AHDRA SEASON OPENER!!!

Screamin’ Eagle Performance Parts Bike Week Nationals Presented by

Gainesville Harley-Davidson

The finals from Gainesville concluded under a full moon looming over the scoreboards and plenty of excitement. It was a frustrating weekend with the weather interrupting normal qualifying procedures, but today we were welcomed with sunny skies and all enjoyed a great show.

Thanks to Stephanie Druschel for getting all the results up on the site here this weekend and join us for more racing March 31^st and April 1^st at Firebird Int’l Raceway in Phoenix, AZ. Goodnight from Gainesville Raceway.

Here come the finals …

Top Fuel-Tommy Grimes and Bob Malloy:

Grimes who ended the 2006 season with a runner up finish in Vegas does the same at the 07 season opener here in Gainesville. It was Bob Malloy charging ahead of Grimes under the lights at Gainesville Raceway and the Harley-Davidson of Seaford team takes home the Top Fuel win with a 6.48 at 195mph over a troubled 9.90 at 88mph from Grimes.

Pro Fuel-John Breckenridge and Jay Turner:

Debris from the Breckenridge bike after plenty of sparks and Jay Turner blazes to the stripe with a 6.63 at 211mph for the win! Turner’s 211mph shot will be good enough for the new speed record previously held by Breckenridge at 210.41mph.

Pro Gas- Chip Ellis and Rick Moore:

Red light start for Moore and Ellis clocks a 7.02 at 191mph for the win.

Pro Stock-Junior Pippin and Mark Venia:

Pippin gets a 7.97 at 160mph for the win over Mark Venia’s 8.08.

Pro Mod- Greg Krenik and Randy Borho:

What a race… and it was Borho coming out on top after a real close finish. Borho clocked an 8.86 for the win, just ahead of Krenik’s 8.87 and both riders lit the board at 147mph.

Street Pro- Danny Worth and Bruce Croneberger

The reigning Hot Street champ opens the season with a Street Pro win on a single when Worth reported broke.

Pro Drag- Curly Jim Fontaine and Rick Moore:

The Fontaine crew celebrates a big win over the reigning champ Moore. Fontaine clocked a 8.00 at 165mph while Moore had problems and coasted to the finish.

Joey Sternotti receives his license for Top Fuel this weekend and comes out to win the Barnett Outlaw Nitro Harley class! Mark Conner runner-up.

Joey won with his 6.61 and 6.74 for the best combined ET used to determine the winner.

Looks like Sternotti will adjust nicely to Nitro.

Sportsman finals…

L.E. Tonglet caps off a great weekend with a 9.14 win over the champ, Michael Ray’s 9.44 in the V-Rod Destroyer final.

Larry Maynhart clocks a 10.44 in the 10.30 index Super Sport final for the win over John Cabral.

In the V-Rod final, it was Larry Edmondson Jr. taking the win over Lou Gerencer.

Jim Day comes out with a 10.90 to win the 10.90 index Super Eliminator class over Lane Boger.

Bruce Croneberger comes out for a double final- this time in his defending championship class, Hot Street- but Charley Douglass stops the champ from opening the season with a win. Douglass earned the win with a hole shot - a .018 to a .128 from Croneberger.

Bill Draffin dials in a 11.40 and clocks a 11.42 for the ET win over Joey Talbott’s matching 11.40 dial in with a 11.60 finish.

Dennis Copley takes the SEP win over Keith Carper and Lou Gerencer may have come up short in the V-Rod final, but he came out on top in the SSC 124 final over Chuck Bothe.

Dan Lenock had the better number against the 9.70 index of Super Gas to take the win over Jeff Garvin.

Update on Danny Boyer who was injured earlier in sportsman competition. We received word that x-rays showed no broken bones and cat scan looks good. So far, a crooked toe is what they have found. We are happy to hear that! Come on back Danny.s

6:08pm-

A few more rounds to go to narrow the sportsman classes to the finals along with the Pros. It looks like the finals will be underway at 6:45pm or close to it.

Street Pro Update:

Danny Worth and Bruce Croneberger advanced past the best, including the champ, Andy Simon for their appearance in today’s Street Pro final.

