Sunday is in progress and we are blessed with another great day for racing here in Bradenton. We are reporting from start to fish with our same day coverage so stay tuned for the latest news and race results.

We have yet another great weekend of racer here for the 2016 NMRA season opener with over 400 cars here on Saturday and the biggest Bradenton event in several years.

Chris Parisi has been racing his V6 since 2007 winning a Fun Ford Championship in Ultra Stang and the 2009 Super Stang title with the NMRA. A rule change for 2010 forced him out and into the driver seat of a JDM Engineering sponsored Roush leading to another championship, this time with the quickest car in the class instead of the slowest.

Shelby Mather out of Ocala, Florida earned top qualifying honors in Race Pages Ford Muscle running in A/FM which is the top class with a 10.50 Index. He runs a 531 W with Edelbrock plate system backed by the notoriously unreliable C4 transmission which caused him to miss two rounds of qualifying swapping to the on hand spare.

 Final Results

Muscle Mustangs and Fast Ford Spring Break Shootout

The Spring Break shootout takes the top sixteen from QA1 True Street paired up on a sportsman ladder with the overall class winner Randy Seward racing number nine Edgar Negrod and putting up an 8.47 at 158 to Negrod’s 8.97 at 152. Second place racer Michael Jovanis based in Wall, New Jersey put up an 8.66 at 163 over Sergio Rojas out of Royal Palm Beach, Florida. The top five cars were all in the eights in round one with Oviedo, Florida’s Kurtis Forsgers advancing on an opponent broke bye.

In round two action number four qualifier Raul Torres paired up with Alexys Garcia sending him home with an 8.86 at 140 MPH, Forsgers advanced over Jovanis after recovering from a big wheel stand with an 8.80 at 155. Seward put up an 8.48 at 147 over Bloem and Torres would advance over Forsgers with an 8.90 at 152 with Forsgers skying the front wheels again and riding it out near the center line snagging the 330 cone.

The Tremek Stick Shift Shootout pitts the quickest two cars in True Street  with Jeff Smith (far lane) against Rick Kaknes from VMP against each other with Smith earning the win for the second time in a row earning his Tremek transmission of choice for his efforts. Both racers also compete in a local Stick Shift class at Lakeland Dragstrip hosted by The Stick Shift Mafia group. Jeff’s car has a stock engine with 25,000 miles topped with a VMP 2.3L supercharger on E85 backed by a Tremek Magnum Trans from Astro Performance with a McCloud RTX 1200 clutch and a fully built IRS rear from Maximum Motorsports with Driveshaft Shop Level 5 halfshafts tuned by Justin Starkey at VMP Performance.

VMP Superchargers GT 500 Shootout

The VMP Supercharges GT 500 class had eight cars qualify with Brian Devilbiss driving a 2013 Shelby out of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania earning top qualifier by a wide margin with a 7.52 at 184. Gregory Perez Jr. took second with his 2001 GT500 with the only other seven second pass, a 7.97 at 169. Round one would see four cars with singles as the other half of the field did not make the call, Rick Kaknes and Joseph Behensky were the first pair in round two with Kaknes advancing with a 10.30 despite his off pace reaction. Devilbiss has a single win over Thomas who did not show putting up an 8.16 at 173 setting up the final.

In the final Devilbiss left first with an .068 reaction to Kaknes sleepy .251 who ran a 10.38 at 137 for his efforts but was out horse powered by Devilbiss’ 8.11 at 181 MPH.

Brian has been racing for 27 years in everything from dirt track to ice drags and runs a LMN built engine fed by a Precision 94 MM Gen II turbo in his full interior 2013 Shelby GT 500. Evolution Performance handled the build on the car with help coming from Gulf Racing Fuels and Stroud Safety.

Fluid Turbo Concepts Coyote

Fluid Turbo Concepts Coyote was mostly filled with Florida cars with Melissa Urist, Jermiah Hussey and Ronnie Reynolds coming from out of state. Reynolds took number one qualifier and started things off in round one with a 7.77 at 181 MPH taking out Joey Basile. Tampa’s Sai Li put away Justin Davis and Justin Jordan netted an 8.13 over Jim Braun’s 9.21. Hussey and Brett LaSala would also advance to round two. In round two Hussey improved his performance to a 7,83 over Sai Li, Jordan ran a 7.92 at 175 to earn the win over LaSala and Reynolds had the single with an 8.84. Jordan would have the single to the final to face with Reynolds who put up a 7.86 at 182.

