Race Notes:

S & S Cycle California Nationals Presented By Drag Specialties

Elimination’s Complete and the crowd leaves happy after plenty of ground pounding excitement.

It was the biggest crowd of the year witnessing the hottest ticket in town. It took place at Famoso Raceway and there was no shortage on the highlights.

Steve Heidner grabbed a first (AHDRA) Screamin’ Eagle Nitro Harley win. He faced Salt Lake City H-D dealer, Joe Timmons, who ran consistent most of the weekend, until Heidner’s 6.995 at 196.54 left him settling for the runner-up position.

Ron Houniet was the #1 qualifyer this weekend with the low E.T. of 6.762 and Griz Robinson set the top speed of 210.92mph.

JIMS Pro Fuel winner, Jack Romine was off his normal pace this weekend, but he’s not complaining. Romine has made multiple finals this year, and he finally got his ride to the winner’s circle in California. He beat Gabe Larkins who had a great outing in his rookie season in the Pro Fuel category.

Patrick Fenderson was the #1 qualifyer with a low E.T. of 7.186 and Chicago Joe took top speed honors of 192.63.

Rick Maney gave it plenty of speed today in S & S Pro Stock. Maney grabbed a back -to -back win in the category, beating Scott Pollacheck in the final. Maney set all the numbers this weekend with #1 qualifyer spot, low E.T. of 7.477 and top speed at a impressive 181.01mph pace.

Kresto Pro Drag brought the best of the weekend to the line, and after Scott Truett was left out of the final in Texas from mechanical turmoil, he redeemed himself in California with the win over Chuck Jones. Truett held the numbers across the board with a 7.438 low E.T. and #1 qualifying spot and he was the fastest with a 177.47 quarter-mile pass.

Fred Love was the winner in S & S Pro Gas after a disappointed Kenny Schaefer broke in the box. A fuel leak appeared be the problem and Schaefer was forced to shut it off. Robert Markham held the performance advantage all weekend, with a 8.329 low qualifying position and top speed of 167.44mph, but in today’s opening round, flames shot from the 99 Buell ending Markham’s day.

Junior Pippin decided to make the trip to California on Tuesday, and he got here in 48 hours. The Conyers, Georgia rider granted Discovery Channel’s, Monster nation the opportunity to follow him and friendly rival, Cliff Dwy this weekend, and while Dwy left the show in the semi’s with a broken machine, Junior went on to the finals against Darren Mauldin who was hot all weekend in the highly competitive Joker Machine Pro Modified class. Pippin got the win and shares the top number boards with Mauldin. Mauldin has the top speed of 161.89mph, while Pippin has low E.T. and #1 qualifying honors of 8.363. Pippin ran consistent 30’s throughout eliminations on his way to victory.

Among the record numbers still to be confirmed from Mauldin and Pippin in Modified action, there are record numbers to iron out in Rivera-Primo Street Pro. Stute was the winner this weekend over the #1 qualifyer, Sternotti who’s best speed was the fastest at 152.85mph. Stute was this weekend low E.T. scorer of 9,076.

Time slips are being turned in, verified and there are bike tech inspections to be carried out before any verification can be reported on records set here at Famoso Raceway.

John Burdynski was the solo entry in the heads up action of DragMaster’s Hot Street, and he took the easy win, with records to claim of his own. Burdynski, not satisfied with the no contest victory in Hot Street, also enter the 11.50index class, known as SEP and he battled his way through plenty of competition for a well earned win. Burdynski defeated the defending champion of the class, Dan Degood. (J.P. Hendrzak was the #1 qualifyer).

Terry Vaughn returned for a repeat victory in Screamin’ Eagle V-Rod, taking on Richard Nallin for the win. Vaughn had the numbers of the weekend with a 9.899 low qualifying pass and a top speed of 139.38mph.

Redline Super Gas winner was Greg Krenik over Scott Martin, and “Big” Dave Brill took on Terry Brown for his win in S & S Super Sport. Krenik was top qualifyer in Super Gas and Julian Seaman was the #1 man going into today’s opening round in theSuper Sport category.

Joe Boyd beat Rock Muluenna for the Performance Corner Super Eliminator win. The #1 qualifyer there was Jeff Barton.

Tripp Nobles made the winners circle, but not in usual form- Nobles was unable to meet tech requirements in the V-Rod category, but he had enough to run through a big enough field of Syn3 E.T. bikes for a win over Raymond McNamara.

Those were the highlights in short form. There’s plenty more to tell from this- a highly successful event for AHDRA-who would like to thank S & S Cycle and Drag Specialties along with Bakersfield Harley-Davidson for pulling together to bring the show to Bakersfield.

Thanks to Discovery Channel’s, Monster Nation,and the crew from American Thunder for filming the action here this weekend. Fans can log on to www.ahdra over the next few weeks for updates on broadcast from Famoso Raceway.

That’s a wrap from Bakersfield!