S & S Thunder In The Valley Nationals

Presented by Smith Brothers Harley-Davidson

Bristol Dragway

August 11^th & 12^th

Elimination Day- Bristol Dragway!

It’s a wrap from Bristol Dragway! On behalf of Stephanie and Lisa (tower girls)-

Thanks for following the action with us today. We will be back at it on August 24^th & 25^th at Woodburn Dragstrip!

Final Round Action:

Screamin’ Eagle Top Fuel

Tak Shigematsu repeats a win at Bristol Dragway! Both Shigematsu and Jack Romine had trouble on the final run, but Shigematsu holds on for the win!

S & S Pro Stock

Krenik and Pippin both with a win each in other categories pull to the line and Krenik gets a .004 and Pippin gets a .009 and in a race to the finish- Krenik surrenders when the bike gives way and Pippin gets the win light- his 2^nd of the day!

JIMS Pro Fuel

Armon Furr and Jay Turner (who has been at the final at all events he has competed in this year) was defeated by Furr who ran his quickest pass of the weekend (6.75) against a 6.95 from Turner.

Rush Performance Pro Gas

Feazell and Pippin take the tree and Pippin has the holeshot and charges on for the win. Pippin will be back to take on fellow double-finalist Greg Krenik in the Pro Stock final in a few moments.

Kresto Pro Drag

Rick Moore defeats Greg Byrnes

Samson Pro Modified

Randy Borho throws away his chances early with a red light and Greg Krenik is the Pro Mod winner. Krenik will return shortly for the Pro Stock final.

McCaa’s Enterprise Street Pro

Danny Worth is a no-show in the final and Zach Johnson gets the win on the final round bye.

Screamin’ Eagle V-Rod

Mike Roberts and Lou Gerencer were found illegal following the Bristol event and the semi-finalists, McNaughton and Edmondson were inserted as the final pair as a result of the DQ riders. Since a legal final was not run at the event- both McNaughton and Edmondson will be rewarded runner-up points and purse.

S & S Super Sport

Point’s leader John Cabral charges ahead in the standings with a win over Gary DeGrange.

Screamin’ Eagle V-Rod Destroyer

Douglas Horne gets the win over Nick Gonatas Jr.

SSC 124

Mike Roberts lights the red bulb and Chris Sansevere takes the win.

Pingel Enterprise Super Eliminator

Donnie Huffman collects a 2^nd win at Thunder In the Valley in the win over Lane Boger.

Dragmasters Hot Street

Charley Douglass defeats Tom Levak Jr for the Hot Street win!

SEP

Greg Best takes the win over Pete Crowe.

Screamin’ Eagle V-Rod Destroyer

Bailey Whitaker gets a holeshot win over Nick Gonatas in the final. A first time AHDRA win for Whitaker.

Syn3 ET

Donnie Huffman defeats Mike Best. Huffman will be back for a 2^nd final in Super Eliminator!

The Finals coming up at 5:45pm!

Semi-Finals

Sportsman Semi Final action:

Rucker Performance Super Gas (9.70 index)

Bailey Whitaker upsets the champion, Bob Drapp with a 9.73 to a under the number (9.69) from Drapp. This will be Whitaker’s first AHDRA final.

Whitaker will face Nick Gonatas who ran a close race with Jim Sweet. Gonatas took the win with a 9.77 over a 9.78 from Sweet.

Screamin’ Eagle V-Rod

Larry Edmondson and Jamie McNaughton will face off in the final today!

Super Sport

Gary DeGrange advances on a bye to take on John Cabral (the points leader) in the final.

SSC

Chris Sansevere will go on to the final against Mike Roberts after upsetting Lou Gerencer in the semi.

Super Eliminator

Donnie Huffman got a holeshot on points leader Dean Druschel for the win. Huffman will take on Lane Boger.

SEP-

Greg Best is headed to the SEP final against Pete Crowe.

Screamin’ Eagle V-Rod Destroyer

Nick Gonatas makes it 3 riders that will go to double finals today after he takes the win over Lou Gerencer. Gonatas will take on Douglas Horne in this final who advanced on the bye.

Syn3 ET

Now that makes FOUR riders going to double finals- Donnie Huffman scores a 2^nd semi final win and will take on Mike Best in today’s final.

Semi Final action from the Pro’s:

Screamin’ Eagle Top Fuel

Shigemastu will head to the finals after a 6.57 at 213mph win over a troubled Stordeur run at 8.26/130mph. Shigematsu will take on Jack Romine who upset his brother Mike with a 6.86 to a 6.93!

Greg Krenik came out on the bye run in S & S Pro Stock and breaks the beam to advance after reported problems with the bike. Krenik will take on Junior Pippin who got by Bruce Beltramini despite a wild looking ride to the stripe. Pippin clocked a 8.57 to a 8.85 from Beltramini.