In the final Jordan did his job on the tree with a .082 to Reynolds’ way off .304 and that was all she wrote as Jordan motored on to a 7.74 at 175 earning the win to Reynolds’ 7.78 at 182 MPH run. Jordan’s car is fresh from Pro Fab Performance in New Port Richey with a new gear and some work in the rear with new solid bushings and suspension upgrades to keep things stable for the MPR built powerplant.

Livernois ECO Shootout

Brad Gusler was the top qualifier in the Eco Shootout earning a single in round one where he ripped off a stellar 10.73 at 127. Number two qualifier Bill Putnam faced off with Erik Vogel out of Tampa scoring a win with an 11.42 at 118 to Vogel’s 15.68 at 106. Gusler turned it down to be safe in the second and third round advancing easily over Reginald Maxwell and Jason Justi respectively while Putnam took out Josh Beasley in round two earning the single to the final.

Once there he turned it up upping the jets in the NX nitrous system scoring a 10.87 at 125 and earning the win with Gusler breaking the transmission after he also turned it up finding the weak link in the combo.

Eco Shootout winner Bill Putnam runs a stock engine stock turbo combo out of UPR Products with an NX Nitrous and methanol kit tuned by John Lund with a UPR down pipe and suspension and FFTEC intercooler. His best pass before today was an 11.15 before he turned it up in the final making him the first stock engine/stock turbo car in the tens, weighing in at 3560 pounds that’s quite a feat out of such a small engine.

VP Racing Fuels Street Outlaw

Street Outlaw saw five cars qualify with Dwayne Barbaree taking top qualifier with a 4.39, the only car in the .30’s to date. He had the earned single in round one putting up a 4.47 turned down in the front half in an effort to ensure traction. Vince Palazzolo would advance on a 4.90 with Manny Buginga not moving from the starting line with new car gremlins and Hines putting up a 4.71 over Ronnie Modfather Diaz. Palazzolo would have the bye in round two running a 4.87 at 162 for his effort and Barbaree going right down with Hines spinning after the hit and pedaling to a 4.82 ending his day.

In the final Barbaree and Palazzolo both struck the tires with Barbaree recovering quickly and managing a 5.14 at 154 and the event win on the sun heated surface. Dwayne has been to several finals and won the points championship over at NMCA in the past but this is his first final round appearance and win over here with the NMRA making this one sweet victory for the team.

Edelbrock Renegade

Frank Varela faced off with fellow Hellion Racing team mate Haley James in a little staging duel in round one, amazingly both drivers cut identical .084 reaction times but it would be Varela to the stripe first with a 7.73 at 180 to her 8.18. Dom Didonato ran an 8.40 on an opponent broke single over Aaron Bates with Adam Arndt scoring a 7.54 at 166 on his earned bye before falling to breakage in round two to number four qualifier Alton Clements.

Varela aslo advanced to the final to meet Clements and nailed the tree with a .002 reaction to Clements .114. Clements had work to do and pulled out the win with a 7.647 at 181 to Varela’s 7.78 at 177.

Procharger Coyote Modified

Joe Guertin put up the first seven second pass in competition to go number one and showed it was no fluke at all scoring a 7.89 at 175 on his earned single in round one eliminations today. Jeff Polivka scored an 8.07 in his round win over newcomer Joe Decaria, third and fourth qualifers Johnny Lightning and Joe Cram also moved on to round two where Johnny scored a seven second run of his own to take out Polivka. Guertin was late on the tree against Cram in round two but his 7.91 was plenty to get around the off pace Cram setting up the final with Johnny Lightning.

Once there Guertin was way early with a -.295 reaction ending his day and handing Johnny the win with his 8.01 at 175 MPH.

