Most Class Leaders Stand Their Ground as Rocky Mountain Race Week 2.0 Enters Louisiana for Day Three of Racing Action
After a pair of track dates in Texas to start Rocky Mountain Race Week (RMRW) 2.0 (Race Week), competitors got a full day of driving action to roll into Louisiana for racing at State Capitol Raceway in Port Allen on Wednesday morning / afternoon.
The majority of the incoming class leaders held their top spots, but a few notable names are out of competition, or lost their class leads.
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Coming into RMRW 2.0, Jason Hurley and ‘The Meltdown Firebird’ had never been in the 6-second range in drag-and-drive competition. But invading that 6-second zone during the Havlik FSC Shootout showed the third-generation Pontiac had the potential, and a day two 7.06 pass got Hurley closer to incoming Unlimited class leader Earl Schexnayder.
Unfortunately, it also resulted in a broken transmission, and Hurley was not able to get it fixed in time to compete at State Capitol Raceway, dropping him out of competition.
Schexnayder was off his low 7-second pace in Louisiana with a 7.96 best run, but a 7.47 average gives him a healthy lead over Michael Boegler, who moved his ’62 Chevy Nona into second with an 8.95 average.
Pro Street has been in control of Daryl Yost’s 1969 Chevelle since the beginning, and the twin-turbocharged class is now the only ride in the class with all 8-second time slips. That gives Yost an 8.74 average, leading Steve Farber’s 9.09 average and familiar drag-and-drive competitor Dustyn Caudle’s 9.14 tally.
The Outlaw Street class started with three cars in the 8-second range, with Blaine Thiessen in the lead after day one. The lead switched to Aaron Shaffer on day two, and by the fourth day of the event, Rick Fletes and his unique diesel Chevelle dropped out. Schaffer strengthened his lead slightly on the third day of competition over Thiessen via an 8.589 to 8.634 average difference.
The top three in the Limited Street class stayed the same, with Steve Willingham parking his Grand National in the top spot again with an 8.57 average. Keith Fensted kept his Fairmont in the second spot courtesy of an 8.77 average, and the GT-R of Luna Tran held down the third spot with a 9.01 average.
Walter Doyle secured the title to the Hot Rod class at RMRW 1.0, and he’s on his way to securing a second one in as many RMRW events. After back-to-back 8.6-second runs on the first two days of competition, Doyle slowed to a 9.24, but kept the overall lead with an 8.83 average. Rod Bartholomew retains the second spot with a 9.01 average, and third is in the grasp of Richard Jones thanks to a 9.22 average.
Continuing his barrage of 7-second runs, