AHDRA

S & S Thunder In the Valley Nationals Presented by

Smith Bros Harley-Davidson

Bristol Dragway- August 12^th & 13^th

Sunday- Elimination Day

6:00pm

Elimination rounds have been completed here at Bristol Dragway and all results have been posted on the ladder pages. Congratulations to all of today’s winners!!

See you in Oregon. Good night from Thunder Valley.

2:00pm

Elimination’s rolling along nicely under sunny warmer than yesterday skies.

The Pro opening rounds provided plenty of excitement here at Thunder Valley. The numbers are posted for the opening round on the ladder pages. The sportsman are on the track now and their numbers will also be coming up. We will remain on the ladder pages for today’s updates unless there is breaking news or delays to report.

Good morning from the S & S Thunder In the Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway. We are under very pleasant conditions this morning (mid 60’s) as the sportsman classes take the track to narrow the fields to sixteen or less before today’s opening ceremonies at 12:30pm.

Plenty of sunshine is forecasted today with highs in the low 80’s. Stay tuned today to the ladder pages for today’s coverage from Bristol Dragway. We will be under way at 12:30pm.

Saturday- Qualifying Day at Bristol Dragway.

3:10pm

A delay for an oil clean up underway- one of at least three that has put us off schedule here a bit today. We are running the sportsman 2^nd round all the way through the V-Rod category and we will interrupt the Super Gas 2^nd round to get the Pro’s back out.

So far in today’s 2^nd round- Derek Christensen has taken over the Syn3 ET top spot with a .009, moving Jeff Harris to the 2^nd spot.

Michael Ray moved from 11^th to first in the Destroyer category with a 9.465 in the 2^nd round. Douglas Horne is now 2^nd.

Bruce Croneberger stole the top spot from John Burdynski with a 10.340 and Burdynski is now 2^nd.

In SEP- Curtis Talbott is the man to beat for the top spot and it will take a perfect score and a better MPH from someone to do it- Talbott landed the 11.50 mark in the 2^nd round and it is his son, Joey that came closest to matching the number with a 11.505. The father son duo are one and two in SEP after two rounds.

More racing news and results after the round.

1:15pm

Mike Romine rules after first round with a 6.544 at 211mph off the trailer. Larry Drums Brancaccio followed with a 6.616 at 205mph for the 2^nd spot. At least 20 Fuel bikes entered in the category this weekend with sixteen making the roster after round one.

Jim Fagan pulls out the best numbers in JIM Pro Fuel with a 6.978 at 195mph (the only 6 sec pass in the round of Pro Fuel).

Eddie Lee goes to the top of the pack in Samson Pro Mod with a 8.353 in front of local contender- Tom Caldwell’s 8.393 and the champ, Junior Pippin’s 8.409.

Dirk Higgins returns! Higgins, a multi champion racer has returned on the Jon Miller tuned Thiels’s Wheels Pro Gas entry and a big return indeed as he takes the No. 1 spot after one session with a 7.560 at 168mph infront of Dale Raudenbush’s 7.64 and the Champ, Mike Lozano’s 7.68.

Willie Herschberger is No. 1 again in Kresto Pro Drag with a 7.685 best in front of Wes Hearn’s 7.725 for the No. 2 spot.

The sportsman bikes are out for round No. 2. Stay tuned for more following the round.

12:15pm

Qualifying running along smoothly here at Bristol Dragway. The sportsman have completed the opening round and the Pros have now taken the track for their 1^st round session.

In Syn3 ET round No.1 Jeff Harris was the best at the tree out of 60 entries that made a pass in the opener. Harris scored a .012 for the top spot. Denson Wright was 2^nd with a .028 and Sandy McMillin rounded out the top 3 with a .029.

Hyper Liz Davis is on a roll in SEP racing. Davis was the #1 qualifyer after three rounds at last week’s Sturgis event and here in Bristol she is up front in the round one order with an 11.525 in the 11.50 index class.

Thirty Five bikes competed in the category in round No. 1.

Robbie McCaa has grabbed the top spot in S & S 124 racing with 9.862 while the Champ, Michael Ray had some troubles and is at the bottom of the pack. McCaa is coming off a win in Sturgis.

Also coming off a great performance in Sturgis is Douglas Horne, who took a win in the Screamin’ Eagle Destroyer field. The 18-year old is at it again here with the top spot so far at 9.520.

Keith Ridell, Shawn Vantucci and Don Stratton, Jr. are laying down the best numbers in Rucker Performance Super Gas racing. Ridell’s 9.703 is best in the 9.70 category followed by Vantucci and Stratton who have a pairs of 9.705’s.

Check out all the sportsman qualifying round one numbers on the result pages and stay tuned for Pro round results following the completion of the session.

10:00am

Amazingly enough, with showers surrounding us, we have managed a dry area here at Thunder Valley and qualifying is underway in the sportsman categories. The skies are cloudy and periodic showers are in the forecast- but hopefully mother nature will grant us the break we need to get today’s program in. Stay tuned to the results pages for updates on today’s qualifying throughout the day.

Friday, T & T Day at Bristol Dragway

Good evening from the S & S Thunder In the Valley Nationals from Bristol Dragway. Test and Tune will be under way for about another hour as the bikes continue to roll through the gate and fill the pits. At 7:00pm we have 238 entries through tech so far. Hitting or exceeding the 300 mark should be easily done here this weekend.

AHDRA welcomes the Tennessee State HOG Rally here this weekend and they’re already getting a taste of the drag racing bug. At least 25 dealership reps from the HOG Rally participated in a Drag Racing School this morning, followed by some track time. Tomorrow those dealers will run in a class of their own at 4:00pm-elimination style.

Many of them were heard saying that the time on the track went by way too fast and they can’t wait to get back out there tomorrow!! Over 1500 participants from the HOG rally are expected to attend the races here this weekend.

Test and Tune continues and with no breaking performance news, although Doug Vancil is apparently working hard on his tuning adjustments. Vancil has made at least 4 passes down the ¼ mile so far with his last lap being the most successful with a 6.94. It looks like what ever he was working on is finally coming around after that 4^th pass.

Stay tuned to the AHDRA Live Update Pages all weekend for updates on the results. We start tomorrow at 9:00am with Syn3 ET.

Competition Schedule

Friday, August 11^th

Competitor and Racer Gates open 10:00am

Test and Tune: 3:00-8:00pm

Saturday, August 12^th

Sportsman Qualifying begins 9:00am 

Pro Qualifying begins 11:30am

Sunday, August 13^th

9:00am- Sportsman eliminations (as needed to narrow the fields to 16 or less)

Opening ceremonies- 12:45pm

Opening round Pro Eliminations- 1:00pm