AHDRA
Gypsy Rendezvous
Nationals Presented by
Drag Specialties
May 6th &
7th
Gateway International
Raceway
Sunday,
May 7th- Eliminations from Gateway IntÕl Raceway.
6:30pm
A hole shot win
in the Top Fuel final for Vancil who ran a great race against Mike Romine. All the results are posted on the
ladder pages.
ThatÕs a wrap from a successful and pleasant day at Gateway IntÕl
Raceway.
5:20pm
The finals are in the lanes.
Stay tuned for the results.
4:20pm
All the ladders
are current on the update pages and we are awaiting the call for Top Fuel
semis-followed by all remaining semis.
The results will follow after they run.
3:30pm-
If you are
following the ladders- you will see eliminations are moving along nicely with
little delay. Willie G. and his wife
Nancy stayed right at trackside (with plenty of cheers and smiles) for all the
opening rounds including the ground pounding Top Fuel round. A nice crowd is on hand including the
Gypsy Rendezvous Ride that included 1,000 riders.
The results are being updated continuously on the ladder pages and
I will only be back here with breaking news or track delay notifications.
Reminder- Eliminations may run in varied order to allow all
classes to reach the finals together.
Good morning
from the Gypsy Rendezvous Nationals.
The temps are slighter warmer today under sunny skies. The high is forecasted for low 70Õs for
todayÕs racing.
A big day is on
tap here today with the Gypsy Rendezvous Armed Forces benefit ride (the largest
in the Midwest we hear)- a bike show, 2 live bands, and Harley-Davidson Fat Boy
raffle and a special visit from
Willie G.
Davidson who we hear is in route right now. HeÕll join us in the tower later today for some commentary
with our announcer, Aaron Green.
Of course the
racing will be the highlight for todayÕs expected good crowd. Our show will begin a little later than
usual to allow the Gypsy Rendezvous riders to get in the facility and parked
prior to the opening ceremonies that are expected to begin at 1:00pm.
From
yesterdayÕs qualifying:
Screamin Eagle
Top Fuel:
Vancil leads
the field today in the #1 spot. He
was consistent in the 40Õs yesterday, but it was his first pass- a 6.42 that
turned out to be his best.
Tak Shigematsu
struggled through the first pair of rounds before DJ worked a little mechanical
magic that put Shigematsu in the 2nd spot with a 6.455 in the final
session of qualifying.
The champ, Mike
Romine secured the third spot with his 6.494 in his opening round. He was slightly slower in the 2nd
lap (6.50) and in the final round, he clicked the throttle early.
Jay Turner got
progressively quicker throughout the day on the Mancuso H-D ride. He started the day with a 6.60 before a
6.49 in the 3rd round gave him the #4 spot.
Tommy Grimes is
currently in the 6th spot with a 6.62 from a 2nd round
pass-, which was obviously a costly one.
The word is he has lost a motor (his 2nd of the weekend) and
had to sit out the 3rd round with no spare.
Apparently
parts are on the way and we will stand by to see the Ray Price team can turn
the wrenches in time for todayÕs show.
JIMS Pro Fuel:
The champ,
Chris Streeter got quicker by the round, keeping the #1 spot all day. His best- 6.795 at 198.73mph.
Armon Furr is
looking for a 3-peat win this weekend and starts the show today in the #2
qualifying position with a 6.899 best.
S & S Pro
Gas:
Lori Francis, a
former NHRA Pro Stock rider is here on the ThielÕs Wheels-Jon Miller tuned bike
this weekend. Francis was also
quicker by the round to get her #1 spot with a 7.330/177.21mph.
Joe Sternotti
ran his best of the day in the 3rd round (7.673) for the #2 spot,
while the champ- Mike Lozano got his best shot in the first round (7.72) for
the 3rd spot.
Pro Stock
champ-Dale Raudenbush is joining the Pro Gas class once again this weekend and
holds the 4th spot (8.141) while Phil Marcum rounds out the field in
5th with a 8.168 best.
Kresto Pro
Drag:
Teamwork goes
hand in hand and the Drag Masters displayed it in Pro Drag competition. Willie Herschberger scored the top spot
with a 7.414 while fellow Drag Master, Dale Nungesser took the 2nd
spot with a 7.420.
Samson Pro
Modified:
Junior Pippin
is at the head of the class (8.226) on the Stone Mtn.-Granite Mtn. H-D ride and
Shaun Reno and the Headblade bike is right behind him with a 8.320 for the 2nd
spot.
G2 Street Pro:
Andy Simon is
still ruling the roost in Street Pro competition. He leads the pack with a 6.679 at 155.79mph. Simon has chopped the record books at
his last two outings with an 8.638 being his record to beat this weekend.
From the
Sportsman qualifying:
Derek Drown
locked up his #1 spot in Rucker Performance Super Gas racing in the opening
round with his 9.706 against the 9.70 index.
