S & S Cycle Thunder In The Valley Nationals presented by

Smith Brother’s Harley-Davidson

August 13^th & 14^th

Bristol Dragway

Elimination Day

Update from Elimination’s-

6:30pm

The event is complete from Bristol Dragway. Check out the ladder page in your favorite class to see all the results from today. The road to the Championship continues August 27^th & 28^th at Woodburn Dragstrip in Oregon. We will be back with you then for live updates on the action. Thanks for staying with us this weekend. Good night from the

S & S Thunder In the Valley Nationals presented by Smith Brothers Harley-Davidson.

4:00pm- Yet another delay here at Bristol Dragway as track officials are doing a track clean-up after Joe Perry’s Hot Street bike loses the bottom end, dumping oil down the track. We are less than a half hour off schedule, so we expect to resume soon and still finish at a reasonable time. Stay tuned for more results when the racing resumes.

3:12pm- Elimination’s on hold for 2^nd time during 2^nd round. During the Screamin’ Eagle Nitro Harley round, Tracy Kile left the line and met with a huge explosion. Kile is not hurt, however parts and pieces flew and made contact with a spectator. The spectator was alert and speaking with the EMS and has been transported. Once that situation was cleared up, racing resumed, before Tak Shigematsu made contact with timing devices that are now being replaced. We will be back with the action and results soon.

Good morning from Bristol Dragway. Elimination’s are underway with very warm conditions. Follow the results on the ladder pages right here on www.ahdra.com

Final qualifying is complete and the numbers are posted for you. It was a dramatic finish..and first of all- No one got hurt- but Bill Furr’s Top Fuel ride spit flames at the big end as it rolled to a stop..the flames started to spread and Furr stepped off and away from the bike as a cloud of smoke and fire filled the air. As I said, he did not get hurt, but it had to put a damper on his triumph return to racing.

There were several highlights in today’s finish, but due to a lightning filled storm hovering over the track, we are being forced to shut down computer equipment here in the tower. We will be back in the morning with more from today’s show and continue with coverage of eliminations.

Good night from Bristol Dragway.

Round 2- News

5:00pm- Round 3 Update- We just got word in the tower that Travis Lummus has pulled his Street Pro bike (a new bike) that he had run in the previous round, to enter in his old bike- hoping for better numbers. Therefore- if the Street Pro charts look short again after 2 rounds, we have pulled Lummus’s previous rounds and he will start fresh with his old bike in the final round.

More from round 3 later.

4:30pm- Tracy Kile returned to the line for his rerun in Screamin’ Eagle Nitro Harley and confirmed that his earlier pass was a good one- as was this one- to improve his spot from 11^th to 7^th in qualifying. The line-up leaves Mike Romine still at #1 with Larry Brancaccio holding the bump spot after two laps at 7.909.

Doug Vancil is not in the field and has one shot left..and for those keeping up with the return of Bill Furr, he did not suit up for 2^nd round- indicating he may be taking his heroic return a little at a time.

Round 3 qualifying is out on the track in sportsman categories and we will have results in all classes of competition coming at you soon from Bristol Dragway.

3:38pm- After a lengthy delay for an oil down in Pro Fuel competition, we are back underway with today’s 2^nd session.

A few notes already on the books from 2^nd round..

David Doremus nailed a 10.300 in the 10.30 index field of S & S Super Sport racing and Mike Harrison is narrowly behind him with a 10.308 and getting close to perfect in Performance Corner Super Eliminator competition was Ron Rogan with a 10.909 in the 10.90 index field.

Dan Norlin hopped up to the #1 spot in Drag Masters Hot Street in front of round one leader Mike Roberts.

Zach Johnson got in the round 2 competition of G2 Street Pro and got in-indeed- with the top spot at 9.170 at 146.89mph. Jeff King is 2^nd with a 9.468 and Travis Lummus satisfied the scale requirement for the 3^rd spot at 9.514.

In Samson Pro Modified, Junior Pippin is happy to be back on the page with the #1 position beside his name. He lept in front with a 8.422 at 152.50mph in the 2^nd, while Ainsworth came in the program with a 8.430 at 154.86mph, sliding the round one #1 qualifyer, Paul Smith to the 3^rd spot.

Toby Mullis improved his time in S & S Pro Gas to a 7.934 at 157.82ph and maintains the top spot in front of Champion, Brook McCabe. Lozano is still troubled and in the 6^th position with a 9.281 best.

