Tom Brown, and takes the win against Brown with a 12.025 pass. Townes had an .029 light to Brown's .042, but Brown had some trouble and didn't make it down under full power. Kevin Walsh comes up next against Ben Girard. Kev gets going with a .06 second advantage, which was what gave him the win, his 12.098 to Girard's quicker 12.049, a margin of victory of .009 seconds. Topping off the round was George Barritt and Steve Guise. George cuts an .014 light and catches Guise sleeping with a .149 light. That's all it took, Barritt took a holeshot win with a 12.180 against Guise's 12.057 pass.
Semi Finals
Steve Gurnick lines up with George Barritt. George was once again awesome on the tree, with a .015 light. Gurnick was no slouch with a .042, combined with a 12.050 elapsed time, he took the win easily against Barritt's 12.123. Finishing off the round was Kev Walsh versus Eugene Townes, not the first time these two have lined up against each other. Townes goes in and double bulbs like usual, Kev was ready for it this time though. Townes goes red by .021, Kev takes the win and the trip to the finals.
Finals
Steve Gurnick and Kev Walsh pulled up to the line for the 12.0 Index final. This was going to be a great race, as both racers were in the 12.0x range a few times today. Kevin Walsh cut a great light where it counts, an .003, to Gurnick's .047. Kevin's light combined with a quicker ET than Gurnick gave him the win. Kevin went a 12.061 to Gurnick's 12.069 elapsed time. Walsh put up a 12.064 package showing us how to get it done!
12.0 Index Qualifying Results
12.0 Index Eliminations Results
10.0 Index
10.0 Index has been ridiculously close lately, as you will see by looking at the qualifying sheet. I'll even go out on a limb and say that 10.0 Index has had the closest racing of all of the classes so far this year. Mark Plucinski came out during qualifying and laid down the law with a 10.000 pass, with Mike Romeo right on his bumper with a 10.003 (Mike is fresh off a win at E-town where he went 10.00x twice during eliminations). You'll have to go down to the #11 qualifier spot before we see a racer more than a tenth off of the 10.0 Index - Crazy!
Round 1
Brendan Mills and Josh Solimine made up the first pairing for the day. Not sure what happened because we missed it, but Brendan went red by a mile, .250, giving Josh the pass to round 2. Points leader Mike Romeo pulls up next, against the wheelstanding Buick of Tom Wood. Mike cuts a great .011 light to Tom's .046, and Mike's 10.060 pass did the trick to Tom's 10.071. Harry Weber Jr. and Tony Mullin were the next pair. Mullin trees the hell out of Harry, a .002 to Harry's .068. Harry was able to get around him and run a 10.018 to Tony's 10.091, Harry taking the win by seven thousandths of a second. John Hurst and Jay McCardle leave with .012 seconds of a difference, advantage to JOhn. That advantage carried through and John made it down the 1320 first, with a 10.041 pass to Jay's 10.188. Andy Severein and #1 qualifier Mark Plucinski came up next. Both racers left almost even, a .001 difference, and Andy, the #16 qualifier, was able to upset the #1 spot and take the win. Andy ran a 10.020 to Mark's 10.035. Carl Ungaro Jr. and Paul Cottone were up next, Carl left first as Paul was sipping his coffee. We all thought Carl had it, but Paul drove around him and was able to make up the deficit, margin of victory was .015. Mike Colo and Dill Dutka both had singles for round 1.
Round 2
Mike Colo and Bull Dutka, both with singles last round, came out to start out round #2. Mike in the mustang got the jump on Bill by .036, and took the holeshot win, his 10.060 pass to Bill's 10.039. Paul Cottone lined up next against Harry Weber in the Hulk Dart. Paul was eager to make up for last round, which he did, a .001 light and a 10.007 pass, a total package of 10.008 which Harry Weber would have trouble beating. Harry was .039 at the tree and broke out with a 9.969 pass. Josh Solimine and points leader Mike Romeo came up next. Mike got off quick, but had some trouble as he shifted into second, it just wouldn't go. Josh took advantage of Mike's problems and got the win for the round. (After speaking with Mike, he said the car just wouldn't go into second for some reason. His mid 9-second pass later during testing showed us that it seemed to be a fluke thing.. that's racing!) Finishing up the round was Andy Severein and John Hurst. Hurst put up a better elapsed time, a 10.019, but Andy's .004 light and 10.043 pass was good enough for the holeshot wind and trip to the semis.
