Castrol Raceway, Farmington Dragway and U.S. 131 host first Team Finals of season
NORWALK, Ohio (September 19, 2011) – Following a busy weekend of racing all across North America, the International Hot Rod Association is pleased to announce the first 12 qualifiers for the 2011 Summit SuperSeries World Championships at Virginia Motorsports Park next month.
The IHRA staged three Summit Team Finals events over the weekend at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Mich., Farmington Dragway in Farmington, N.C. and Castrol Raceway in Edmonton, Alb. and from those races four drivers emerged from each event to race for the lucrative Summit SuperSeries championship at the IHRA World Finals October 14-16.
The 12 drivers earning their way into the 2011 Summit SuperSeries championship this past weekend were Bill Brewster, Roger Plyler, Derek Degnitz, Amanda Fassler, Rae Caswell and Tim Richards in Box and Kevin Pollard, Scott Vaughn, Steve Doornbosch, Tanner Zwetow, Dean Smith and Chris Melnyk in No Box.
Thanks to a new set of rules this year expanding the Box and No Box fields at the World Finals to 16 cars instead of eight, a total of four drivers from each Summit Team Finals event moved on to the main event to run for over $25,000 in cash and prizes. Each Team Finals event over the weekend also crowned team champions at the year-end celebration.
From the Division 1 Patriots event in North Carolina Bill Brewster from Natural Bridge Dragstrip and Roger Plyler from Mooresville Dragway emerged from the Box class, while Kevin Pollard from Motor Mile Dragway and Scott Vaughn from Sumerduck Dragway moved on in No Box. Brester had a slightly better light and ran a 5.096, 134.18 on a 5.08 dial to defeat Plyler, while Pollard got the No Box win when Vaughn went red.
Mooresville Dragway in North Carolina won the overall points title at the event, edging Sumersuck Dragway by one point. Motor Mile Dragway was third, followed by Elk Creek Dragway and Farmington Dragway.
At the Division 5 Thunder Team Finals event Derek Degnitz of Wisconsin International Raceway won the Box runoff against Amanda Fassler of Marion County International Raceway with a near perfect 8.125, 152.08 on an 8.12 dial, edging Fassler by a few thousandths of a second at the line. In No Box Steve Doornbosch from Grand Bend Motorplex defeated Tanner Zwetow of WIR with a .022 light, running a 10.618, 118.03 on a 10.56 dial.
In team competition Wisconsin International Raceway edged host U.S. 131 Motorsports Park by two points, while Grand Bend came in third and Marion County fourth.
Finally, the brand new Division 6 Border Bandits hosted their very first Summit Team Finals and the event proved a huge success. In SuperSeries competition Rae Caswell of Eagle Motorplex defeated Tim Richards from Gimli Dragway in the Box runoff when Richards went red, while in No Box Dean Smith of Gimili defeated Chris Melnyk of Castrol Raceway in similar fashion.
In team competition Castrol Raceway Team 1 took the crown with 37 points, one point ahead of Castrol Raceway second team. Eagle Motorsports Park finished third, followed by Gimli Dragway and Alaska Raceway Park.
Six more SuperSeries drivers will be crowned this weekend when Pittsburgh Raceway Park hosts the Division 3 North Stars Team Finals and Carolina Dragway hosts the Division 2 Heat Wave East Team Finals this weekend.
For complete results from the Summit Team Finals, visit www.ihra.com.