Dale Raudenbush continues as the front runner in S & S Pro Stock after 2 laps with a 7.639 best, and no improvement in the 2^nd round.

No one bettered Mike Romine’s 6.639 in Screamin’ Eagle Nitro Harley in the 2^nd round, so far. Tracy Kile will receive a re-run following a piece of paper interrupting his round two pass- and lighting the scoreboards with 3-sec marks….impressive looking, but didn’t humor Kile and crew who were hoping to see a “legitimate” good number from the nice looking pass. Once Kile has made his rerun, we will have the round two numbers for you on the result pages.

We are in the final round of qualifying for sportsman now..stay tuned for the results of today’s three rounds of qualifying shortly.

Qualifying Round One Update

1:20pm-Round One was a blast of excitement and power here at Bristol Dragway. There’s something about the atmosphere here that makes for a happier crowd and more enthusiastic racers than usual. Whatever the case, round one went off smoothly.

A few highlights and notes- In SEP 11.50 index racing, James Van Fleet nailed the number perfectly in the opening round, and Brent Garcia was just ever so slightly off the mark at 11.501.

In G2 Street Pro- If you noticed only a single listing on the qualifying order- the listing was correct- for round one anyway. Travis Lummus should have been your #1 qualifyer with a 9.299 and Robbie Closson should have been in the 3^rd spot, but word from the big end was that one of the riders blew by the scales and the other came up short in the weight department, resulting in 2- DQ’d runs after Round one.

In S & S Pro Gas, Toby Mullis of St. Port John, FL was the only 7- second zone qualifier after one round with a 7.956 at 162.06mph. Brook McCabe followed with a 8.018 at a near match with Mullis at 162.02mph.

Mike Lozano is trailing the pace in the last spot at #6. Crew chief, Connie has been checking the tower frequently for a Fed-Ex delivery, perhaps it may be needed parts that they need to up the performance in the LBS bike.

Paul Smith is leading the boards in Samson Pro Modified in front of Junior Pippin. Performance favorite currently, Doug Ainsworth is here in Bristol, but no word on why he didn’t make the qualifying order in round one. Maybe HE is in need of that delivery the Lozano’s are waiting on as well.

And perhaps the best highlight of the opening round was watching Bill Furr suit up and climb aboard his Screamin’ Eagle Nitro Harley for the first time since April of 2004.

Furr’s crew and son Armon accompanied him to the line, full of emotion, and following a team prayer, Furr was off to the burnout box. The launch was good, but the bike went fat and he slowed to a coasting speed. It was a gutsy return for Furr and we hope to give you comments from him later in the weekend.

Round two qualifying is underway and we will have more fro you later.

Good morning from a scenic Bristol Dragway. If you haven’t heard about the expansion work here, it is definitely a site to see. Additional grandstands, a new hilltop campground, additional sponsor suites and more..and we are here to bring you coverage of the S & S Thunder In the Valley Nationals presented by Smith Brothers Harley-Davidson.

We have just started off with the SYN3 ET opening round of qualifying under very pleasant weather conditions. We have passed the 200 mark on racer entries, so we expect a full day of racing here at Bristol Dragway. Although pre-registration reflects 20 Top Fuel entries - I currently show 16 that have actually been through tech this morning.

One of those prepaid entries, happens to be Bill Furr. Furr says he will “play around a little” this weekend, and see what he can do. “If I get down the track-fine, but if not, that’s okay too”. Furr pulled out his brand new leathers last night and says he hasn’t even tried them on. “I’ve gained about 25 pounds”, he said with a chuckle. “The darn things are probably going to be tight as hell”. This will be Furr’s first time back in the saddle following his 2004 accident at Texas Motorplex. Furr’s son, Armon will also be competing this weekend in the JIMS Pro Fuel category.

Stay tuned for an update on results following today’s opening round.

Schedule of Events

Friday, August 12^th

10:00am Gates Open for Parking

2:00-6:00pm Test and Tune Session

Saturday August 13^th

9:00am Qualifying begins-Sportsman

11:00am Qualifying begins-Pros

Sunday August 14^th

9:00am Eliminations-Sportsman (as needed to narrow the fields)

12:15pm Opening Ceremonies

12:30pm Eliminations begin with Pros