National Sand Drag News - SCSDA Soboba Sept '12 Race Recap

The Southern California Sand Drag Association (SCSDA) held their third event of the 2012 season over the last weekend of September. This event was also the fifth of eight races in the 2012 NSRA Quality Aircraft Care Sand Drag Series. Sunny skies and warm weather greeted racers from across the Southwest U.S. for this great battle in So Cal.

Top Fuel

At the “Remember September” SCSDA, one Top Fuel car showed up to compete. Dennis Rieck and the Hammer Down team continued to work on dialing in their new Hemi combination. Coming off of a big win at Albuquerque before the Summer break, the Hammer Down team continued to show big progress in qualifying at Soboba as they ran a best ET of 2.353 at only 136MPH. The other two qualifying attempts were a 2.45 and 2.47, so they showed some consistency in all conditions. Unfortunately, on the final round win, the Hammer Down Fueler experienced an unprecedented tire failure as both rear tires exploded around 60’ down track. Thankfully, Dennis was able to keep the car upright & the car suffered minimal damage as he skidded to a stop just past the finish line. Rieck’s win moved him past Scott Whipple and into the Top Fuel point’s lead.

Dennis Rieck

Top Alcohol

The Top Alcohol class headed back to Soboba with Jim Hammond looking to make it two wins in a row with his April’s Dream Dragster. Hammond made big strides starting off the 2012 season with his new Hemi power plant, and rode into the Summer break with a big final round win over Gary Mink. Qualifying saw defending champ Mink be the class of the field with a solid 2.53/144MPH. Starting from the 2nd spot was Ashley Sanford with her best ever TA qualifying position running a 2.581/135 with the Frederosa’s Team Extreme “Free Bird” Dragster. Rounding out the field would be Hammond with a nice 2.61, Pedro Villa & his “Express” Dragster with a Personal Best 2.62, and Scott Carroll’s 2.65 in the Northern AZ Diesel Repair/801 Racing entry.

Round one saw three bye runs, and a single run with the 5 car ladder. The single run was created when Villa was unable to repair damage during qualifying. Mink once again led performance wise in round one with a stellar 2.57 while Carroll & Sanford ran a pair of 2.68’s and Hammond struggled to a 2.77. The semi-finals kicked off with Mink and Carroll facing off. These two battled for the championship in 2011, and always put on a great show when lined up side by side. Scott was ready on the tree taking the advantage, but could only muster a 2.78 while Mink kept up his torrid pace with a 2.58/141MPH in the heat of the day for the win. The next pair would see the 2-3 pair with Sanford and Hammond lining up. Ashley would be on her game taking over a tenth of a second on the tree, but her car headed out of the groove and she wisely lifted, which allowed Hammond to drive by with a 2.61/142MPH.

This set up a repeat final round from the May Soboba event, where Hammond took a hole shot 2.66 to 2.62 victory. The stage was set eerily similar with both racers running similar ET’s in the semi-final round. When the tree dropped, it was almost like Groundhog’s Day as Hammond left first .461 to .559, and that was all it took as the April’s Dream ride ran a 2.65/133MPH to defeat Mink’s quicker but losing 2.59/137MPH. The Margin of Victory at the stripe was just .038. Congrats go out to Jim Hammond and the April’s Dream team on their second win of the 2012 race season.

Jim Hammond

Gary Mink

Top Eliminator

TE Qualifying was a back and forth battle with several racers juggling the top spot throughout the early rounds. Billy Morris led the field going into the final session with a 2.998 on the 2.95 Index. In the final session, Jim Rossi ran a 2.988 to take over the top spot with the “Bad Toy” Blown BBC-powered Dragster. But that wouldn’t last as Paul Taylor would take the #1 qualifying spot back for good with a 2.984 with the “Outta Control” Dragster.

Taylor would start off round one running a great 2.972 on a single run when Glen Hickey was unable to make the round one call. Next up would be a battle of the Jeeps as Todd Kinney in the UTI Jeep faced off with the Larry Minor Motorsports entry of Geoff Gill. Kinney would leave first by just over a tenth of a second, and not look back in a 3.07 to 3.09 victory. Rossi would shoe the “Bad Toy” to a 3.04 to 3.37 victory over Zac Bogner in the Lucas Oil/Tap-It Dragster. Finishing out the round would be points leader “2 Dolla’ Bill” Billy Morris running a 3.02 to defeat Ron D’Artenay’s 3.17.

