LODRS D1 Atco Dragway Recap

Mike Bodnar | August 10, 2017

A recap of the winners here at the fifth stop of NHRA division one’s season, residing at Atco Dragway in New Jersey. Throughout the weekend the rain passed by at night, thankfully barely conflicting racing. There were over 500 hundred entries, a good amount of spectators, and many great rounds of racing. Here is a weekend recap of all that went down.

Starting with Friday’s festivities the race featured a “Fast 8” race for Stock, Super Stock, Super Street, Super Comp and Super Gas. First up was Stock Eliminator, Allison Smyth took the win over Bubba Linke. Smyth got off the line a bit sooner, her .032 to Linke’s .043, and she was dead on her dial running a 10.192. Also having to state her stellar top end driving taking the stripe by .002. Moving on to Super Stock, Division One champion Gary Ewing turned on the win light. He defeated John DiBartolomeo, Ewing grabbing a big advantage on the starting line his .010 to DiBartolomeo’s .074. DiBartolomeo breaking out, giving Gary Ewing the win. Jumping into the .90 classes with start with our Super Street winner, Larry Paden. Paden snagging the easy win due to his opponent Kevin Tiedemann going .022 red. Super Comp was won by Jack Sepanek, Sepanek leaving first with a .016 light to Richard Leone’s .046. Sepanek holding on to his starting line advantaged down track to take the win. Lastly, we end Friday night races with Super Gas. Ray Sawyer with a great .009 light defeated Marc Marsico. Marsico trying to run him down, broke out running 9.889 to Sawyer’s 9.914.

With a picture perfect day for final eliminations, we jump right into the action starting with Stock Eliminator. With just topping over 100 entires in Stock, racers were ready to battle out the many rounds of eliminations ahead of them. Joseph Santangelo and Shane Oakes made up the Stock final. Santangelo was a bit quicker out off the line. Oakes making up the difference, the two drivers eyeing each other up, but Santangelo held on for the win. Santangelo’s .023 and 10.491 on his 10.44 dial. Oakes was .046 and 11.153 on his 11.12. Santangelo’s MOV of .005. This was his second win of the season, and is currently the leader in points in Division One. In Super Stock, Gregory Porter took home the wally. In the almost heads up race, Porter took a big advantage off the line. Porter was triple zero on the tree to his opponent, William Kennedy’s .078. Porter held on to his starting line advantage running three over his dial, a 10.147 on his 10.11. Kennedy ran dead on his 10.06 dial with a one, but could not make up the difference.

In Competition Eliminator, Doug Doll was paired up against Frank Aragona in the final round. Doll left the line just a tad too soon going .003 red. Handing over the win to Frank Aragona. This is Aragona’s second win of the season in Comp. He is also currently sitting number four in National points and first in points in Division One.

With a strong showing of the .90 classes, great rounds of racing were held. Teeing off with Super Street, Peter Sanca defeated Don Garbinski. Sanca brought a strong showing to the final round, .016 off the flash and running dead on the .90 with an eight. Don Garbinski was behind the whole race, .024 on the tree running 10.943 on the 10.90. With Sanca and Garbinski both in the top ten in points in Division One, this gave the points a bit of a shakeup. This was Sanca’s first win of the season. Cutting the index down by one second, that leave us to Super Gas. Dan Northrop was set to take on Tom Goldman. Both drivers were stellar on the tree all weekend, both having a perfect light in previous rounds. Off the line Goldman had the advantage, his .014 to Northrop’s .030. With that advantage he was just a bit too quick to the finish line. Goldman ran a 9.886 to Northrop’s 9.891, Northrop with the less of a breakout he captured his first divisional win of the year. The last of the .90 classes leads us to Super Comp, where John Labbous took the win. His competitor Brian Brown was slightly behind him the whole race. Labbous was .010 to Brown’s .017, Labbous held on running a 8.915 to Brown’s 8.927. Labbous is currently the National points leader in Super Comp.

The last of the classes leads us to Top Sportsman and Top Dragster. With the door slammers on the line and dials in the sixes, Jeff Brooks and Brian Conrey were ready to take battle. Brooks with a strong .008 to Conrey’s .047. Brooks took the starting line advantage and kept increasing his advantage down track. Running two over his 6.70 dial, capturing his first divisional win of the season. Conrey was a 7.006 on his 6.95 dial. Brooks is also the current points leader in Division One. In Top Dragster, Chris Wilson received his first win of the year over Mike Sullivan. Wilson ran 6.405 on his 6.38 dial and was .024 on the tree. Sullivan was behind, .042 on the tree and 6.712 on his dial of 6.70. The next stop for Division One is in just about a week at Cecil County Dragway.