The 3rd Annual NSDA Primm Valley Resorts Spring Nationals once again did not
disappoint. Despite a wild sand storm on Friday, canceling heads-up action on
that day, the rest of the weekend made up for it. Read on for a recap of action
in each class.Top Fuel
The Top Fuel class had six entries vying for the prestigious Primm victory. Qualifying saw Geoff Gill lead the field after round one of qualifying with a 2.384. After that, it was all Scott Whipple. Scott ran a 2.371 to take the top spot in session two, and then lowered it with a sizzling 2.303/160.83mph pass. Gill ended up second with his 2.384 and was followed by Yuma Winner Shane Switzer, Jeff Janoe, Pete Schenk, and Dennis Rieck.
As race day was upon us, we had lost one of the cars in the field as Schenk had broke on his first qualifying pass and was unable to continue on. In round one; we had two bye runs, one single run, and one side-by-side pass scheduled. Whipple would run Low ET of the round with a 2.366/152.26mph pass. Janoe and Gill would also advance with runs in the low 2.4 second range. The pairing was going to be Shane Switzer versus Dennis Rieck. Rieck had struggled all weekend, but found out what the problem plaguing them all year was. Unfortunately for the Hammer Down team, they had a minor steering issue as he came to the line keep him from making the pass, giving the Spooky II team a first round single.
The semi-final round started with a good match up between the Canidae team of Whipple and the JWJ/MHP team of Janoe. This shaped up to be a great race with Whipple running well and Janoe laying down as good of runs as we’ve seen out of his car in recent memory. Janoe would take a .090 to .127 lead off the line, but Whipple would power around him for the win, 2.430 to 2.575. In the other pair, the Spooky II car would break at the hit while the Gill Bettencourt team laid down a monster 2.324/163.43mph shot. This set up a great final round match up with the Gill team having lane choice. When the tree fell, it was the champ Whipple with a .104 to .145 RT advantage, and Low ET of the round 2.323/160.43mph win over Gill’s game 2.411/143.10. Whipple’s win pulled him within one point of Gill in the NSDA Top Fuel series.
Scott Whipple
Geoff Gill
Jeff Janoe
Shane Switzer
Top Alcohol
Qualifying was an up and down prospect in the Top Alcohol class. The first session was a tough one for the class overall with Shane Sanford coming out as the leader running a 2.557/130.70mph. Strangely enough, round two would be the money round in qualifying as the Lucas Oil team of Dan Allen ran a great 2.475 that would hold up for the top position. The class as a whole struggled in the final session, except for Team Canidae’s Mike DeNunzio, who slipped into the second position with a 2.499/133.72mph run.
The big match up of round one was the 4-5 race between Team Frederosa’s Shane Sanford and Carroll Racing’s Scott Carroll. Scott left first .104 to .168, but it was the Troy Schweers-tuned power in the Frederosa car that tracked him down for a 2.570 to 2.641 victory by .007. DeNunzio ran Low ET of the round with a 2.509 in defeat of Carey Mahoney.
Gary Mink
Shane Sanford
Dan Allen
Mike DeNunzio
Top Eliminator
Jeff Mamer led an incredibly close Top Eliminator class into eliminations on Sunday. Jeff ran a dead-on 2.950 in his first run of the season, which would top the qualifying sheet. Bob Snow would run 2.956 in the Fugowie rear-engine Funny Car for the #2 spot with Paul Taylor’s Outta Control entry third also at 2.956. The bump spot for the 16 car field was a 3.116 by Larry Snow.
Round one started off with a huge race between #1 qualifier Mamer and class point leader Larry Snow. Mamer would play points spoiler with a 3.043 en route to victory. Round two featured a big match up between #3 and 4 in the points race, Tiffany and Leon Januik. Tiffany would tree her father-in-law .084 to .300 and never look back, running a 3.049 for the win.
The semi-final round would see two titanic match ups as four of the toughest west coast Top Eliminator racers faced off. In the first pair, Tiffany would just barely leave too soon with a .022 red light to give the final round trip to Mamer, who ran 2.989. The other pair would see Billy Morris in the 2’ Dolla Bill dragster take a .048 to .102 advantage over Mike Erwin and hang on for a close 3.157 to 3.107 victory. The final round would be a rematch of last spring’s TE final round. Fortunately for the Sidewinder team, the results were the same with Mamer getting the win light in an extremely close race, by just .005 at the finish line. Morris’ win vaulted him into the TE class point lead.
Jeff Mamer
Billy Morris
Mike Erwin
Tiffany Januik
Pro 1
Twenty entries converged on Primm to compete in the Pro 1 category. Tracy Malan came away as the #1 qualifier with a .023 RT in his first round victory; this would also be the Best RT of eliminations. Malan continued his strong early season surge making it to the semi-final round, where he would advance to the finals over Ted Kolstad. On the other side of the ladder, Mike Gazzeny ran 3.633 (3.62) on his semi-final round bye run to make it to the final round. In the final, Malan left first by .020, but Gazzeny would lay down the Closest to the Dial pass of eliminations with a 3.622 (3.62) to take the win by .043.
Mike Gazzeny
Tracy Malan
Pro 2
A full field of Pro 2 entries converged on Primm for the Spring Nationals. Steve Foster Jr. led the class after round one with a .037 RT to give him the #1 qualifying spot. In round two, Charlie Johnson threw down a best of eliminations .001 RT to get around Justin Adamson. The semi-finals shaped up to be an all-Jeep round with Mike Bolton facing off with David Stidham’s Grinch Jeep and Jim Williams’ Wilder American getting the bye into the final. Stidham would go .046 red giving
Mike Bolton
Jim Williams
Pro 3
Pro 3 was another of the full fields in Primm. 2008 NSDA Pro 3 champ Charlie Johnson’s “Back in Black” Jeep was the #1 qualifier with a .035 RT in round one of eliminations. 2008 Sportsman 2 Champ Justin Taylor advanced to the semi-final round to face off with Laura Wright.
