Epping Recap

The 5th Annual New England Nationals in Epping, New Hampshire was the 10th and next stop on the 2017 NHRA Mello Yellow tour. This 3 day event had mostly D1 racers lined up early and eager after their 2nd divisional stop the week prior. Car participation this weekend was depressing with quotas being set at 60 entries and not one single class being full, and some being only half or 2/3rds full. With the persistent rain over the past few weeks most racers would hope that it would just stay away for one weekend so we could have some fun, and it did. Although some unfortunate rain, only on the day of parking kept racers from certain pit areas, eventually everyone found a place to park and “the show went on” with everyone getting their 3 time trials and completing eliminations with no delays. On Sunday I would say that the finals and winner circle showed that this race was a mostly D1 dominated event, with a bunch of first time Wally winners.

Super Stock: Byron Worner over Bryan Worner

Byron now ties twin brother Bryan with 5 National Event wins in an all Worner, all red Camaro final. Both of these drivers were honed in on the tree being between .000-.018 between them over the last 3 rounds of competition, so to say they deserved to be in the final together would be an understatement. Bryan left first with a .044 light chasing down his 10.22 dial, shortly after Byron left with a .022 light running down his 9.73 dial. At the finish line Bryan hit the brakes, but not hard enough, running 10.184 on the 10.22. Byron had his car dialed in and ran dead on 6 (9.736) with that .022 light, giving him a .028 total package, leaving his twin brother no chance at the trophy.

Stock: David Ficacci over Thomas Auger

Ficacci gets his 3rd Wally over first time finalist Thomas Auger. This final round was fairly easy for Ficacci as Auger lit the cherry going -.028 red and ran 11.249 on his 11.30 dial. Ficacci was dialed 10.08 and may have seen the red light drop and took a nice easy cruise down the track, running 10.197 shutting it off early with a .051 light, giving him his 2nd Stock Eliminator win.

Super Comp: Rich Dorr over Raymond Fredricks

3rd time is the charm as Dorr collects his 1st win in his 3rd final round with a double breakout win over fellow D1 racer Fredricks. Both of these drivers were a touch off their game on the tree with Dorr being .026 to Fredricks .042. But it was Dorr that ran closer to the 8.90 index (8.892) to (8.871), powering him to victory.

Super Gas: John Labbous Jr. over Chuck Rothermel

Labbous continues to rack up the trophies as he gets his 5th overall and his 3rd of the season. Just over a month ago it was Labbous who became the 22nd driver to ever double up when he won Super Comp and Super Gas at Charlotte. He clearly shows no signs of slowing that win total down as takes out Rothermel with a .021 light and ran 9.922 on the 9.90 index. Rothermel made a good lap running 9.914 with a .036 reaction time but when you give someone like Labbous the starting line advantage, he will make you pay for it in the end, and did taking .007 at the stripe.

Super Street: Brian Sawyer over Karri Khoury

First time National Event winner Brian Sawyer takes the crown and is now 1 for 1 in final rounds. Sawyer had a huge reaction time advantage as Khoury must have been taking a nap with a .112 light to Sawyer’s .034. At the end Sawyer kept that advantage running 10.982 on the 10.90 index, Khoury ran a better 10.921 but couldn’t make up for the reaction time deficit at the start of the race.

Top Sportsman: John Benoit over Matt Harper

Benoit takes the stripe by just .001 to get his 2nd National Event Wally over defending New England Top Sportsman champ Matt Harper. Benoit was slightly ahead on the tree with a .028 light and drove around Harper right at the end to run 6.444 on the 6.43 dial. Harper ran equally close to his dial, running 7.441 on the 7.43 with a .032 light, but came out on the wrong side of the photo finish.

Top Dragster: Deborah DiGenova over Scott Hall

DiGenova had never been to a final round before and is now 100% on winning them. DiGenova was dialed 6.81 and was 1 over the dial running 6.826 being .014 on the tree. Hall left second with a 6.20 dial running 6.191, but was later on the tree (.046) and under the dial, which are both non-winning combinations, giving the win to DiGenova.

Photos By – Auto Imagery