PTN Championship Weekend 2013 Race Recap

Pro Truck Nationals (PTN) held its crown jewel event PTN Championship Weekend 2013 in late July in Mears, MI. PTN followed the same wildly successful format from the 2012 Championship Weekend in Kentucky, where a unique format was used to crown a Pro Truck class champion over the two nights of racing action. Pro Truck racers accumulated points over the course of action in Friday night’s Pro Shootout (Pro Truck vs. The World) as well as Saturday’s normal Pro Truck category. This made for two nights of some of the greatest racing on sand with racers from across the Midwest getting in on the action. Read on for the event recap with photos from Lonestar Graphics and NSDN.

Pro Shootout - Pro Truck vs. The World
 
A great field of 26 entries made up the Friday night Pro Shootout category. Any Pro bracket car was eligible to compete for the $1000 to win payout, which created some great match ups that we don’t normally see. The World led qualifying as Bob Ramlow’s local-based Strictly Business Altered was just that, Strictly Business cutting down the tree with a .009 RT to lead the pack. When the semi-final round came around, there would be three Pro Trucks and one of “The World” standing. The first pair saw Roger Jareo in the Dusty Dungeon Hobbies Twin Turbo BBC-powered Dragster racing for “The World” against Tom Bray in the Lee Reynders-owned Orange and Blue SBC-powered Jeep. This one would be over at the tree as Roger let go of the button before the three ambers came on handing the win to Tom with a 4.46 (4.40) with a .051RT. On the other side of the ladder, defending PTN Pro Truck champion Kyle Harney, of Covington, KY was taking care of business in the Hayshaker SBC-powered Jeep as he advanced to this semi-final match up against Tom Hartman in the Fist Full of Dollars SBC-powered Chevy Blazer. This would be one of the best races of the night with Hartman holding the RT edge .018 to .080 and forcing Harney into a 4.189 (4.20) break out. Tom would advance with a 4.353 (4.30). This would set up a battle of the Tom’s, both local racers from Mears, MI. The much anticipated final round was a bit of a let down as Tom Bray’s transbrake failed due to low voltage causing a stage foul and handing Tom Hartman the $1000 win with a 4.353 for the second consecutive round.


Tom Hartman - Pro Shootout Winner (NSDN Photo)

Pro Truck
 
This set up a great Day Two of racing action for the PTN Pro Truck championship. Going into Saturday, Hartman held a five point advantage over Bray with defending champ Harney and the always tough Jay Poortenga right behind them. Qualifying was an epic battle in Saturday’s Pro Truck class. Just to make the top half of the 21 entry field, you had to be .038 or better on the tree. With bonus points on the line, Tom Bray got the job done with a stellar .007RT to put him atop the ladder & earn the five bonus points to put himself into a tie with Hartman in the standings going into eliminations. Eliminations started off with one contender dropping off the map as defending champion Kyle Harney lost a close Round One match up to Dave Stinson. This left three contenders for the title. Each matching rounds as Round Three approached. At this point, Poortenga’s only chance for the title was for both Hartman and Bray to lose in this frame, then for him to go on to winning the class. This scenario went by the wayside as Bray started off the round by winning a great side-by-side battle over PTN Head Honcho Buddy Hammett by just .041. The result of that match up put the pressure on Hartman for the title. Unfortunately, this would be the end of the battle as Hartman suffered Transfer Case breakage in the earlier rounds and just staged the car in his match up against Brian McWethy hoping for a red light or break out, but neither happened. So, that round effectively locked up the championship for Bray. This set up an all SBC Jeep semi-final round. Tom Bray would face off with Brian McWethy, who had one of the biggest story lines of the event. McWethy jumped behind the wheel of Ben Dozeman’s Bad Company Blown Jeep after Dozeman suffered a minor injury in a freak tow vehicle incident just before round one. Dozeman would make it back to the track later to watch McWethy do him proud. After never driving the Jeep before round one, McWethy used his Pro Outlaw driving skills to advance to the semi-final round. In that battle, Brian left first against the new champion, but took a little too much stripe at the end for a .005 break out (3.595 on a 3.60 Index). This set up a big time final round between Bray and Poortenga. Two of the winningest drivers in WMSD history and former track champions facing off for the first time with a $1500 Winner’s Purse on the line. When the tree dropped, it was all Orange and Blue as Bray took a .058 to .133 RT edge, which led to a 4.439 (4.40) victory for Tom in the borrowed ride. Congratulations to the Bray/Reynders team on not only the 2013 PTN Pro Truck Championship, but also the Pro Truck class win.


Tom Bray - Pro Truck Winner & 2013 PTN Pro Truck Champion (Lonestar Photo)


Jay Poortenga - Pro Truck Runner-Up (NSDN Photo)

Pro Outlaw
 
The Pro Outlaw category once again put on an impressive show for the Michigan crowd. This is a Run What Ya Brung heads-up category for vehicles with a wheelbase shorter than 150”. With a strong field of eight entries, qualifying was a great show with Russ Bailey taking the #1 spot. Bailey, all the way from Kansas City, MO carded a 3.151/108MPH hit with his Blown BBC-powered Altered. Right behind him would be the potent Procharger-equipped SBC Altered of Missouri’s Johnny Dreher with a 3.181/112MPH. Ohio’s Kyle Farwick ended up third and Michigan’s Jay Poortenga rounded out the top half of the field. When it came down to the money round, the top qualifier Bailey was ready for battle against #4 qualifier Poortenga in his Nitrous-assisted SBC Altered. Jay was ready on the tree with a .028 RT, but the big power of Bailey was too much to handle as he turned on the win light with Low ET of the weekend 3.127/102MPH.


Russ Bailey - Pro Outlaw Winner (Lonestar Photo)


Jay Poortenga - Pro Outlaw Runner-Up (Lonestar Photo)

Other Classes
 
In other class action at this event, Shocker Racing’s Matt Ewing laid down some Shocker Domination with the Open Pro ATV victory in a thrilling handlebar-to-handlebar battle with Alex Goodale by just .014. Pro Outlaw semi-finalist Kyle Farwick used a string of consistent 3.3’s to take the Quick 16 class victory back to Ohio. PTN principal Buddy Hammett piloted the Mid-West Coatings S-10 to the Winner’s Circle in the Sportsman class. Other winners included Tim Falbe (Pro Cars), Steve Ewing (Pro ATV), Devin Reust (ATV), Bennet Dozeman (Juniors), and Luke DeBoer (Mighty Midgets).


Kyle Farwick - Quick 16 Winner (Lonestar Photo)


Matt Ewing - Open Pro ATV Winner (NSDN Photo)


Buddy Hammett - Sportsman Winner (NSDN Photo)


Tim Falbe - Pro Car Winner (Lonestar Photo)


Steve Ewing - Pro ATV Winner (Lonestar Photo)


Devin Reust - ATV Winner (Lonestar Photo)


Bennet Dozeman - Juniors Winner (Lonestar Photo)

Photos Courtesy
Lonestar Graphics
NSDN

Event Photo Gallery - Photos Courtesy Lonestar Graphics
View the embedded image gallery online at:
https://nsdn.us/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=730:ptn-championship-weekend-2013-race-recap&catid=96&Itemid=41#sigProId3c8300908b


Event Photo Gallery - Photos Courtesy NSDN
View the embedded image gallery online at:
https://nsdn.us/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=730:ptn-championship-weekend-2013-race-recap&catid=96&Itemid=41#sigProIda867466046

National Sand Drag News © 2018 | TB Web Development