Points chases become tighter after Race # 6 & 7 at Atco

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Atco Dragway – Atco, NJ – Only two weeks removed from the annual Uncle Buck Race at Cecil County, the Mid Atlantic .90 Series swung back into action at the famous Atco Dragway in South Jersey. With temperatures in the mid-nineties for most of Saturday it became a test of will and attrition for drivers to make it through the tough fields ahead of them that day.

In VP Racing Fuels Super Comp, Jeff Livezey Jr. grabbed the #1 spot after two qualifiers with a perfect 8.900 but, he would bow out early in Round #2 to Kara Stine. Stine who knew she was on the right side of the ladder for the bye in the semi’s, lined up against Walter Olt in round 4. Stine pulled out a hole shot victory with an 8.940 to 8.914 over Olt after a monster .001 to .060 starting line advantage. In the final she would match-up with either # 3 or 6 in points with Doug Doll Jr. or Bill Hardifer. Doll got the jump at the line (.013 to .027) but, broke out by one thousandth of a second to allow Hardifer the trip to the final round with an 8.936 to 8.899 victory. With the final set, both drivers have visited the winner circle before but, were looking for some more hardware for home, Hardifer took the starting line advantage (.016 to .059) and never looked back for an 8.917 to 8.889 victory and a jump to third in points for Hardifer.

In VP Racing Fuels Super Gas, Ron Ross laid down a perfect .000 light and 9.900 in qualifying to claim the # 1 spot. In the semi’s though it was a who’s who of NHRA Division 1 Super Gas racers as Iggie Boicesco took on Tom Goldman and 2020 Champ Hank Smith took on Jerry Pierce. Hank was able to drive around Pierce’s huge starting line advantage (.042 to .024) to a 9.901 to 9.933 win. On the other side of the ladder Boicesco led a wire-to-wire double breakout against Goldman (.017 to .030) for a 9.897 to 9.881 win. In the finals Smith once again found himself behind at the starting line (.036 to .022) but, Boicesco could not slow down enough to hand the win to Smith on a double break-out 9.897 to 9.895 victory for the champion.

Rounding out Race # 6 was VP Racing Fuels Super Street, Greg Kelly took the # 1 spot in his Chevy Monza but, came up short to our eventual runner-up Scott Lang. Lang would carry his Nova through a pivotal match-up with James Moshier in Round 3 to earn the bye to the finals. On the other side of the ladder, Carly Wolf and her Mustang were starting to get things together after struggling in the beginning of the season. Wolf would take down Kelli Barbato in the third round and Sean Lanigan in the semis to match up with Lang. This final would produce a first-time winner in the series as neither driver had tasted victory before. At the flash, Lang had the advantage (.021 to .039) but, gave it back on the top end to Carly who legged it out to a 10.909 to Lang’s 10.932 losing effort.

On Sunday, the temperatures cooled down a little bit for Race # 7 and a big race for many in the points chase. In VP Racing Fuels Super Street, point leader Keith Mayers suffered a rare first round loss to Bill Nuzzo which opened the door for his fellow competitors. One of those competitors was Rick Mattioli who was coming off two rare first round losses in his 67 Camaro. Rick would get around Taylor Iacono in the second, a broke bye when Mike Epprecht could not make the call and beat newcomer Dave Nahill in the semis to set-up a battle in the final with 2018 Champ Dom Burgese. The anticipation of the final was short-lived as Burgese went -.006 red to hand the win to Mattioli, who would take over the #1 spot in points with the win.

As we turn our attention to VP Raving Fuels Super Comp, Tom Slater took the #1 qualifying spot and rode that wave toa ¼ final finish when he would go red. Walter Olt, the local boy from Atco who has did everything imaginable at his home track appeared in yet another final. Olt’s road to the finals was not an easy one as he had to defeat Vincent Nobile and 2020 D1 Champ Amanda Boicesco in round three & four to earn the bye to the finals. In the finals was another tough hurdle in past world Champ Doug Doll Jr. who had been on a tear in his old reliable Lightning Chassis. In the final, Olt grabbed the starting line advantage (.014 to .026) and never looked back as he laid down a twenty pack for an 8.906 to 8.913 victory.

The final class of the weekend was VP Racing Fuels Super Gas, Saturday’s winner Hank Smith took the #1 qualifying spot and the three bonus points that go along with it. Smith would carry that momentum all the way to the semi-finals where he would match up against George Smith. At the flash, Smith found himself behind by a bunch (.045 to .007) and it was shortly after the Christmas tree that things got worse for Smith at the transmission broke and sent Smith on what seemed to be a sure final round birth but, with Smith not knowing Hank was broke he legged it on out to a 9.870 breakout loss and a trip for the Awesome Race Car Wraps Camaro to the final round. On the other side of the ladder, recent Cecil County Runner-Up Rick Homan got the laddered bye-run in the semi’s and with Hank not having enough time to fix his car, he took the beams and claimed the Race # 7 victory.

With Race # 7 in the books, three new leaders are atop the leader board as Doug Doll Jr. in Super Comp, Hank Smith in Super Gas and Rick Mattioli in Super Street lead the way into the final two events at Maple Grove Raceway on October 2nd & 3rd.