RACING PUSHED TO MONDAY FOR JEGS SPORTSNATIONALS
FONTANA, Calif. – Racing came to a halt as the sun set on Auto Club Dragway for the JEGS Pacific SPORTSnationals presented by K&N. Rain Sunday morning pushed the start of eliminations to the afternoon and officials had to stop competition due to darkness about 7:30 p.m. with just over 80 racers left in competition.
Five of the nine classes will return on Monday morning for their final elimination rounds beginning at 10 a.m. Classes retuning on Monday are Top Dragster, Stock, Super Comp, Super Gas, and Super Street. Top Sportsman, Super Stock, and Sportsman Motorcycle will finish their eliminations next weekend at the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event at Auto Club Famoso Raceway north of Bakersfield. Comp Eliminator will finish up at the season ending Auto Club NHRA Finals in Pomona.
In Saturday afternoon action a pair of local racers made their way to the winner’s circle taking wins in their shootout events. Bobby Dye Jr., Ontario, Calif., held off Stewart Koch with a pass of 7.415 seconds at 167.63 mph in the Top Dragster class and Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., racer Brockman Roberts won the Sportsman Motorcycle Shootout. Roberts went 136.03 mph in 9.727 seconds on his ’06 Harley Davidson in beating Dave Miller, Whittier, Calif.
Dave Zewe, Hesperia, Calif., won over Jeffery Gillette, Benicia, Calif., in the Top Sportsman Shootout; Chad Loge, Brentwood, Calif., ran down Dustin Braun in his ’70 Plymouth for the Stock/Super Stock Shootout and 4-time NHRA Pro Stock national champion Jeg Coughlin won in Super Gas for his first win at Auto Club Dragway. Finishing out Saturday’s winners were Jim Glenn, Vancouver, Wash., against Thomas Bayer, Fontana, Calif., in Super Comp, and Garden Grove, Calif., racer Greg Ventura won in Super Street with his ’66 Nova.
Loge and Ventura will both be back tomorrow advancing through their early rounds of eliminations as will Coughlin who is still in competition in both Super Comp and Super Gas.