Pro Mod Update:

Greg Krenik can thank a fast working crew for his position in the Pro Mod final. After Krenik lost fire in the box, an alert Steve Allstedt, (crew chief) got him re-fired within the 30-second requirement and Krenik went on to defeat Stephen Galati and will take on Randy Borho in the final. Krenik set a new Pro Mod record today with his 8.65 win over Galati in the semi that was backed up by his Round one 8.71.

Pro Stock Update:

Junior Pippin advances with a 7.99 over Beltramini in the Pro Stock semi and then Mark Venia and Donnie Huffman paired up in a great semi final round.

They were off the line- dead even with a pair of .037’s and it was Venia grabbing the win light with a 8.09. Huffman’s had been tough on the tree all day with back-to-back hole shot wins before Venia takes him out and heads to the final.

Pro Drag Update:

Rick Moore round robins to the starting line after his Pro Gas win to take on Will Simplot in the Pro Drag semis- they were side by side and Moore pulls it out at the stripe with a 7.44 against a 7.45 from Simplot for the win. Moore will make a first time double-final appearance today looking for both the Pro Drag and Pro Gas trophy.

Pro Gas Update:

Lozano backs it out of the box in the semis and Rick Moore advances on the single for his first appearance in a Pro Gas final and he will take on Chip Ellis who just blasted down the track and clocked a 6.92 at 194.42mph!! A first time six second Pro Gas pass in AHDRA competition and the new record.

4:45pm

We are back for some of the Pro class semis as we try to get the Pro classes completed on schedule and before sundown under the cooler than normal Florida temperatures.

The sun is shining and the skies are clear and so far a picture perfect race day.

On deck- Drums Brancaccio and Tommy Grimes and then it will be the low ET holder of the meet- Bob Malloy against Joe Timmons- Here come the semi’s…

Drums gets off the line with a .005 reaction but Grimes pulls out BIG horsepower and wins the round with a 6.42 at 226.53mph!! A national record speed and Grimes will be back in the final with a chance for the official record. A nice clean pass for Grimes who had motor problems in his first pass and broke a belt in his 2^nd round, but none the less advanced and returned big with the whopping 226mph blast.

The final will see Grimes against Bob Malloy after Malloy advanced with a 6.44 at 203mph over Joe Timmons. Stay tuned for Malloy who is quickest so far today and Grimes- the fastest of the day in an exciting Top Fuel final later today.

3:12-

Round two of Screamin’ Eagle Nitro Harleys on the track and the opening pair- Drums Brancaccio and Mike Romine results in an upset for the champ as Brancaccio gets out first and gets the win light after Romine spits a pushrod.

Other round two upsets- Steve Dorn loses his chance at another round when he signals he is broke before firing the bike. Tommy Grimes receives the bye run there and had problems of his own on the single pass, but advances.

Jay Turner has ended his day early after thrashing in the pits to prepare for the round.

The Mancuso team made it to the lanes with the bike before giving the “broke” signal to the starter that sent Joe Timmons on the solo run.

Doug Vancil and Bob Malloy, provided the match up to see of session two- after they both came out with 30’s in the opening round- they did it again, but this time paired together- and it was Malloy getting the better number in the side-by-side pass.

Vancil comes up short (remarkably) with a 6.39 at 223mph to a 6.32 at 208mph from Malloy on the Harley-Davidson of Seaford bike.

The JIMS Pro Fuel round two session is on the track and Jay Turner prevails in this class on a single after Armon Furr loses fire and is unable to make the pass.

John Breckenridge advanced after Russ Hildenbrand went up in flames at the launch. Hildenbrand was not injured.

Pro Stock Update:

Mark Venia now owns the 2007 Pro Stock record (pending tech inspection). Venia clocked a 8.08 in his first round and comes out with a 7.98 in the 2^nd round for the new E.T. record. (7.98).

Meanwhile, Steven Galati just ran a 8.762 at 153.53 to better the Pro Mod record marks and has more rounds left to back up those ET and MPH marks.

We are rolling along with 2^nd session, including Nitro Harley Outlaw- before resuming with sportsman classes that were interrupted during their first session.

Stay tuned for more results on the ladder pages.

