National Sand Drag News

The Pro Truck Nationals (PTN) series made its first ever trip to Willard Hammond’s beautiful Newtown Dragway in Newtown, VA on the first weekend of August. This track is literally the field of dreams set in the woods of rural Central Virginia. Willard opened Newtown Dragway in 1999 using the best practices of other sand tracks, asphalt drag strips, and even tractor pull arenas in mind. The finished product is an incredible sand drag facility that is both racer and spectator friendly with a list of premium amenities a mile long. Unfortunately, on this weekend Mother Nature was not on the side of the racers. A dismal forecast hurt the racer and spectator turnout, but fortunately after a damp day of racing on Friday, the Saturday weather was dry and some great racing transpired under cloudy skies. Let’s take a look at the action.

PTN 3.95 Index Pro ATV

The PTN 3.95 Index Pro ATV category was hotly contested at the Season Opener in Oklahoma with John Pate scoring the victory. John and points contender Randy Kimbley made plans to drive cross country to Virginia to increase their lead. Unfortunately, last minute things kept them home opening the door for a new cast of characters to move into the point’s battle.

Qualifying was bizarre at Newtown with several racers running under the 3.950 Index, including three competitors who ran too fast in both qualifying sessions. Pennsylvania racer Jason Thompson just missed a perfect run in Q1 with a 3.947; however he would come back with a vengeance in the second session recording a 4.017 that would hold on for the #1 spot. Virginia racer Tony Miller was right behind Jason recording a 4.028 for the second position.

Round one saw some great battles. North Carolina rider Jantzen Maynor, coming off a big victory earlier in the season at Newtown, advanced to round two over Zachary James in a 4.06 to 4.20 decision. But the big story in round one was top qualifier Thompson recording a 3.949 ET, just one-thousandth of a second off of a perfect run on his bye run. All eyes were on Thompson in round two as he faced off against Virginia racer Scott Stotesberry. Scott would turn on the red light at the hit, but the story would be in the other lane as Thompson recorded the first ever perfect 3.950 ET in PTN 3.95 Index Pro ATV competition. Next up would be Maynor versus Virginia racer Bruce Hare. Maynor would force Hare into a 3.925 break out to advance to the final round.

This would set up a great Pennsylvania versus North Carolina match up to decide the 3.95 Index Pro ATV class winner. When the tree dropped, Maynor was ready with a killer .008 RT, but he would falter down track as Thompson recorded a 4.062 with a .079 RT to take his first PTN 3.95 Index Pro ATV title in his first try at the class. Jason Thompson made it a clean sweep by taking the class win, #1 Qualifier, and Perfect Run (3.950) bonus points. Thompson is already making plans to visit the PTN Season Finale at Little Sandy Raceway in Grayson, KY September 11-13 to battle it out for the class championship as he now holds a 7 point advantage over Pate.

Jason Thompson - PTN 3.95 Index Pro ATV Winner

Twin-Cylinder Shootout

Another hotly contested class at the PTN event was the Twin-Cylinder Pro ATV Heads-Up Shootout. This meant all the fastest Unlimited Twin-Cylinder entries from the East Coast would meet up in Virginia to decide who is the fastest. In Qualifying, it was clear that Louis Bailey was the man to beat as he recorded a stellar 3.455/91MPH. Herschel Omps ended up 2nd with a 3.611/87MPH while Kentucky’s Terrell Allen piloted the Michigan-based Rigger Racing-owned Pumpkin bike (pictured in the July/August ’14 issue of Sand Sports) to the #3 spot with a solid 3.690/87MPH.

The first round was as dramatic as you will ever see in a Heads-Up category. Top Qualifier Bailey faced off with #8 Qualifier Rick Dressler in round one. On paper, this should have been a walk over with Bailey running nearly a half-second quicker in qualifying. That’s why we don’t run races on paper. Bailey left first, but would stumble right at the hit and despite running nearly 5 MPH faster at the stripe could not track down Dressler, who took the win with a 3.82 to a 4.07. As if that wasn’t thrilling enough, the next pair would see a pair of Virginia racers square off as #2 qualifier Omps lined up against Lavar Charity. Lavar was on his game as he reeled off a .061 RT on Kevin Jackson’s ride to a .404 for Herschel, and that was plenty as Lavar took a major hole shot win 3.79/83MPH to 3.54/88MPH. If that wasn’t enough, Terrell Allen scored a big win over Jantzen Maynor throwing down a Personal Best ET for the Rigger Racing ride with a 3.636/86MPH.

The final round battle would see Kentucky’s Allen on Ricky Thorpe’s Rigger Racing ride square off with Virginia’s Michael Myrick piloting Tony Miller’s potent Pro ATV. This would be a classic side-by-side drag race. Allen used his skills on the tree to procure a .078 to .135 RT edge, and that’s what ultimately would be the deciding factor as “The Pumpkin” turned on the win light in a 3.65/86MPH to 3.67/81MPH decision. Congratulations to Terrell Allen and Ricky Thorpe on scoring the huge win in Virginia.

Terrell Allen - Twin-Cylinder Shootout Winner

Michael Myrick - Twin-Cylinder Shootout Runner-Up (Tomlin Racing Photography Photo)

Bracket Classes

The Pro Cars bracket category was a great battle on Saturday. When the dust settled, it would be John T. Davis in his Mountain-Motored 600+ cubic-inch Chevy Truck turning on the win light with a 4.129 (4.12) over Josh Hostinsky. The normal Newtown bracket car class would be run as the Sportsman Car category on Saturday. The final round would see Richard Smitherman in his Big Block Chevy-powered Camaro turning on the win light over Hunter Brooks’ impressive Chevy pickup, who turned on the red light by just .005 in the final round. The Sportsman ATV class final round saw Kristy Hare take the victory with a stellar .019 RT and 3.831 (3.69) over Robert Harris. The winner of the Sportsman Car & Sportsman ATV classes raced off for the 5’ Tall Ironman trophy. Richard Smitherman would take the hardware in the all conquering Camaro with a stellar .027 RT for the win. David Keys used great riding skill to earn the hardware in the Junior class on Saturday morning. Josh Hostinsky was the winner of Friday’s Gambler Shootout as he defeated Eric Miller in the final round. Thomas Carneal ran Low ET of the weekend with his Mopar-powered Nitrous-assisted Dodge Dakota with a 3.36 during Friday’s Test and Tune while New York’s Brandon Stanton ran Low ET for an ATV with a 3.450 on his Snowmo-powered ride.

John T. Davis - Pro Cars Winner (Tomlin Racing Photography Photo)

Richard Smitherman - Sportsman Car & Ironman Winner (Tomlin Racing Photography Photo)

Kristy Hare - Sportsman ATV Winner

David Keys - Junior Winner

Josh Hostinsky - Friday Gambler Winner

Thomas Carneal - Cars Low ET of the Weekend 3.36 (Tomlin Racing Photography Photo)

Brandon Stanton - ATV Low ET of the Weekend 3.450 (Tomlin Racing Photography Photo)

Photos Courtesy
Tomlin Racing Photography
NSDN

Event Photo Gallery - Courtesy Tomlin Racing Photography

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Event Photo Gallery - Courtesy NSDN

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PTN Newtown Aug '14 Race Recap