LUCAS OIL RACEWAY CLAIMS TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP AT EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
BRISTOL, Tenn. - Bolstered by three individual wins — Kammon Simpson (age 10), Ashley Cole (13), and Rylee Stufflebeam (15) — the team from Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis claimed top honors at the 2011 NHRA Jr. Drag Racing League Eastern Conference Finals presented by ViperizerRacing.com at Bristol Dragway. Lucas Oil Raceway Team 2 tallied 35 points to defeat No Problem Raceway Park Team 2 for the team title; No Problem finished with 30. Maple Grove Raceway Team 1 and Summit Motorsports Park Team 2 finished tied with 28 points each; Maple Grove won the tiebreaker to finish third. Summit Motorsports Park Team 1 and Mason-Dixon Dragway Team 2 each earned 27 points to round out the top five.
Joining Simpson, Cole, and Stufflebeam in the individual winner’s circle were Michael Hankinson (8-9), Meredith Miller (11), Brandon Gowan (12), Megan Culbert (13), and Jimmy Fizz (16-17). Also contested during the weekend was a Jr. Comp exhibition, which Curtis Moffett won.
Hankinson, who hails from Severn, Md., stopped Amherst, Ohio, runner Trinity Marshall to claim the 8-9 class Wally. Marshall got the advantage at the Tree, .103 to .139, but Hankinson ran closer to his dial to win the match on a 13.01 (13.00 dial) to 13.00 (12.93) count.
Simpson, a Seymour, Ind., runner, notched Lucas Oil Raceway’s first win when he claimed 10-year-old class honors over Drew Smith, of Barbourville, Ky., in a tight battle. The pair left the starting line within five-thousandths of each other, and both broke out with Simpson’s closer 8.90 (8.91) turning on the win light.
Streator, Ill., racer Miller earned an easy victory in the 11-year-old age group final when Sheffield, Ohio’s Frankie McCullough red-lighted. Miller clocked a 9.23 (9.15) on her victory pass.
Gowan, of Louisville, Ky., parlayed a .011 to .074 lead at the Tree into victory over Sean Miller, of O’Fallon, Ill., in the 12-year-old category title round. Miller ran closer to his target, posting an 8.92 (8.90), but it wasn’t enough to pass Gowan, who won with a 9.04 (8.97).
Avon, Ind., racer Cole notched another win for the Lucas Oil Raceway bunch when she bested Taylor Young for the 13-year-old class title. Cole led the final wire to wire, grabbing a nearly three-hundredths lead at the Tree and running closer to her dial in an 8.01 (7.95) to 8.01 (7.91) battle.
Hanover, Pa., resident Culbert added an Eastern Conference Finals title to a racing resume that already includes three Division 1 championships. Culbert left the starting line first, .016 to .044, in the 14-year-old class final, and eased her car to a 7.92 (7.90) to turn on the win light against Madisonville, La., runner Codie Nye, who posted a 7.99 (7.97).
Stufflebeam, of Peoria, Ill., notched the final Lucas Oil Raceway win when Kayla Costello, a Seminole, Fla., resident, went red in the 15-year-old age group final. Stufflebeam, who also left the starting line a little early, celebrated with a 7.97 (7.93) victory pass.
Fizz, who traveled from Pottstown, Pa., denied Sean Serra a second Eastern Conference Finals championship when he turned on the win light in the 16-17 class title round. Fizz was better on the Tree by nearly four-hundredths, then ran one-hundredth over his dial to claim the victory. Serra, a winner at the 2008 event who hails from Honey Brook, Pa., also ran one-hundredth over his dial in the match.
For the first time ever, a Jr. Comp exhibition event was held in conjunction with the Eastern Conference Finals. Curtis Moffett, who last year was the runner-up at the Visions Race Cars Jr. Comp National held at the Mopar NHRA Jr. Drag Racing League Western Conference Finals presented by Lucas Slick Mist and JR Race Car, made his long tow from Modesto, Calif., pay off when he defeated Evan Wilson, of Kokomo, Ind., for top honors. Wilson made Moffett’s job a little easier when he red-lighted in the final.
The Team Spirit competition was once again an incredibly heated battle with many teams in the running for the coveted award. Atlanta Dragway claimed this year’s title, beating out a number of other strong contenders such as Maple Grove Raceway, Route 66 Raceway, Emerald Coast Dragway, and Tri-State Dragway.
