Bracket drag racing returned to Infineon Raceway under unseasonably warm temperatures and sunny skies, Nov. 30, as more than 275 drag racers gathered on the Sonoma Valley drag strip for the final drag racing event of the year. Racers from as far as Oregon and Nevada as well as a large group from the Eureka area packed the staging lanes for the opportunity to test their driving skills against the local contingent.
Super Pro honors went to Eric Reyes, a two-time national event Super Gas champion from Oakland who drove his big block Chevy powered dragster over Sacramento's Artie Pavia, a former Division 7 ET champion in his familiar 70 Camaro. Reyes was better on the tree putting up a .006 light to a .019 for Paiva which was the difference that ended up with double break out with Paiva going too quick with a 9.477 (9.48 dial) at 136.10 mph while Reyes was closer with a 7.559 (7.56) at 174.03. Semifinalists were Eric Martin from Livermore with his MP Motorsports 67 Camaro and Wednesday Night Drags regular Tom Johnson of Santa Rosa with his Big Johnson's Automotive 70 Camaro.
Vacaville's Joe Brown picked up the $100 cash bonus award from Vault Security Systems with his Western Stabilization-backed 70 Plymouth Duster for the best combined package that totaled .008.
Some 67 entries made the call for the first round in Pro ET and after some six rounds of racing, the final came down to Novato's Luke Kindt and his Kindt Automotive 70 Chevelle and American Canyon's Lisa Caldwell and her Steve's Performance small block wheel standing 73 Dodge Dart. Caldwell used a .018 RT to Kindt's trailing .085 and held on for the win with a 10.365 (10.31) 125.65 which forced Kindt to run under his 10.23 dial with a slightly too quick 10.223 at 127.68. Veteran racer Steve Parrish of Richmond took his Dodge-powered 55 Chevy wagon into the semi's before being eliminated by Caldwell.
Super Stock driver John Winslow Sr. from Prunedale picked up the best combined package award money of $100 from John and Ruthie Ledford of Vault Security systems in his Steve Wann prepared SS/JA 65 426 Dodge Coronet in his win over Concord's Jim DiMaggio 71 Firebird. Winslow's combined total was .022.
Santa Rosa's Jorge Valencia finally found himself going to the final round in the Sportsman class with his 74 Chevy Luv truck. In the other lane was Steve Romans with his Tyler Brayton racing 2001 Chevy truck considered by many to be one of the better drivers in the class. Roman's tried to cut the tree a little too thin and fouled out with a -.029 red light and wasted a good 15.352 (15.34) 87.25 giving Valencia his first-ever ET win with a .160 RT and a 11.925 (12.00) 110.78. Novato's Joe Doyle collected semifinal round money in his A&C Auto Racing 63 Nova.
It was out of town riders who determined the Motorcycle final in the 21 bike field. James Surber, a pro stock motorcycle rider out of Shelter Cove, was noticed by the group early as his worst reaction time of .038 served as proof that he would hang on throughout the final. Surber's 99 Buell got a single in the opener then took out Garberville rider James Fish and his 83 Suzuki in the second frame. He then followed that up with a win over the 02 Harley of Vallejo's Terry Hill and then a bye into the semis.
On the other side of the ladder was Ron Alves on his 78 Kawasaki from Colusa. Alves began the day with a victory over Pinole's Joe Treuet then got by Chico's Denny Alves and finally knocking off local favorite Doug Love of Novato and his 01 Triumph in the semis to set up the final round match up with Surber. Alves took the early handicap start with a .035 light to Surber's .006. Surber was able to drive around winning with a 8.301 (8.21) and an off the throttle 149.10 to Alve's off pace 10.579 (10.42) at 122.43 mph.
Sean Riggio from San Lorenzo took his 90 Mustang to the High School final and was paired up against the 04 Ford truck of Robert Peichev from Novato, who was making his first-ever final round appearance. Peichev was a bit tardy on the tree with a .568 RT which opened up the door for the more experienced Riggio. At the finish, Peichev was too quick and broke out with a 17.932 (18.10) 75.87 allowing Riggio the win with 14.683 (14.50) 79.08. Semifinal round trophies were handed out to David Ginther of Danville in a 01 Mustang and to Erica Johnson of Los Altos in a 05 Toyota.
The biggest class of the day was in the Trophy division which was made up of almost 100 cars and lasted seven rounds. The last two racers standing were Petaluma's Mitch Gately and his Tyler Brayton Racing 64 Nova and Fallon Nevada's Eric Doukas and his very consistent 428 equipped 65 Pontiac Lemans. Gately received the head start and used a .084 light to Doukas who trailed with a .094 RT. At the stripe, it was the 2008 Top Gun Raceway champion Doukas with the win light going 10.223 off of his 10.20 dial at 124.35 edging out Gately's so close 11.300 (11.26) at 116.59. Santa Rosa's Mark Scheuer and his MP Motorsports/All State Insurance Chevy powered 83 Mustang was the sole semifinalist.
Bracket drag racing returns to Infineon Raceway on January 4, 2009. Click here for the complete 2009 Bracket Drag Racing schedule or for more information.