JIMS Pro Fuel

Armon Furr will head to the finals after a nice 6.83 at 203mph for the win over Tommy Sloan’s 7.64. Furr takes on his pal Jay Turner who soared past John Breckenridge with a 6.88 to Breckenridge’s 7.11.

Rush Performance Pro Gas

Junior Pippin earns a double final round appearance today after taking a win (7.31) over Rick Moore’s 7.85. Pippin will take on David Feazell who advanced on the bye with a 7.37. Feazell and Pippin- both in the 7.30 zone go head-to-head in the final!

Kresto Pro Drag

Greg Byrnes upsets #1 qualifyer, Sonny Burres for a trip to the final. Byrnes clocked a 7.60 for the win over a 7.87 from Burres. Rick Moore will take on Byrnes in the final after his win over Will Simplot in the semi round. Moore clocked a 7.63 to a 7.82 from Simplot.

Samson Pro Modified

Greg Krenik will make a double final round appearance today after breaking the beam in Pro Mod. Krenik broke the beam in order to give himself to get back to the pit quickly to work on his troubled Pro Stock bike. We’ll see the outcome of the thrashing in the finals! It will be Krenik and Randy Borho in the Pro Mod final after Borho put Greg Kuypers on the trailer with a 8.89 to a 9.08.

Coming up at 4:30-pm..The semi final rounds!

Follow the ladder pages for your favorite class for all of today’s results. We will check in here with any schedule updates or breaking news.

3:30pm- Racing back underway after the clean-up.

3:20pm (delay underway to replace foam blocks)

We are about 40 minutes off schedule- after a few delays in the opening rounds. A wild round two of Top Fuel just wrapped up with Shigematsu advancing on a bye,

Stordeur and Sternotti were paired and in a squirrelly side-by-side race that resulted in a win light for Stordeur..Mike Romine and Jay Turner paired up in the 2^nd round and it looked like Turner would take it with the early holeshot, but Romine powered back to get there first. In a dramatic conclusion to the round, Doug Vancil squared off with Jack Romine and the upset win went to Jack Romine after Vancil took an unplanned visit to the other lane for a DQ. The Romine brothers will be paired in the next round and Storduer takes on the No. 1 qualifyer- Shigematsu who is looking to repeat his 06 victory here at Thunder Valley.

We’ll return to racing after the clean-up!

1:10pm- Pro eliminations running their opening round in very warm temperatures and a track temp reading of 125. A couple of upsets in the fuel categories already- Drums Brancaccio had the win over Joey Sternotti on the clocks, but Brancaccio got on the center line at the 750ft block which resulted in a DQ. Sternotti will be back for round two.

In Pro Fuel, Armon Furr looked to be facing a huge upset from Billy Leonard, but Leonard made contact with the foam blocks himself and Furr gets another shot in round two.

Stephanie is getting the numbers in promptly, so I’ll turn it over to her on the ladder pages and check back in here with any schedule or breaking news updates.

10:30am

Good morning from Thunder In the Valley. We are in the process of early sportsman rounds to narrow the fields and we will have the Pro’s on the track at 12:30pm.

Leading off today’s action will be a special tribute in support of our own Maura Hall has she battles to recover from her illness! We will catch it all on the camera’s for you Maura..and at 12:15pm..we hope you feel a burst of love, support and energy as we all come together for you on the starting line here at Bristol Dragway.

Qualifying Day at Bristol Dragway

6:50pm

Qualifying day goes smooth with a great staff at Bristol Dragway..and we will see you back here tomorrow with all the action of eliminations!

Good night from Thunder In the Valley!

5:53pm

The Pro’s have wrapped the final round of the day and Fagan indeed saved the day for those waiting to see if they would race tomorrow. It wasn’t a pretty lap, but he crossed the finish under power (10.272) and took the 14^th spot and made it a full run field for tomorrow’s show. Shigematsu the defending champ from last year’s event here, held on to the pole with his 6.51 best. Top Speed honors of the day go to Doug Vancil with a 220mph lap (6.583) for the No. 2 spot. Mike Romine was 2^nd with a 6.555 best despite a spell of shingles he is recovering from. No doubt- a painful experience in those hot leathers, but the champ shrugged it off with a grin when I asked him how he felt.

In S & S Pro Stock and Samson Pro Modified- Greg Krenik qualifies No. 1 in two categories for his 3^rd consecutive AHDRA event. Krenik’s 8.33 at 157mph earned him the top spot in Pro Stock and it was a 8.87 at 152mph that grabbed the pole for him in Pro Mod.

In JIMS Pro Fuel, the defending National Champion heads to the starting line tomorrow as the No. 1 quaifyer after a 6.77 at 198mph and the point’s leader, Jay Turner finished the day 2^nd with a 6.82 best.

