Saturday Morning in Atco

Good morning from Atco here on Saturday morning. The weather last night cut short qualifying for a couple classes. Pro Outlaw and EFI Renegade will only get two qualifying sessions. Factory Stock, Pure Street, Real Street and Drag Radial were able to complete the first qualifying session last night before the torrential down pour hit Atco.

Jason Lee’s strong 7.94 pass looks to keep him number 1 through today but with the likes of Enzo Pecchini and David Guy who both have run in the 7’s before it looks like Drag Radial will be a very tight class this weekend.

Action today started right after 9 with bracket racing, the heads up classes will be following them.

Once again thanks to SCT Performance for making all of our coverage possible. Visit them at sctflash.com

The weather today looks to be great for racing. More racers have arrived since yesterday night.

John Urist is warming his car up for today’s qualifying session. Urist one of the most dominant racers in NMRA history looks to take home the Atco championship just like in previous years. John is the first SSO driver that has run into the 7.20’s.

Sam Vincent is here on the grounds with his Nitrous combination. Sam recently ran 7.28 at the Bradenton NMRA event and he looks to run similar times with the nice cool weather today.

We have a little down time right now with the track crew scraping the track and prepping it.

The cars are waiting in the lanes to run. The cars have been called to the lanes but they are just waiting for the track crew to finish up and we’ll be back up and running.

Second Round of Qualifying

2nd round has just been completed for Factory Stock, Pure Street, Real Street and Drag Radial. EFI Renegade, Super Street Outlaw and Pro Outlaw have just finished first round since they were not able to get first round in last night due to the rain.

Last year’s Drag Radial Champ Jason Lee goes low E.T. for the event. Jason has continually improved on his E.T. each pass. In Test & Tune he went 8.02, first round of qualifying Lee goes 7.94 and in the second round Lee improves and now holds the record with a 7.89 @ 180.

Don Bowles in his Hot Street Maverick goes 8.49 @157. Don who is last year’s Hot Street champ has stepped up his E.T. from the first round to his 8.49 in the second round. Look for Don to be consistent once eliminations start.

In Real Street Tim Matherly who has been near or at the top the last few seasons steps up from his first qualifying effort from a 9.71 to a 9.54 @143

In EFI Renegade Dan Rawls in the Inductions Solutions Nitrous Mustang goes 8.34 @ 164. Dan who last year came very close to earning the EFI Renegade Championship looks on top of his game this weekend.

In Super Street Outlaw John Urist is holding the number 1 spot as of now with a 7.40 @191. Urist who has won the last 4 championships in SSO is gunning for number 5 this year and with the way he is running after first round he has 4 tenths on the rest of the field.

In Factory Stock Tommy Godfrey is well ahead of the field with an 11.00 @121. Tommy has been very dominant in Factory Stock and looks to be the same here this weekend at Atco. Godfrey is two tenths faster than number 2 qualifier Carlos Sobrino.

In Pure Street another familiar face is Ryan Hecox ran a 10.34 @ 129. Hecox isn’t currrently number one right now. That belongs to Steve Gifford with his 10.09.

Notes from the Pits

Rick Riccardi of Hot Street and also of Downs Ford who is the title sponsor recently updated his car to a 25.5 spec cage. Rick’s car has been at Hell Bent Race Cars the last few weeks getting the updates done and this morning Rick got the car fired for the first time since everything went back together.

Rick’s previous best in Hot Street was an 8.77 last year at Bowling Green. Today right off the trailer Rick goes his best E.T. to date. An 8.65 at 150 short shifting 1-2. Look for Rick to step up once he is totally comfortable with the car.

Stopping by Drag Radial Ken Ewer’s pit they were thrashing on the car. Ken went an 8.31 and 8.32 in the first two rounds so he’ll be in the field for tomorrow’s eliminations. He will sit out the third round while he sees if he has a cracked piston. A few weeks ago Ken hit the bumper and cracked a different piston.

Final Round of Qualifying

Round 3 has come to a close with a bang!

First up in Round 3 which they ran in reverse order was Pro Outlaw. Pro Outlaw only see three racers. Mike Murillo, Conrad Scarry, and Dwayne James.

Conrad Scarry was up first, he had a tough time getting down the track his first time up but in his last shot he goes 6.73 @218.37. This set the record in Pro Outlaw and was Conrad’s fastest time.