Round two would set up with the four top cars of the season in TE battling it out for the win. First up would see #1 qualifier Taylor against the mighty Blown Jeep of Kinney. Kinney would leave first .536 to .589, and hang on running a great 3.00 to Paul’s 2.99. In the other pair, the Dragsters of Morris and Rossi pulled to the line. Morris would once again show his starting line prowess with a tenth of a second lead, which would lead him to the win 3.09 to 3.04.

The final round boiled down to a classic Dragster versus Jeep battle with both cars running similar screw Blown BBC engines. Morris & Kinney are usually deadly on the tree, and it would be no exception in this battle as Morris took a slim .480 to .500 edge. They would stay glued side by side down track, but at the stripe the Dragster would get there first in a 2.99 to 3.03 decision. Congratulations to the Morris Family Racing team on their third win of the 2012 season.

Billy Morris

Todd Kinney

Fast Fours

Mario Tavares put on a clinic in the Fast Fours class with the Pauter/Tavares dragster at the May event, running an impressive string of 2.7 passes and coming up just short of a new World Record. The eyes would be on this team as the September event rolled around. The Animal Control team of Daniel & DL King set the pace in Friday night qualifying with a great 2.81 pass; however their weekend would come to an end with parts breakage during the first qualifier on Saturday. It would take until Q3 for Tavares to hit the right combination and jump to the top of the list with a 2.79/122MPH blast. The theme of parts breakage continued with the Cronin Racing team of John & Art Cronin both being unable to make it to eliminations, leaving just three cars to battle it out on race day.

Round one was a challenge with Aaron Mamer leading the pack on his single run with a 2.91. Tavares shut off early to a 3.61 on his bye while Brian Chapman just idled down the track on his single. The second round started off with a primetime match up between the Sidewinder of Mamer and the always potent Tavares/Pauter entry. Mamer would gain a six-hundredths of a second advantage on the tree, which was enough to hang on for a 2.97 to 2.94 victory. So, this would set up a Sidewinder vs. Short Fuse final round as Chapman would once again idle down the track saving parts for the final.

The two best leavers in the class lined up for the final Flat Four round of the day. It would be Chapman’s Short Fuse Dragster leaping out of the hole by a half a tenth, but at the stripe it was the legendary Sidewinder taking the win in a 2.90 to 3.01 decision. Congrats to Aaron Mamer on his second win of the 2012 season.

Fast Fours Final - Aaron Mamer (Far Lane) vs. Brian Chapman

Aaron Mamer

Pro Mod Unlimited

The Pro Mod Unlimited class continued to put on a thrilling show at this Soboba event. Geoff Gill led the pack in qualifying with a 3.03 in the Larry Minor Motorsports Jeep. Jimmy DePasse debuted at this event driving the Otis Simpson-owned Blown BBC-powered Jeep previously driven by Jimmy’s father, Jim. DePasse would qualify #2 with a solid 3.13.

Round one saw the Larry Minor Motorsports teammates of Gill and Derek Balcunas roll to the starting line. This would be a nice battle with the top qualifier advancing on in a 3.11 to 3.29 decision. The next pair would see DePasse line up against Las Vegas racer Nick Shultzman in his Blown Altered. This would be a bizarre battle as Nick went red, while DePasse broke the blower belt at the hit, which was good enough to turn on the win light.

So, the final round came down to a pair of Larry Minor Motorsports bodied Jeeps with the small block version driven by Gill against DePasse with big block power. When the tree dropped, Gill threw down a solid .459 to Jimmy’s .507, and that would be enough to hang on for a hole shot 3.16 to 3.13 victory. Congrats to Geoff on another big win in the Pro Mod Unlimited class.

Geoff Gill

Jimmy DePasse

Pro Bracket Classes

The Pro 1 Final round came down to the two dominating forces of the 2012 season. An all-dragster final round would be on the line with the small block power of Bob Cambridge facing off with Keith Ahart’s big block power plant. This highly anticipated battle would be over at the tree as Ahart turned on the red bulb by just .007 (.393 RT) handing Cambridge the win, who ran a solid 3.393 (3.39) with a .459 RT. Keith’s .450 RT was good enough for the #1 qualifying points, which kept him five points ahead of Cambridge with 3 races left to go.

Bob Cambridge

George Amos kept up his domination of the 2012 Soboba events. Heading into the September race, George had won both events in the Pro 2 class. He would use a string of nearly dead-on 3.85x on 3.85 dial passes to advance to the final round against former class champion Charlie Johnson with his Mopar-powered Back N Black Jeep. Charlie would leave first .422 to .515, but would give back the stripe as he could only muster a 4.400 (4.25) while Amos ran another incredible 3.853 (3.85) for the win. George’s win moved him into a 12 point lead over Johnson with just three races left in the season.