2:00pm-

From the JIMS Pro Fuel Round- Champion Armon Furr advances with a 7.16 over Willie Herschberger. Herschberger made his Pro Fuel debut on the Pro Fueler formerly piloted by Jim Fagan- AHDRA’s Pro Rookie of the Year.

Jay Tuner will do double duty in the 2^nd session of today’s eliminations after advancing earlier in Top Fuel and now moving on in Pro Fuel with a 6.69 win over Julian Seaman.

John Breckenridge clocked six-second numbers himself (6.820) to advance over Mark Blackmer and rounding out the ladder was Chris Streeter and Russ Hildenbrand.

Hildenbrand took the upset win in the round after Streeter smoked the tire and his attempt to get back in it came up short.

Pro Gas News:

Chip Ellis and the G2 Motorsports team take down the record number to 7.015 at 192.30mph. That’s the National ET and MPH best and all they need is the back-up numbers later today to make it official.

Pro Stock News: Mark Venia gets close to the 8.06 national record with his 8.08 pass to advance over David Poague who came out with the hole shot advantage before Venia charges by him.

Donnie Huffman gets a hole shot win over Dale Raudenbush in the Pro Stock opener.

Huffman riding the bike owned by Jordan Cruz and Bob Drapp in as crew chief got out with a .062 to a sleeping .386 from Raudenbush to hold on for the round win.

That’s a short update from today’s opening round- follow the results of all of today’s competition on the ladder pages for your favorite class.

More from the opening round of Top Fuel- Mike Lehman was up in smoke in his opening round in a loss to Drums Brancaccio.

Steve Dorn and Tracy Kile both boiled the tire but Dorn recovers and gets to the stripe first.

Jay Turner gets a big hole shot on Steve Doc Hopkins and takes the win with a 6.595 and Joe Timmons advanced with a 6.70 over Jack Romine who left off the throttle early.

1:13pm

Light em up! Indeed- The Top Fuel Nitro Harleys are on the track, the grandstands look good and it’s racing as it should be with sunny skies and plenty of horsepower.

Mike Romine who’s points position made him the #1 qualifyer came off the trailer with no practice, no qualifying runs this weekend and clocked a 6.594 at 223mph against Steve Stordeur. Stordeur and Romine were side-by-side with only .007 difference at the 1/8^th mile. And while I was typing this, Doug Vancil brings the crowd to their feet and Julie Vancil throws her arms in the air with joy as the #3 plate holder clocks a 6.38 at 225mph to advance over Sam White.

And then..Bob Malloy follows with a 6.38 to advance over Bill Furr’s 6.64.

What a round from competitors that are having to make their first pass of the weekend right here in eliminations and apparently have made the proper tuning choices!!

The track is ready..and the sun is shining! Follow today’s round results on the ladder pages of your favorite class.

10:45am

Outside temp- 62 Track temp 87

Sunday, March 4- Good morning from a sun filled day in Gainesville- after a long wait for the sunshine- we are officially underway with early sportsman rounds of eliminations.

If you followed yesterday’s updates, you are up to speed on the sportsman qualifying. The sportsman classes ran one full round and after track conditions worsened with dropping temperatures and dew rapidly arriving, the qualifying was called off and sportsman ladders were created based on the one round.

The Pro’s (who were already vocally concerned about the track surface as temperatures fell), were unfortunately faced with alternate circumstances for creating ladders.

The qualifying order was based on 2006 point’s standings in the Pro classes and once all point’s competitors were in the field, any remaining spots on the ladder were determined by lowest plate numbers. This left a few non-points competitors out of today’s show, but Officials feel the situation was handled in fairest way possible.

All fuel bikes will be allowed to compete in the Barnett Outlaw category in today’s show and riders that are here to test for license will be allowed to make passes today as well.

We will post the qualifying order on the qualifying pages for each individual class so you can take a look at who’s here and how the ladder procedure left them for today’s show.

You may have seen mention here of Norway rider, Rolfstad waiting for his bike to arrive after being held up in customs- and apparently things didn’t shake out as he has not yet entered a bike at registration. If for some reason the bike is here and he techs in, we look to see him in the Barnett Outlaw field today.