Semi-finals
Both Mike Colo and Josh Solimine were slow on the tree, Mike.137 to Josh .174. Mike took the holeshot win for the trip to the finals, a 10.113 pass to Josh's 10.108. To finish up the semis, Paul Cottone and Andy Severein pulled up. Paul inadvertantly double bulbed Andy, Andy took advantage and came in to pre-stage rather quickly. As he was staging, he rolled in, his stage bulb came on then flickered, causing Paul to get on and off the gas. That certainly threw off Paul, which caused him to red light handing the win to Andy. Andy earned the win though, after a few tough rounds of racing, and he put up a 10.027 pass w/ an .019 light in the finals, certainly a great package for 10.0 Index.
Finals
Andy Severin and Mike Colo made up the finals today, Andy in the Camaro and Mike in the Mustang. As the tree drops, Andy is off with a .007 second head start on Mike. Mike goes juuuuust a bit too fast, a 9.993 breakout pass to Andy's 10.027. Congrats on the win Andy!
10.0 Index Qualifying Results
10.0 Index Eliminations Results
275 Drag Radial
275 Drag Radial is a new class this year, the cars always teetering between making some ridiculously fast passes for such a small tire or having an 1/8th mile burnout contest. We were all glad to see more of the teams having their cars ready to go, and 11 cars came for today's 275 Radial Race. Qualifying ended up with most of the cars in the 5.31-5.49 range, up to the slowest of a 6.41.
Round 1
Guppy and Mike O'Sullivan rolled in first. Gup got Mike big time at the tree and also at the stripe, Adam goes 5.436 with a .071 r/t to Mike's 5.559 w/ .162 light. Next up was Don Barnett in his Firebird versus Tim Reinert in the '91 stang. Don burns Tim at the tree big time, and zooms down for the win with a 5.484 pass and .073 light. Nate Pritchett pulls in next in the GM Performance Camaro, against Marc Schankweiler's deuce. Not sure what Hockey was doing here as he goes red by .037, it would have been close as Nate was late on the tree with a .133. Nate is no slouch though and the race would have been close, Nate with a 5.586 pass. Walt Pfister came up next and laid down the round 1 quickest pass, a 5.380, against Gary Atkins who had some issues. Ed Thomas and Rich Bach took singles this round.
Round 2
Here's a great matchup -- Don Barnett and Walt Pfister, these two have been battling each other all season. Walt gets a .019 jump on Don at the tree, Don kicked up the boost and drove around Walt. Don goes 5.481 to Walt's 5.600. Guppy pulled up to make the final pairing of round 2 against Ed Thomas. Thomas has traction issues as Gup takes off, a 5.437 pass good enough to head to the Semis. Rich Bach was set to race Nate Pritchett, but Nate's starter was fried and he was unable to make the round.
Semi-finals
Rich Bach and Don Barnett pulled up for the only pairing of the round, again two guys who have been regulars at all of the 275 races this season. Don in the supercharged Firebird gets the jump on Rich by .012 seconds. Rich really put the power in the car, and runs the race best e/t of 5.309 to take the win and the trip to the finals. Don Barnett goes his fasted of eliminations with a 5.433. Guppy Sailor gets the single to the finals.
Finals
Rich Bach versus. Adam Guppy Sailor. Both left about even, a .004 difference. Rich once again put in the power tuneup and takes home the win for the day with a 5.387 versus Guppy's 5.412. Rich let us know afterwards how important the win was, he really needed it! Congrats!
275 Radial Qualifying Results
275 Radial Eliminations Results