George Amos

The always tough Pro 3 class saw two of the toughest hitters face off for the money on Sunday afternoon. Charlie Johnson, who had just dropped a tough Pro 2 final round, would line up against Chris Adamson’s “Bounty Hunter” Jeep. These two always put on a phenomenal race, and this one would be no exception. Johnson took a slight starting line advantage .459 to .470, and ran a stellar 4.621 (4.62) to force Adamson into a 4.211 (4.26) break out. Johnson’s win moved him into a 16 point lead over incoming leader Arend Schouten.

Charlie Johnson

The Motorcycle Pro 1 class saw a new star make a name for himself over the course of the weekend. Coming off of a big win on Saturday in the Motorcycle Sportsman 1 class, Dakoda Crockett was looking for a weekend sweep during Pro eliminations on Sunday. He would slice through eliminations to face off with Rub Dubs Racing’s Ruben Flores in the final round. When the tree dropped, Flores had rolled through the beams turning on the red bulb, and handing the win to Crockett, who cut a perfect .400 RT to take home not only the big prize on this day, but the weekend sweep as well. Mark Ratliff’s semi-final finish moved him into a monstrous 58 point lead over Christian Payne with 3 races to go.

Dakoda Crockett

Mark Ratliff used a big day of racing to take the Motorcycle Pro 2 points lead. In round one, Mark won a huge match up against points leader and two-time Soboba winner this season George Amos. That would put him in the final against the always tough Joey Weaver. The RT difference was minimal off the line, but at the stripe Ratliff force Weaver into a 5.268 (5.42) breakout for the win. Ratliff’s double breakout decision in the final round was his first MP2 win of the season, and moves him 14 points ahead of Amos in the standings with three races left.

Mark Ratliff

Sportsman Bracket Classes

It would be a big day for the “Leap Frog” on Saturday at Soboba as Kermit Larby took the Sportsman 1 class win. In the final round, Trevor Scherrer turned on the red bulb with his “401K” Blown Coupe handing Larby a big win as he recorded a nice 3.603 (3.60). Kermit’s win moved him into a 17 point lead over Don Minkle with only three races to go.

Kermit Larby

The Sportsman 2 final round would see a double vision final round as a pair of Yellow VW-powered Buggies rolled up to the line. Defending class champion Alan Mamer would battle against local racer Bob Schaefer for the top prize. Mamer would use a solid starting line advantage and 4.935 (4.75) to take his second class win of the season. Alan’s win moves him into a 12 point lead over Mike Williams.

Aaron Mamer

As discussed earlier, Dakoda Crockett started his weekend on a winning note by taking the Motorcycle Sportsman 1 class win. He paired up in a battle of the young guns against Christian Payne in this final round. Unfortunately for Payne, he had problems on the starting line causing a late RT, while Dakoda drove off to the big win with a 3.972 (3.90). In the point’s race, Payne’s runner-up finish moved him to within 18 of leader Mark Ratliff.

Dakoda Crockett

Devin Cadell made it two wins in a row at Soboba with his Motorcycle Sportsman 2 class win on Saturday. Another battle of the young guns was set up in the final round as Cadell battled Vegas racer Eric Hickey. Cadell would leave first and force Hickey into a 6.836 (6.95) breakout. Cadell’s win moved him to within 9 points of leader Grant Hutchinson.

The Hammond Racing Junior Dragster team had a banner day at Soboba with the Myers Brothers reaching the final round. When the dust settled, it would be Christian taking the win with an 8.479 (8.32) with a nice .469 RT to defeat Bradley. Aimee Mamer’s semi-final finish moved her 10 points ahead of second place Ryan Rodriguez.

Christian Myers

Gambler Classes

Saturday night at Soboba was filled with Excitement. Mr. Excitement, that is, as Larry Brown ended up in the Pro Gambler Winner’s Circle with his Ford-powered Dragster. Larry turned on the win light in the final round when Chris Adamson’s “Bounty Hunter” over staged and turned on the red bulb. Brown’s break out 3.529 on a 3.53 dial didn’t matter at that point with the red light on in the other lane.

Larry Brown

It was Ladies Night in the Motorcycle Pro Gambler Final round as Heather Taylor and Christy Garnas were left to settle the top honors. These two always tough competitors put on a great battle, but it would be the close to perfect .407 RT for Taylor that would be the difference as she took the win with a 4.247 (4.10).

Heather Taylor

Photos Courtesy
NSDN

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