West Michigan Sand Dragway season hosted three of its season’s largest races of the season on July 21, July 26-29, and August 11. The July 21 event was the U.S. Sand Nationals Warm Up event with the July 26-29 race being the U.S. Sand Nationals and the August 11 event featured the Sportsman Extravaganza. This recap highlights these events which are the sixth through eighth of the 12 race WMSD point series.Top Fuel
Top Fuel at the July 21 event was the annual Bad Frog Top Fuel Showdown. Jay Poortenga and John Rammacher were the only competitors at this event with John taking a 2.86-2.91 final round victory.
The next event was the U.S. Sand Nationals. John Rammacher picked up where he left off taking the number one qualifying spot with a 2.79, however he would break and be unable to make the first round call. Pat Goodale would set Low E.T. of the event with a 2.76 in a first round defeat of Rob Schyett. Pat would move on to face Jay Poortenga in the final, who defeated Bob Piunti in round one. The final round was an extremely close race with Jay taking a hole shot victory over Pat Goodale 2.84-2.78.
The final race of the three race stretch was won by the only entry, John Rammacher. John laid down the quickest E.T. of the three races with a 2.72 pass during this event.
U.S. Sand Nationals Winner Jay Poortenga
Top Eliminator
Troy Turnock was able to sweep the three race swing with his Fiat. The first event saw Troy face off with Rob Lemon in the final, Troy took the win 3.03-3.13. The second race was the U.S. Sand Nationals where after a bizarre set of circumstances Troy never had to make a full pass during eliminations. In round one, Lori Goodale left before the tree was activated against while Troy would then get a bye into the final before being able to idle down the track in the final when Nick Vanderputte’s Dragster would not start. The final event saw Brian Ambs redlight away a quicker E.T. handing Troy his seventh TE victory this season in eight events.
Troy Turnock swept the Top Eliminator class at these three events.
Pro Index
Jay Poortenga defeated Matt Peel on July 21 for the Pro Index class victory. The U.S. Sand Nationals race saw Ed Engel take the victory over Keith Ahart, who redlighted in the final. Ed would make it two wins in a row winning on August 11 over Roger Jareo in the final round. Matt Peel stayed third in Pro Points, and continues to lead the Pro Index class points.
Ed Engel took two consecutive Pro Index class victories.
Keith Ahart was the runner-up in Pro Index at the U.S. Sand Nationals.
Pro Comp
Ryan Poortenga won Pro Comp as part of a double victory, also taking the Pro Truck victory, on July 21 defeating Reny Villemure in the final round. Randi Vsetula would continue her Pro Comp domination at the U.S. Sand Nationals winning the event over Andy Villemure then taking the August 11 race over Fred Hugo. Randi’s victories solidified her lead in Pro Comp points over Fred Hugo and helped her keep pace with Rich Wood, who leads her in Point Points by only 3.
Randi Vsetula took the U.S. Sand Nationals and August 11 PC class wins.
Pro Mod Truck
The Pro Mod Truck class featured a special event at the July 21 race featuring a huge field of 22 entries. Ryan Poortenga took home the $1000 pay check for first place after getting by Paul Becker in the final. Ryan continued on taking home the class win at the U.S. Sand Nationals defeating his dad, Jay, in the final round. Jay Poortenga came back on August 11 and would win the final round race over Fred Hugo. Kip Martin continues to lead the Pro Truck class points with Mike Page, Dale Flaugher, and Jay Poortenga closely behind.
Ryan Poortega - Winner of the Pro Truck Shootout on July 21.
Jay Poortenga won Pro Truck on August 11.
Pro ATV
Rich Wood continued his amazing season with three straight victories in the Pro ATV class. Joe would defeat Joe Herr, Corey Martz, and Buck Raspotnik respectively, in the three race span. Rich has made it to the final round of all eight events this season and leads the Pro point series.
Rich Wood (near lane) swept the three race stretch in the Pro ATV class.
Comp
The Comp class was dominated by Tom Bray taking all three events in the three race span making it four victories total in a row. Tom defeated Mark Groenink in the final for the second race in a row on July 21, then followed it up by defeating the “Scooby Dune” buggy in the final at the U.S. Sand Nationals and August 11 events. Reny Villemure drove the buggy to the final at the Nationals while his son, Marc was the pilot on August 11. Tom Hartman continues to lead the Comp class points with Tom Bray closing in, only three points back.
Modified
Chad De Wys started out the three race span with a victory on July 21 over Tom Bray in the final. Tom would come back to take the race wins at the U.S. Sand Nationals and on August 11. The Nationals victory was over Roger Young while the August 11 runner-up was Randy Lottes. Tom Bray’s victories increased his Sportsman point series lead to 31 over ATV’s Rich Wood.
ATV
Rich Wood’s Pro ATV winning ways spilled over to the ATV class where he took wins on July 21 and August 11. Rich would defeat Buck Raspotnik in both final rounds. Buddy Hammett was the U.S. Sand Nationals victor taking out Brian McWethy in the final. Rich’s victories moved him atop the ATV class points and moved him into second place in the Sportsman point series.
Junior Dragster
Lani Young continued her strong season on July 21 with a final round win over Tyler Walla. 2006 champion Jordan Lirones headed towards the top of the points list with victories at the Sand Nationals and on August 11. Jordan defeated Elise Shaffer at the Nationals and Lani Young on August 11 to take the final round victories. Jordan took over the points lead from his brother Tyler by one point after the August 11 event.
Junior ATV
Caitlynn Page continued her impressive rookie season in Junior ATV with victories on July 21 and at the U.S. Sand Nationals. Caitlynn defeated Samantha Schyett in the final round at both events. Caitlynn would finish third on August 11 behind class winner Katie DeBoer and runner-up Allison Morgan. Cody Turnock continues to pace the Junior ATV points with Caitlynn Page 16 points back.
Mighty Midgets
The Mighty Midgets class was competitive with three different winners over the three race stretch. Damion Morgan won the July 21 Kelsey Ambs in the all-truck final round. Trey Buehler took his first every Mighty Midgets victory over Dylan DeHaan at the U.S. Sand Nationals while Tanner Hartman was the winner on August 11 over Kelsey Ambs. Joshua Rammacher still holds the Mighty Midget class points lead with any of the top five still within striking range as the season heads towards completion.