Following these early morning sportsman rounds, we are set to kick off opening ceremonies at 12:30pm.

Stay tuned for all the action.

Breaking news from Gainesville:

8:00pm

Track conditions force AHDRA to cut qualifying session short.

After dealing with the rain delays that called off last night’s qualifying session and caused extended delays in today’s show, the sportsman were finally able to take the track around 4:30pm.

With the conclusion of first round sportsman qualifying getting near completion, the temperatures tumbled to chilly 50-degree temps and the track conditions worsened.

AHDRA President, Craig Tharpe observed the track conditions closely and after meeting with several concerned riders, it was decided that tonight’s qualifying session would end with a completed round for all sportsman categories. The sportsman ladders will now be determined off of the one and only round of qualifying.

The Pros….

The Pro categories will be laddered using the 2006 AHDRA Point’s results. There are many scenario’s that could factor into this..

What if I didn’t run in 2006??

What if I ran in 2006 but did not sign up for point’s??

What if I am here to test for my license??

All of those questions and more are being addressed as we prepare to layout ladders and examine all the scenarios. We plan to do everything possible to get everyone a pass.

We will be working on laying out those ladders very early in the morning and will report here with the final outcome.

Please keep in mind, that safety is the key factor here. Even if Pro riders were given a qualifying round in the morning- with the large number of entries, we would still be running this time tomorrow night and facing the same moisture and deteriorating track conditions with even colder temperatures forecasted.

We will be back in the morning to kick off sportsman eliminations at 9:00am, and will make announcements regarding the ladders for the Pros. Stay tuned.

Good night from Gainesville Raceway.

6:30pm-

Opening round of qualifying for the sportsman still on the track. We are getting the results on the qualifying pages as soon as possible-which is appropriately the time for me officially welcome Stephanie Druschel to the tower for the 2007 season. Stephanie will be bringing you the results this season why I concentrate on keeping the tower operations running smoothly along with my media responsibilities. Stephanie is not new to racing as she has been crewing for her husband, Dean Druschel for three years and has handed over her wrenches at the Poor Boys Racing.org pits so that she can give us a hand at the keyboards in the tower. Welcome Stephanie!!

5:18pm- Without jinxing the process, we seem to be clear again and Syn3 ET is half way through there opening round with 77 bikes in the lanes for the first lap in the class.

Next up V-Rod Destroyer’s- 30 of them on the roster at last count.

Stay tuned.

4:24pm-

Track was ready..Syn3 ET bikes in the lanes…4 pairs run down the track and the sprinkles return! Unbelievable disappointment for a track crew that spent hours getting the track ready to go, but the sprinkles appear to be light and should result in less of a clean-up. ET racers are waiting it out in the staging lanes and we will try to be patient up here in the timing tower too as we stand by to hopefully go racing!

3:00pm- The Track crews are still at work trying to get us ready for racing. The shut down area seems to be the primary focus at this time with the rest of the track pretty much ready to go. The sun only hung out briefly, which we had hoped would speed up the process, but at least the rain has held off and according to radar, we should be good for this evening. Looks like we may be at least another hour at getting the track in tip top shape, so stand-by for updates as they become available.

12:34pm- The sun is peaking through the clouds as the Gainesville track staff is once again working to get the track in race-ready condition. If the sun holds on and the rain holds off, our best guess is that we could be racing between 2:00 or 2:30pm. Make that a best guess and a big hope so!

There are now at least 350 entries waiting for a shot at qualifying here today, and maintaining hope that the rain delay will work in his favor is European rider, Svein Olav Rolfstad who anxiously awaits the arrival of his Top Fuel bike that has been held “hostage” in customs. Rolfstad has received word the bike has cleared, but no confirmation on when it will be trucked the short 4 hours from Savannah to Gainesville.

Other news from the grapevine in the pits …

Several riders in various gas classes are making the leap to fuel for the 07 season, including 2006 Sportsman Rookie of the Year, Douglas Horne. Horne was making license passes on Thursday with tuning help from Rex Harris and with Mike and Patty Romine by his side on the starting line. Romine built the150ci ride for Horne who will campaign this year under Horne Racing.

