Brett LaSala, Travis Akins and Jon Rogers Lead Winners List from The Reunion at Bradenton Motorsports Park
Featuring ten classes and north of $35,000 of payouts, The Reunion at Bradenton Motorsports Park (BMP) in Florida took place on April 19th and 20th.
Several states were represented, and despite warmer than usual temperatures and track surface temps nearing 140 degrees, several people established new personal bests, and some drag-and-drive racers made late rounds appearances, and even a couple new records were established.
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The quickest and fastest cars came to play in the Extreme 28s Versus Tres Cuarto, and although several events have gone to eighth-mile on this style of class, The Reunion joins the World Cup Finals and FL2K in running the full quarter-mile for the class.
After three spirited qualifying sessions, Larry Ramnath and his 2001 Nissan, the quickest import on a 275 drag radial, qualified on top with a 6.39 at 219 mph. Keith Rhea put his 2004 Ford Mustang in the number two spot at 6.40, and Brett LaSala rounded out the top three in qualifying with a 6.52.
Those three drivers would advance their cars to the semifinal round, where Ramnath faced Rhea. The import versus battle found Rhea getting a three hundredths better reaction time, and although Ramnath clocked a best of the weekend 226.24 mph blast, Rhea would unload low elapsed time of the event, a 6.24 at 212 mph!
LaSala got the single to the final, and produced a 6.86 at a coasting 148 mph. A pair of Mustangs would decide the title, and at the flash of green on the Christmas Tree, Rhea was off first by a .010 to .033 reaction time difference. Both cars produced 60 foot times below 1.1-seconds, but by the 1000 foot mark, LaSala had come around Rhea, and LaSala would hold on to win via a 6.28 at 228 mph to Rhea’s competitive 6.35 at 228 mph run!
The Street Car Shootout class featured a large field, necessitating a split of the top sixteen qualifiers into a Street Car Shootout Elite field. The best in qualifying was Travis Akins, who brought a new combination to BMP and delivered the lone 6-second pass in qualifying, a 6.90 at 205 mph, to earn the top spot.
Akins would his way through eliminations to the final round, where he would face fellow Mustang runner Marlon Castillo. At the start, Castillo’s show quality Mustang got a huge thirteen hundredths of-a-second holeshot, but Akins would come around just before the finish line to grab the win via a 7.14 at 203 mph pass to Castillo’s 7.32 at 189 mph run, his best of the event.
The second Street Car Shootout field was the Street Car Shootout Pro class, and in this one, Michael Wilson qualified on top with an 8.54 at 160 mph blast from his turbocharged 2002 Chevrolet Camaro.
Similar to the Street Car Shootout Elite class, the top qualifier Wilson survived to the final round. Waiting for him there was Logan Day and his supercharged 2021 Mustang.
Off the starting line, Day would hold a slight reaction time advantage. But by half-track, Wilson had pulled ahead and stayed ahead until the scoreboards revealed a win for Wilson via the 8.56 at 8.74 difference.
The Stick Shift Shootout class had several drivers with impressive credentials on property, including Jonathan Atkins, Joel Grannas, and Cleetus McFarland. Atkins qualified number one courtesy of his 6.89 at 211 mph pass, but when the engine went silent on the starting line in the semifinals, Jon Rodgers would take advantage and roll to the final round.
Rogers, who has earlier clocked a 7.05 at 197 mph blast to reset the Nissan H-pattern stick shift record, would stage his Precision turbocharged 2JZ-powered Nissan 240 against Chris Moore and his 2000 Camaro in the final round. At the green light, Rogers got the holeshot, and a great final round race found Rogers getting the win via a 7.14 at 200 mph over Moore’s 7.19 at 203 mph.
The X-Street / XFWD (Front Wheel Drive) class was a banger, with a trio of cars in the 7-second range, including Bradley Dillon wheeling the first SRT-4 with a manual transmission to run a 7-second pass in qualifying with a 7.96 at 186 mph.
Jayson Bello qualified atop the class with a 7.89 at 174.87 mph, but Bello would be on the sidelines by round two.
The final would be an all-Honda Civic affair, with Mitchell Muniz staging opposite Victor Alvarez. Muniz had qualified thirteen, but clocked a 7.94 at 175 mph pass in route to the finals, while Alvarez had survived a side-by-side 8.16 semifinal with Andrew Fernandez.
At the green Alvarez got the slight advantage on reaction time, and when Muniz’s car puffed smoke just past the halfway mark, and Alvarez would capture his second-straight victory at The Reunion with an 8.12 at 188 mph pass, to join a large crowd in the winners circle.
The AWD (All-Wheel-Drive) Versus DCT (Dual Clutch Transmission) class featured a variety of supercars, from Lamborghinis to Audi R8s and Nissan GT-R models.
David Salts would earn the top qualifying spot with a 7.38 at 193 mph blast, and guided his GT-R to the final round against the Lamborghini of Stephen Harvey.
The final round would have Salts in command from start to finish, getting the reaction time advantage and ringing up his second-straight 7.42 pass to earn the win over the 8.21 from Harvey.
A new class for the 2024 edition of The Reunion was Nitro versus the World, a slightly slower version of the XFWD class according so some competitors. Hondas secured all the qualified spots, and the top qualifier Minh Peoples would make his way to the finals against Carlos Perez, the number two qualifier.
A pair of colorful Civics staged up for what should’ve been a side-by-side 8-second battle, but Peoples slowed with problems, allowing the 8.76 at 156 mph pass of Perez to secure the win.
The No Time Shootout class featured a small but solid group of quick rides from the Florida area, including “Jackstand Jimmy” James Taal, recent Battle in The Bay winner Joey Salas, Tyler Gregan, and even Paul Steeda making the tow from Canada.
The final round would feature a pair of turbocharged rides, as Glen Burich in his Mustang known as ‘Big Spanky’ would stage up again the ‘Turbo B’ Camaro of Chris Bretz.
The final round had the cars leaving the starting line together, but just a few hundred feet later, Big Spanky had gone into a power wheelstand. That forced Burich to lift, while Bretz made a solid pass to collect the victory.
A pair of index-based quarter-mile classes would once again be part of The Reunion, with both host solid sized fields and close competition. The 10.50 index final round featured Austin Stephens and Ryan Norton, two drivers that have been to several final rounds at Bradenton Motorsports Park.
A pair of great reaction times started the race, with a .012 for Stephens being slightly outdone by the .009 of Norton. But at the finish line, the advantage and win light swung to Stephens, as his 10.469 narrowly defeated the 10.462 pass from North on the double break-pout result.
The 9.50 index final would be a Ford versus Chevrolet match-up, with Junior McKenzie’s ’79 Mustang staging against Robert Riggs’ ’70 Nova.
Riggs got the better reaction time, but a 9.45 break out pass from Riggs against the 9.50 index would regulate him to the runner-up spot, while McKenzie’s 9.52 run would get the win light.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of KC Photography, Bradenton Motorsports Park.
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