Mike Murillo who was up next had something to say about that and goes a 6.71 @219.22 lowering the record Scarry just set the previous run down the quarter. Look for these two in the finals with the way they have run this weekend.

Super Street Outlaw, the NMRA’s 10″ tire freak show was up next. Not many of the racers improved this round. Chris Tuten looks like he may have hurt his motor Friday night but he still came out in the 2nd round and ran a 7.89 @ 190 on 7 cylinders.

John Macdonald improved on his first attempt running a 7.45 @194 for top MPH of the event.

Sam Vincent stepped up his qualifying efforts with a 7.622 @188. Look for Sam to continue to improve as he had the nitrous car running very well at Bradenton.

In EFI Renegade Dan Rawls seems to have the field covered by almost 2 tenths. In the last round of qualifying something may have happened as the car was breaking up a bit and his time was way off pace. We’ll see what happens Sunday once eliminations start.

Chris Van Gilder in EFI Renegade seems to be Mr. Consistent this weekend running a 8.49 @160 and 8.52 @ 160.

Next up was Edelbrock Hot Street. We have 4 competitors here this weekend at Atco. Don Bowles has the number one spot with a 8.495 @157 with Robbie Blankenship behind him with an 8.563 @ 157. The bigger story this weekend in Hot Street is Rick Riccardi’s beautiful just finished 81 Capri. Rick’s new 25.5 cage done by Hell Bent Race Cars is a beautiful piece.

Jason Lee goes low again in Drag Radial with a 7.891 @179 lowering the E.T. record yet again in Drag Radial. Jason has gone faster every single pass he has made this weekend. Lee looks to be consistent in eliminations and take home the Atco crown this weekend.

Drag Radial is the closest field here this weekend with Lee running a very strong 7.891, Enzo Pecchini running 8.06, Andrew Barrale 8.08, Chad Doyle 8.25, Steve Thompson 8.27, Ken Ewer 8.31 and Brian Tuten rounding out the field with an 8.61.

Brian Tuten who moved from EFI Renegade to Drag Radial is out for the first time at Atco with his new setup. He’s running a mod motor with an

Real Street was up next, four cars were competing this weekend with Tim Matherly taking the top spot with his 2010 Mustang running a 9.503 @144. Tim’s new cars looks real strong this weekend. Tim will be tough to beat this weekend running the numbers he is.

Pure Street another exciting wheels up class was up next with Alan Von Ahnen taking the top spot with a 10.09 @ 131. With 8 racers out here this weekend it looks to be another class that will be exciting come eliminations on Sunday.

In Factory Stock Tommy Godfrey heads up the class with an 11.008 @ 121. The next closest qualifier is Carlos Sobrino with an 11.207 @ 119. Godfrey looks to be a strong candidate to take home the Atco win this weekend.

Highlights from Saturday

Conrad Scarry going low with a 6.73 at 218

Mike Murillo right behind bettering Scarry’s previous best at 6.71 @ 219

Jason Lee going faster every pass down the track. 8.02, 7.947, 7.896 and 7.891. This radial car is out of control, Jason has it running so well the rest of the field may just be fighting for second place.

Tim Matherly in his beautiful 2010 Mustang. Tim dominated in his previous Mustang and with the new 2010 its all just the same. Tim has been a Real Street mainstay for quite a while now and he continues to be at the top of the field every event.

Brian Tuten is out for the first time in Drag Radial. Tuten who has campaigned a nitrous entry the past few years in EFI Renegade has jumped into Drag Radial with a Mod Motor turbo combination. Brian seems to still be sorting out some bugs but he has been getting quicker each pass so look out the rest of season for Brian Tuten.

David Guy in Radial, Guy seems to be a tad off from previous events this year and last but he’ll find a way to get it done. David Guy seems to have some incredible MPH so he has the power there.

Ryan Hecox who usually dominates the Pure Street class sees himself qualified in the number 4 position with a 10.34 at 129. Hecox is a veteran so we’ll see if he can step it up in eliminations.

Exciting wheels up competition in Pure Street. This class is one that hangs em up high each pass.

Saturday had some action in all classes all day. Pro Outlaw with two of the quickest times in the class this year and at that on back to back passes. Class teardowns, wheelies, a few oils downs during the day slowed the racing down but the Atco staff had everything under control.

Sunday’s eliminations should be very exciting, hope to see everyone out there!