National Sand Drag News

2017 April-May

19th Annual Heartland Nationals
Atoka Motorsports Park - Atoka OK
May 26-28, 2017

Full Results Rundown

Top Eliminator
1st-Randy Kimbley
2nd-Russ Bailey

Pro 1 Cars
1st-Mike Dzek
2nd-Les Steelmon

Pro 1 Quads
1st-Nick Allen
2nd-Tommy Springer

The 2017 Avenal Sand Drags Spring Nationals showcased three days of tremendous 300’ sand drag racing action under sunny skies in late April. Racers converged on the small Central California town of Avenal from across the Southwest from as far away as Washington and Arizona. Everyone was greeted with Windy conditions on Friday, but much more tolerable than the wind experienced last October that cut that event short. But by the time Saturday rolled around the wind had dissipated and air conditions were prime to go along with an incredibly well prepped track. Let’s jump into the race recap next, and be sure to continue scrolling to view the Event Photo Gallery at the bottom of the page.

Read more: Atoka May '17 Race Results

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Sunday

The 2017 Avenal Sand Drags Spring Nationals wrapped up on Sunday with an incredible day of great sand drag racing across all categories. Jake Morton & the Morton Racing Team took the Top Alcohol class victory recording a strong 2.46 ET in the final round. Jim Rossi wheeled his “Bad Toy” Dragster to the Top Eliminator class victory defeating the always tough Marc Whitmore in the final round. The big story of the weekend going into Sunday was Kenny Hayes hot streak of winning three classes over the first two days of the event. After 18 consecutive round wins, Kenny made it to the Pro 1 Final Round where Justin Adamson denied the weekend sweep and took the win back to Norco. Charlie Johnson had a strong Sunday where he put the Mopar-powered Jeep in the Pro 2 Winners Circle defeating Mike Williams Sr. in the final round. April Soares was on her game as she topped an incredible 32-car Pro 3 field finishing up the day by defeating Chris Adamson in the final round. David Markle laid down some strong laps as he scored the Motorcycle Pro 1 victory. Austin Thomas showed his great racing skills off this weekend as backed up his Saturday Sportsman 2 win in his Family’s Jeep with a Sunday win in the Motorcycle Pro 2 class on his Pro ATV. The Junior class competition was intense with large classes of the future racers of sand drags getting their racing fix. Cole Tschacher turned consistent mid 5-second laps on his ATV to take the Junior class victory. A cool story was Autumn Gilmore riding her ATV to the Intermediate win in her first ever sand drag race. Another great story from the Junior classes was a Brother-Sister final in the Youth category as brother earned bragging rights with Corbin Cress defeating Karsyn Cress in the final round. The Avenal Sand Drags Spring Nationals was a great event and we hope you enjoyed our coverage all weekend here on NSDN. Eliminations Run Sheets & Highlight Video Links are now posted...

The 2017 B.A.D. Nationals event is coming up on June 16-17 at Thunder Valley Sand Drags in Grain Valley, Missouri. This event has featured some incredible Top Alcohol action in the past and this year looks to be no different on the incredibly fast track surface at TVSD. As an incentive to Top Alcohol class competitors, each racer will receive $250 Show Up cash to complement the event's purse money. Top Alcohol racers contact John Moreland at 816-437-0590 for more info. This event will also see a full slate of classes ranging from Top Eliminator (2.95 Index) all the way to Junior action. For general inquiries on this event, go to www.ThunderValleySandDrags.com.

Race 2 of the 3 race Southern California Sand Drag Association Season was held under chamber of commerce weather at the Soboba Casino in San Jacinto, CA. Huge Southern California crowds came out for Saturday evening’s Pro Show as well as Sunday’s Eliminations at the April Fuels Day event. It was great to see so many folks at the track enjoying the sights and sounds of 300’ sand drag action. This event saw excellent competition across the board with many races decided by mere thousandths of a second. Read on to see who won and to view our Event Photo Gallery.

Atoka Motorsports Park in Atoka, Oklahoma kicked off their 2017 race season with point series events on March 11 & April 8. Congrats to all of the Winners! Click "Read More" to view full results. Atoka’s first special event of the season will be the 19th Annual Heartland Nationals over Memorial Day Weekend May 26-28.

Atoka Motorsports Park
April 8, 2017 Race Results
Atoka, OK

Pro 1 Cars

Money
1st-Amanda Mathews
2nd-Jimmy Evans

Trophy
1st-Randy Kimbley
2nd-Danny Mathews

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Sunday

Final eliminations were full of epic battles at the Soboba Casino in San Jacinto, CA during the SCSDA 2017 April Fuels Day event. Case in point was the Top Fuel final round between Dennis Rieck and Marcus Norris. Rieck turned on the win light in an incredible 2.32 to 2.33 side-by-side battle by just .025 at the stripe. Jim Hammond put the April’s Dream Dragster in the Top Alcohol Winner’s Circle defeating a red lighting Jake Morton in the final round. Kris Lauffer was the Fast Fours winner in a bizarre final round where Robert Skidmore had an uncharacteristic stage foul eliminate him. Derek Balcunas got the job done in the Pro Mod class defeating Dave Huffman with a 3.13ET. The Top Eliminator Finalists, Marc Whitmore & Ron D’Artenay elected to Split the final round after a Timing System glitch took place during their final round battle. In the Pro Bracket classes, Mark Ratliff was the biggest story as he doubled up taking both the Motorcycle Pro 1 and 2 class victories. Jim Larry nearly doubled up himself as he took the Pro 3 class win over Chris Adamson, but came up on the short end of the Pro 2 final round against George Amos. Craig Durning piloted “Eugene the Jeep” to the Pro 1 victory over Kenny Hayes. The Junior class competitors did great battle on track with the winners ending up being: Sunny Graham (Junior Dragster 9+), Delaney Browning (Juniors 9+), Nixon Acevedo (Mini Junior Dragster) & Madysen Holden (Peewees). We hope everyone enjoyed our coverage this weekend. Run Sheets & Recap Videos are now posted.

The 2017 Avenal Sand Drags Spring Nationals event is just around the corner April 28-30. This event will include the conclusion of last season’s Fall Nationals on Friday along with early round Qualifying & Gambler’s classes open to new entries. This event will be in memory of Avenal Sand Drags Board Member & Racer Tom Ince, who passed away late last year. Links are listed below to the Race Weekend Schedule for this event as well as a Hi-Res Flyer Download Link. For more info or to contact Avenal Sand Drags, go to www.AvenalSandDrags.com.

Race Info Files
Race Weekend Schedule
Event Flyer --- Hi-Res JPG Download

2017 April-May

Atoka Heartland Nats '17 Race Results/Updates

Avenal Apr '17 Race Recap

Atoka Heartland Nats '17 Event Info

Atoka May '17 Race Results

NSDN Daily Race Coverage - Avenal Apr '17

TVSD BAD Nationals News

SCSDA Soboba Apr '17 Race Recap

Atoka March-April '17 Race Results

NSDN Daily Race Coverage - Soboba Apr '17

Avenal Spring Nats Apr '17 Event Info