Valerie
Thompson tried to catch him in her final lap –but came up short with a
9.717 for the 2nd spot. (Not a bad finish with 37 entries in the
field).
Donnie Huffman
sits in a rare Òout of the fieldÓ- 33rd spot in Super Gas, but
although on the bottom side there, he is all the way at the top in his
championship class-Performance Corner Super Eliminator with a near perfect
10.907 on the 10.90 index.
Wanda Poff also
missed the field in Super Gas but is in the top half of the pack in Screamin
Eagle V-Rod Destroyer, qualifying #4 out of 35 entries.
It was Erik
Ryder scoring the top numbers on the Destroyer with a record
mark-9.224(137.22mph). Don
Stratton Jr. was also quicker than the current record (which was a 9.281 by
Chuck Kennedy in Gainesville).
StrattonÕs best
was a 9.259 at 140.88mph in qualifying for the 2nd spot.
Tripp Nobles
who has qualified #1 and won his past 2 outings is in the 6th spot
with a 9.323 best.
Michael Ray
stays at the top again in S & S 124 racing (9.475) and Dan Norlin grabbed
the pole in Drag Masters Hot Street with a 10.189 best.
In ScreaminÕ
Eagle V-Rod action, the champion Jamie McNaughton comes to the starting line as
the #1 qualifier for the first time in the 06 season.
His Eagle H-D
teammate, Larry Edmondson has held that spot and grabbed the wins at the past
two meets. Edmondson is in the 3rd
spot with a 9.749 and James Wise was the #2 qualifier with a 9.545.
G.W. Bass
nailed a perfect 10.300 in the S & S Super sport (10.30 index) class in his
2nd round of qualifying and moved Larry Maynhart to the 2nd
spot with his nearly perfect 10.303.
Eleanor Walker
had a great shot at the #1 spot in SEP (11.50) racing with her 11.505 in the 2nd
round- but that was before Wells Hargrove came up with a better 11.505 in the
final session moving her to the 2nd position.
Mike Harrison
was the best at the tree in Syn3 ET qualifying yesterday with a .001 for the
top spot, followed by Roberta SeamanÕs .002 for the 2nd
position. JP Hendrzak gave it a
good shot with a .008 for the third spot.
Harrison, the
#1 qualifier had the bye run for this morningÕs early rounds of eliminations in
Syn3 ET, but was a no show for the opening round.
Those sportsman
early rounds are continuing now as we narrow them down to sixteen or less.
We will have at
least an hour break following those rounds as we await the arrival of the Gypsy
Rendezvous Ride. TodayÕs show is
set to begin at 1:00pm and we will carry the results on the ladder pages for
you right here on AHDRA Live Updates.
Saturday, May 6- Qualifying Day at Gateway IntÕl Raceway
7:00pm-
Qualifying sessions are complete.
All the numbers are now posted on the result pages.
TomorrowÕs elimination coverage begins at 9:30am.
4:00pm- Pro
qualifying 3rd and final round qualifying is on the track.
We will then
resume the remaining sportsman 2nd rounds starting with Super
Eliminator followed by all sportsman final rounds.
The results are coming at you as the rounds wrap for each class.
2:10pm-
Top Fuel round
2 underway and Doug Vancil stands by to take the left lane after an oil clean
up is complete from the previous pairing.
His previous
6.42 is still the best number of the pack so far.
The results coming right up after the round.
1:30pm
All classes have completed first round and we are underway with
round two of Pro qualifying.
I am solo up here in the tower- so in order to keep the results coming
to you in a timely manner I will only be checking in here with breaking news or
delays. More results coming right
up!
10:30am- Update
on the oil down clean-up. It is
still underway, but almost complete.
We were only a few pairs into the ET round before this hour delay- so
the plans we resume are to run ET, Destroyer, SEP and then head right into the
opening round of Pro qualifying.
Sportsman round one qualifying will resume with Hot Street following the
Pro round.
Syn3 ET qualifying
started at 9am, but a heavy-duty oil down (all the way to the 300ft mark) has
us on hold. The oil down happened
at 9:30am and looks to be at least a 30-minute or more delay.
Good morning
from an unseasonably cooler St. Louis.
The forecasted high today is 70 degrees- a welcome warm up to the mid
60Õs yesterday that brought out the jackets and sweatshirts!
The ProÕs take
the track at 11am.
Catch the qualifying numbers here on the Live Update result pages.
SCHEDULE
OF EVENTS:
Friday,
May 5th
Test &
Tune 6:00pm-10:00pm
Conducted
by Gateway IntÕl Raceway
Saturday,
May 6th
Gates
open- 7am
Opening
round Sportsman Qualifying- 9am
Opening
round Pro Qualifying- 11am
Sunday,
May 7th
Gates
open- 8am
Sportsman
Eliminations (as needed to reach 16-bike fields)- 9:30am
Opening
ceremonies- 12:45pm
Opening
round Pro Eliminations- 1:00pm