G-Force Transmissions Pure Street

Number one qualifier William Gimbel took himself out in round one going red against Jimmy Wilson in the first pair out in class. Today would be one of those days for quite a few racers especialy early in eliminations, call if off season rust if you must. Teddy Weaver met with C.J. Reese scoring a win with a 9.60 at 139 and Tommy Godfrey earned his way to round two with a win over Derek Downs giving up lane choice to Weaver who went on to win with a 9.61 to Godfrey’s 9.80.

Wilson took the tree on the single and bested Weaver in the final on the tree with an .063 to Weaver’s .074. Wilson fell off pace however slowing to a 9.97 at 139 and it wasn’t enough to stay out front of Weaver’s 9.62, also at 139.

Race Pages Coyote Stock

Race Pages Coyote Stock had a strong field of cars this weekend with Shane Stymeist earning top qualifier. Micheal Washington was second on the ladder and faced off with Gregory Herbert in round one scoring a win with a 10.27 to Herbert’s 10.61. The always tough Drew Lyons set low ET of the round with a 10.254 at 129 over Charlie Rankin. Carlos Sobrino, Jacob Lamb, Tim Matherly, Darin Hendricks and Joe Marini would advance over their opponents to round two with Stymeist getting the earned single running a10.27 at 128.

Lyons would advance on a red light from Sobrino in round two with Washington and Marini aslo winning their respective matches. Jacob Lamb was low ET for this round, just a touch slower with a 10.257 over Tim Matherly. Washington lit the red bulb in the semi finals taking a loss to Lamb with Lyons showing he was ready for the finals scoring a 10.27 at 129 and the win over Joe Marini.

Lyons had lane choice in the final vs Lamb and he was better on the tree netting a .072 to Lamb’s .149. The cars were tied together going down track with Lamb getting by taking the win, a 10.274 at 129.47 to Lyons 10.376 at 128, a .025 margin of victory.

American Racing Headers Factory Stock

James Meridith qualified number one and backed that up in round one with a 10.627 at 121 snagging the 2016 record early on his earned single. Number two qualifier Matt Amrine was paired with Sondra Leslie who put a tree on his with a .033 to his .161. His 10.71 was quite enough to drive by netting a win and round two berth and bye to the finals. Meredith played it safe against Leslie Jr. scoring a win with a 10.595 at 123.

In the final Meredith was late again with a .183 light to Amrine’s .067 but he again out ran his opponent netting a 10.601 at 123.13 to Amrine’s 10.85 at 125 taking the season opener win.

Detroit Locker Lightning/Trucks

Detroit Locker Lightning/Trucks had a good turnout with twenty one racers vying for the money with Jimmy Cantrell scoring top qualifier in class with his 1994 Ranger. It was not his day as he fell in round two to Jim Roberts out of Largo, Florida. Johnny Lightning was the fast one dialing 8.77, he would make it till round four before going red against Randy Conway’s 84 Ranger. Johnny was also running Coyote Modified and jumped from winning that final directly to the truck which messed with his concentration.

M.J. Smith put up a .009 reaction in his 63 Ranchero against Conway in the final but fell off pace to a 9.59 on his 9.47 dial and taking a loss to Conway who was .021 and just .009 over index.

Roush Super Stang

Roush Super Stang had twelve cars in class this weekend with Marco Ponce Jr. as number one qualifier in his 2012 Boss Mustang. He would score a perfect tree in round one over Shelby Wendel and earning a win over Darrell Bye in a double break out match in round two. Number two qualifier Marvin Knack out of Lexington, Kentucky met with Becki Belcher in round one ending her day of racing. He faced John Golliday in round two who was very late and broke out in a big way trying to catch up.

Knack would advance to the final on a foul start to meet with Ponce going -.003 red himself allowing Marco Ponce Jr. to take the win.

Flex A Lite Open Comp

Flex A Lite Open Comp had enough cars for five round of racing with Steven Daniels from Valdosta, Georgia as the top qualifier. Local racer Hannah Sanders took him out in round two before taking a breakk out loss to Northville, Michigan’s Dennis Corn. In the final Dennis met with Deep Gap, North Carolina based Greg Essen who nailed the tree with a .003 reaction in his 1971 Maverick. Corn would go too fast by .002 playing the stripe giving Essen his first NMRA event win.