Former Street Pro Champ, Joey Sternotti will take the track on a DJ Johnson Top Fuel ride this year and Brook McCabe who started testing his fuel riding skills last year will continue his quest in the Top Fuel category for 2007. McCabe campaigns his ride for Collier Harley-Davidson.

The Drag Master, Willie Herschberger will step up to the Pro Fuel category this year with Dale Nungesser (07 Wrench of the Year) as his crew chief. Herschberger purchased his Pro Fuel ride from Jim Fagan who faired well on the bike last season, his first year in Nitro-which earned him 2006 “Pro Rookie of the Year” honors.

Willie sends special thanks to Jack Romine and Patti Romine for tuning and training help in the transition.

Stay tuned for more updates as we wait it out with hopes to fire em’ up later today!!

Saturday, March 3^rd 10:00am: Good morning from Gainesville Raceway for AHDRA’s season opener. Yesterday’s Round One qualifying session was cancelled due to the unrelenting rain showers, but we are back today with hopes of getting qualifying underway later today. The schedule called for qualifying to begin this morning at 9:00am, but with a wet track and showers still in the area, we are looking at a delayed start that could be at least three or four hours. Accomplishing at least one round of qualifying would bring many of the 344 racers currently teched in at least some satisfaction headed into tomorrow’s eliminations with a forecast that looks more promising.

But in the meantime, we will wait it out and due everything possible to get bikes on the track today.

Over 20 Top Fuel bikes are teched in for this weekend’s show. We will follow up shortly with news on a few newcomers in the fuel category as well as news on Norway’s, Svien Olav Rolfstad who had hopes of racing his Top Fuel ride here this weekend, before problems with getting the bike cleared through customs interrupted his plans. Rolfstad’s bike is just 4-hours away in Savannah, GA, and the rain delay here in Gainesville just may work in his favor. Stay tuned for more on Rolfstad and highlights from the Screamin’ Eagle Bike Week Nationals presented by Gainesville Harley-Davidson.

March 2^nd -4^th

Gainesville Raceway

Friday, March 2^nd, 5:14pm: Today’s qualifying session has been called off due to continuing showers. Plans are to begin qualifying tomorrow morning at 9:00am with the sportsman classes. Stay tuned tomorrow for updates on the conditions here at Gainesville Raceway and hopefully reports on qualifying results.

Friday, March 2^nd , 2:29pm-Good afternoon from Gainesville Raceway, where the rain continues to interrupt today’s racing. The Gainesville track staff had made substantial progress in getting the track dry before the showers upset their notable efforts.

We continue to wait it out and will update you on the status of today’s qualifying session that was planned for 5:00pm.

Friday, March 2^nd, 11:09am- Good morning from Gainesville Raceway. Anxious racers have entered the gates and and filled the pits in abundance as expected for the 2007 AHDRA season opener, but unfortunately, wet weather has put a damper on the opening day excitement.

Rain was heavy this morning and has currently slowed to sprinkles, but skies remain cloudy and gray.

Today’s schedule called for a Test and Tune session beginning at 1:00pm with Round one qualifying at 5:00pm. At this time, we are at the mercy of the weather and will have to wait out the current line if showers to see how today’s schedule will proceed.

We will keep you informed of any updates right here on AHDRA’s Live Update page.

Thursday, March 1^st

7:00pm- 9:00pm Gates will open Thursday evening for parking. Parking available for 2 hours only Thursday.

***The AHDRA tech trailer will be set up outside the gate area on Thursday for early tech in and registration. Registration hours 1:00-9:00pm.

Friday, March 2^nd

8:00am- Gates open for parking- racers and vendors.

8:00am- Tech and Registration open

1:00-5:00pm- Test and Tune Session conducted by Gainesville Raceway

Fee $100 per bike

5:00pm- Round One qualifying for all classes.

$10 admission fee for Friday qualifying- (applies to Spectators only)

Saturday, March 3^rd

7:00am- Gates open. Tech and Registration Open

9:00am- Qualifying for Sportsman Classes

11:00am- Qualifying for Pro Classes

Sunday, March 4^th

8:00am- Gates Open. Tech and Registration Open

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

12:15pm- Opening Ceremonies

12:30pm- Pro Eliminations begin