Justin Taylor
Justin Adamson
Motorcycle Pro 1
A very strong contingent of Pro 1 Motorcycles showed up to compete in Primm. 2007 MP1 Champ Ian Brown was on a different bike in Primm and ended up as the #1 qualifier with the Best RT of elims, .007. Some different names ended up in the late rounds of this class on Sunday. Ron Garnas faced off with Craig Thresher in the semi-final round. Thresher cut an amazing .009 RT to Garnas’ .100, but Garnas ran 4.155 (4.10) for a .020 Margin of Victory. Garnas would face Rob Winkle in the final round, who had a bye run into the final. Garnas would push the tree just barely too hard with a .005 red light, handing the class win to Rob Winkle. Angel Jauregui was Closest to the Dial with a great 3.991 (3.99) in round one.
Rob Winkle
Motorcycle Pro 2
The always competitive MP2 category started off with two-time NSDA class champ Randy Mings ending up as the #1 qualifier with a .077 RT. Jake Russell had the tough break of the round cutting the Best RT of elims with a .012, however he could not run close enough to his dial and lost to Korey Gray. In the semi-final round Mings faced off against Gray. Gray took a .083 to .139 lead, but Mings forced Gray into a 4.513 (4.60) break out. In the other pair,
Randy Mings
Joey Weaver
Pro Mod
Two entries battled it out in the Pro Mod category at Primm. Clayton Record hit on the tune up to run a great 3.485 to put him as the #1 qualifier over Don Boespflug. In the final round, Clayton took a small lead off the line and ran 3.520 to take the Pro Mod class victory.
Clayton Record
Pro Index
A strong field of eleven entries signed up for the Pro Index (3.95 Index) category. Steve Foster Jr. ran 3.962 to qualify #1 in the class and earn the round one bye run. Foster met up with points contender Jose Beas in the semi-final round. A 3.986 and .072 RT was what Foster ran to take the win and move on to the final round. Foster would face Donnie Burns in the final, who ran a 3.994 on his semi-final round bye run. In the final, Burns cut an incredible .004 RT to Foster’s .034, however it was Foster’s power that was the difference running a 3.972 to Burns’ 4.006 for the Pro Index class title. Burns’ .004 was the Best RT of eliminations. Gary Gosz’s 3.968 in round one was the Closest to the Index in his round one victory.
Steve Foster Jr.
Donnie Burns
Sportsman 1
Twenty-one entries showed up to compete in the always unpredictable Sportsman 1 category. Kasey Johnson led qualifying in the Sportsman 1 class with a .013 RT in her round one victory. April Soares had the Best RT of eliminations with a great .002 in a round three victory over Ted Kolstad. Soares went on to the semi-final, where she would force Jim Hendricks into a break out 4.137 (4.14). Tommy Zavala would be Soares’ final round opponent after a semi-final round bye run. In the final, Zavala went .081 red handing Soares the win with a 4.398 (4.35) and .068 RT. Phil Soper was Closest to the Dial with a dead-on 4.130 (4.13) in round one, but unfortunately he coupled that with a .013 red light that took him out of competition.
April Soares
Tommy Zavala
Sportsman 2
The Sportsman 2 class would see an interesting winner at this event. Seventeen entries showed up for round one with the best winning RT being M. Smith’s .092. Eliminations continued on and 2008 Sportsman 2 runner-up Arend Schouten faced off with Randy Kleuhn’s long-travel buggy. Schouten broke out by one-thousandth of a second less for the win in a double breakout decision. April Soares reached the final via a semi-final round bye run to put her in her second final round appearance of the day. In one of the more amazing performances seen in 2009 thus far, April Soares turned on the final round win light of her second class of the day after Arend Schouten went red by .012. April became the first person to ever sweep Sportsman 1 and 2 in the same day. She also had the Best RT of eliminations with a .052 in round two. Kleuhn was Closest to the Dial with a .008, also in round two.
April Soares
Arend Schouten
Motorcycle Sportsman 1
The MS1 class had a strong nineteen entries show up for round one. Ron Garnas went .030 on the tree in round one to end up as the #1 qualifier. Brooks Ryan was a little better on the tree with a Best RT of .003; however he could not run close enough to the dial to out run Rob Winkle. Winkle moved on through eliminations to face Heather Taylor in the semis.
Garrett Ratliff
Heather Taylor
Motorcycle Sportsman 2
A huge turnout of 26 entries showed up for the MS2 class at Primm. Korey Gray earned the round two bye run as the #1 qualifier with a .041 RT. A competitive semi-final round kicked off with Joey Weaver and Shea Marlow matching up. Weaver forced Marlow into a break out to advance to the final round. On the other side, Brandon Wright put a hole shot on Rob Winkle and held on to earn his first MS2 final round appearance. In the final, Wright left way early handing the win to Weaver who had a great .058 RT. Marlow had the best RT in eliminations with a .012 on his third round bye run; he also was Closest to the Dial on the same run with a 5.855 (5.85).
Joey Weaver
Brandon Wright
Top Dog Junior Dragsters
A strong contingent of Junior Dragsters faced off for the Primm race victory. The final round saw a brother-sister battle as Alan and Aimee Mamer matched up. Aimee took a slight starting line advantage, however Alan ran a great 5.783 (5.77) to take the win. Alan also was Closest to the Dial in the class with that pass.
Alan Mamer
Aimee Mamer
Photos Courtesy C3 Productions – www.c3productions.net and www.myspace.com/c3productionsphotos.