First day of Summit Sportsman Spectacular in the books
DINWIDDIE, Va. (October 14, 2011) – Day 1 is in the books and of the hundreds of drivers on hand at Virginia Motorsports Park on Friday, all are one step closer to taking their own sizable chunk out of the huge weekend purse at the IHRA Summit Racing Equipment World Finals presented by RacingJunk.com in Dinwiddie.
The opening day of the IHRA World Finals was all about the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Spectacular as drivers qualified and finished a single round of eliminations, in addition to the re-entry round, all on Friday. The open-field Summit Sportsman Spectacular will conclude on Saturday before the IHRA moves into its championship portion of the program with the Summit Tournament of Champions and Summit SuperSeries.
Until then, drivers not already qualified for the Summit Tournament of Champions are left scratching and clawing in the Summit Sportsman Spectacular to try and get in. Non-qualified drivers have extra incentive to win as a win may just move them into the TOC later in the weekend. Not to mention the $5,000 prize awarded to the seven winners on Saturday.
Through one round of eliminations, four of Friday's top qualifiers are still alive in the Summit Sportsman Spectacular including top dogs Glenn Wright (Top Sportsman), Mark Nowicki (Super Stock), Terry Taylor (Stock) and Arlie Boggs (Super Rod). The other three class top qualifiers, Alan O'Brien (Top Dragster), Jerry Langley (Quick Rod) and Bitsy Satterly (Hot Rod) did not survive the brutal opening day as hundreds of the best sportsman racers crammed into Virginia Motorsports Park for a truly historical race weekend.
In fact, of the 35 drivers to qualify in the top five of their respective class, only 23 are left standing attesting to the incredible stiff competition awaiting drivers this weekend.
In IHRA's premier doorslammer class Wright, of Chesapeake, Va., took the Top Sportsman top spot with a solid 6.863, 199.32 lap in the beautiful Virginia fall air. Maryland native Robert Jones qualified second, followed by William Brown, Wayne Rogers and Matthew Buck. All five drivers survived day one eliminations and will live to race another round – one of only two classes with a perfectly intact top five.
In IHRA's quickest and fastest sportsman class, Top Dragster top qualifier Alan O'Brien out of Ronceverte, W.Va. wasn't as lucky as he lost in round one by a few feet at the line. Things didn't go any smoother for the rest of the top qualifiers as only second-place qualifier Gordon Cole and fifth-place man Brett Nesbitt survived round one. Fourth place qualifier Gordon Cole did re-enter on Friday and won, living to fight another day.
Some of IHRA's toughest competition came in the Super Stock and Stock ranks as over 100 drivers battled it out in the two classes.
In Super Stock Gaylord, Michigan's Mark Nowicki was the top qualifier, followed by North Carolina's Steven Johnson, Norm Hall, David Latino and Bryan Worner. Of the top five qualifiers all but Latino moved on in round one, although Latino did re-enter and win, staying in the hunt for the $5,000 prize and keeping the Super Stock top five intact.
Stock top qualifier Taylor out of Lumberton, N.C. also remained alive after a solid day one behind the wheel of his '75 Corvette. Also qualifying in the top five were North Carolina's Michael Moller, Adam Keir and Amanda Justice. Surprisingly, only Taylor and Keir will be racing on Saturday.
Wrapping up the weekend was the Rod classes with only Super Rod's Boggs surviving the day. Boggs, out of LaPorte, Texas, qualified No. 1 and won his first round to move on. The rest of the top five included North Carolina's T.G. Paschal, Greg Slack, Bo Upton and Donald Webb with all five still alive on Saturday.
Quick Rod suffered the most casualties of any class with one upset after another leaving fifth place qualifier Vernon Rowland as the highest qualifier to win in round one. Point man Jerry Langley out of Mechanicsville, Md. lost twice on Saturday, joining second-place qualifier Richard Bernier. Fourth-place qualifier Scott Lazarus is also out of competition.
Finally, Hot Rod saw top qualifier Bitsy Satterly of Lawrenceburg, Ky. lose in round one , joining second-place qualifier Daryl Griffin and Harold Honeycutt. Only Kentucky's Ricky Roe and Texas' Marlon Goates managed to keep their hopes of winning the big prize.
The Summit Sportsman Spectacular will conclude Saturday afternoon followed by time trials for the Summit Tournament of Champions and Summit SuperSeries immediately following. The weekend will conclude on Sunday with the running of the two championship tournaments.