John Breckenridge finished 3^rd (6.88) and earned the top speed of the day with a 203mph lap.

Junior Pippin gave up the No. 1 spot to Krenik in Pro Stock, but he will take the top honors in Rush Performance Pro Gas after a 7.363 at 180mph best. David Feazell finished the day in the No. 2 spot after a 7.36 best shot.

And grabbing the overwhelming fan approval of the day was 71-year-young- Sonny Burres who took the field by storm with a 7.67 at 166mph to take the No.1 qualifying spot from defending champ-Rick Moore. Burres is indeed working hard to earn his “oldest rookie of the year” nomination!

With just a trio of racers making up the field, Zach Johnson is on the pole (9.06) in McCaa’s Enterprise Street Pro. Danny Worth is No. 2 (9.16) and Bruce Croneberger makes up the three entries with a 9.64. Andy Simon is here this weekend with his bike, but apparently had some problems after a test and tune pass last night and had to sit out today’s qualifying.

Screamin’ Eagle V-Rod Destroyer- It’s GoDaddy.com-VT Race Girl, Valerie Thompson getting her 2^nd career No. 1 qualifying spot and this time it was with a 9.51 at 138mph in the Destroyer field-“party of 20”.

Julia Holliday finished the day 2^nd with a 9.52 and L.E. Tonglet moved Wanda Poff out of the 3^rd spot with a 9.55. Poff is now 4^th with a 9.56 best lap.

Erik Nelson moved to the head of the class in Syn3 ET qualifying with a .004 reaction that put him on top of the 61 ET qualifying day entries.

Bruce “The Champ” Croneberger is the #1 qualifyer after three rounds in Dragmasters Hot Street and in SEP 11.50 qualifying- Curtis Talbott lead the field earlier today, but it was Joey Talbott that swiped the position at the end of the day with a 11.505.

Not a regular name in the Pingel Super Eliminator field, but flexing his skills today was Bobby Hoover who took the No. 1 spot with a 10.915. Gary Douglass was 2^nd with a 10.92.

Mike Roberts is at the top of the pack in S & S 124 Challenge with a 9.400 and K.W. Seneca nailed a 10.303 for the S & S Super Sport top spot just in front of point’s leader John Cabral who clocked a 10.306 for the No. 2 spot.

Lou Gerencer’s 9.530 earned him No. 1 in Screamin’ Eagle V-Rod and in Rucker Performance Super Gas, Ronnie Fensick took over #1 with a “perfecto” 9.700!

And that’s a wrap for today at Bristol Dragway!!!

3:31pm

The’s Pro’s have wrapped up two rounds and the sportsman are one class away from wrapping up No. 2. Still running smooth..still hot..and final round of Pro qualifying is due on the track at 4:00pm.

Top Fuel scoop: So far 13 bikes have made it on the roster and all eyes are on Jim Fagan, the 14^th entry, who has yet to make a qualifying pass. There are 5 racers hoping he makes a 3^rd round successful pass or we are looking at an 8-bike field for the Nitro Harleys. After two rounds, Sevein Rolfstad on his super charge blower is not in the show yet. After making the trip from Sturgis, the Norway rider had problems in the opening round and did not come out for the 2^nd round.

Joey Sternotti sits on the outside at No. 10 after two rounds as well. Sternotti raised a few eyebrows when he showed up sporting Ray Price/Samson Exhaust duds and taking the pilot position on the ride here in Bristol. His best lap so far has been a 8.27 at 109mph and unless a 14^th entry makes it on the order, Sternotti will need a solid pass in the final round to keep the RPR bike in the show tomorrow.

Bill Furr, Dean Comunal and Robert Stewart are also looking for that 14^th entry or even better- a nice 3^rd round pass to get them in the field.

You can see all the numbers right now on the result pages!

1:20pm: Qualifying moving along nicely in the heat of the day at Bristol Dragway.

First round is complete and the sportsman are in 2^nd round. We will run up to the Super Eliminator category and then it will be time to head back to the Pro’s at approx 1:45pm.

**V-Rod Destroyer note..a trio of women at the top of the order after two rounds!

Valerie Thompson on top with a 9.51 followed by Julia Holliday’s 9.52 and Wanda Poff has a 9.59 best after three. Way to go girls!

Good morning from Thunder In The Valley! It’s a hot one on tap here this weekend- both with the temperatures and the action expected on the track!

The pits are full and we are set to begin qualifying at 9:00am.

Follow the results from today’s qualifying on the result pages and we will check back in here with any breaking news or reports of delays.

Schedule of Events

Saturday August 11^th

Qualifying (Sportsman) begins 9:00am

Pro Qualifying 11:00am

Sunday August 12^th

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

Pro Eliminations 12:30pm