RMRW’s Rowdy Radial Class Tightens, Stick Shift Lead Changes, Motorcycle Class History in the Making?
Rocky Mountain Race Week strode across the plains to Kearney, Nebraska for the second day of competition, after a drive day to cover the almost 500 mile distance between there and Pueblo, Colorado.
Competition is heating up across the classes, with the Kearney track surface throwing up some serious numbers. The quickest run of the day came from — you guessed it — Jason Hurley in the Meltdown Firebird. A 7.203 at 198.67mph went oh-so-close to Jason’s 200mph goal and took his average to a 7.283.
Rowdy Radial is the closest heads up class with the top three separated by less than a tenth of a second. Vince Murphy improved to a killer 5.240 run, taking his average to 5.500. Brian Walden’s Mustang dropped to second on a 5.453 run (5.523 average) while Randall Reed is right there after a 5.496 blast (5.575A).
Also up for grabs is Stick Shift, especially with the withdrawal of day one leader Chad Fegley. The Corvette bent the torque tube input shaft and damaged a slave cylinder. That was good news for Chris Hein’s hot rod (above), which moved up with an impressive 8.537 run (8.570A). Bill Armstrong (8.815A) and Richard Guido (8.934A) are waiting and watching, with plenty of experience on their side.
Bradley Thiessen and Jim Parkison are continuing their war in Ultimate Radial. With near identical runs of 7.968 and 7.969 respectively on day two, their averages of 8.034 and 8.059 remain locked tight. But that was only half the story for Jim, who needed to fix a transmission band issue in his Camaro and made it to the lanes just in time to make a pass!
One racer we are watching with interest is Chris Baker in the Motorcycle class. His day two time of 8.661 was the quickest ever seen from a drag-and-drive (ride?) motorcycle we believe, taking his average to an 8.730. No-one has ever averaged in the eights on two wheels, will Chris be the first? The amazing thing is that he has some competition at this very event for the feat, with Dustin Moody clocking an 8.894 to bring his average down to a 9.033.
Naturally there’s also some carnage taking place at drag-and-drive’s most torture-prone event. Aaron Shaffers’ normally clockwork Camaro is out after damaging a turbo, which saw some material end up in the oil pan. Also out is Aaron Slayden’s Taco Time Fairmont, which dropped a valve.
Christopher Atkinson can’t seem to catch a break with his Cadillac wagon, having replaced two axles in two passes (not to mention a broken trailer hitch), while Justin Erickson was left chasing a ride back to Denver after his unique Saab developed a rod knock.
Keith Wells had a failure of the biological kind after passing out while stopping to help another racer. He put it down to low blood sugar and kept driving but then passed out on the road, with fellow Race Weekers stopping to assist and take him to hospital. There doctors found a hematoma and a kidney problem, but thankfully Keith is on the mend and his Blazer was okay!
In other results, Australian Ben Neal stretched his lead on Pro Street with an 8.608 (8.630A), though Adam Crego is not far back after an 8.650 (8.776A).
Brady Matysek went near perfect in Limited Street on an 8.506, tugging his average down to an 8.534, trailed by Trevor Branden’s 8.555 average.
Will Carter stayed quick and in the lead of Outlaw Street thanks to a 7.972 (7.944A), as did Corey Thompson in Hot Rod on an 8.146 (8.311A). Rob Lepenske shows no signs of giving up the three-second lead in Gasser (9.634A).
Carlos Astor slowed to a 9.922 in NA Big Block (9.687A), giving Rich Pedraza’s Mustang a chance to stay in touch after a 9.974 pass (10.447A), while Dave Barry’s Nova improved to a 10.352 for a 10.468 average in NA Small Block.
Across the index classes, Vince Ruhe remains the leader of 9.00 (9.068A), while Travis Urbach is enjoying a heck of a week after a 10.006 took his average to a 10.009 in the 10.00 class.
Cameron Thorpe has two days of 11.00X runs to his credit, with an 11.004 at Kearney resulting in an 11.005 average.
In 12.00, it’s a close game between Josh Rahm (12.017A), Greg Jones (12.027A) and Michael Butterfield (12.030A). It’s just as close if not tighter in 13.00, with Curtis Tanke’s 13.041 average followed by five other drivers within half-a-tenth. In 14.00, Ernie Raile still looks the favorite after a nice 14.003 pass (14.011A).
After racing at Kearney, racers needed to make a lightning haul (literally, through storms) back to the mountains where two days of competition (separated by a drive day) await at Bandimere Speedway. Make sure to catch the live stream on Bangshift and keep an eye on 1320 Video for their daily wrap videos!
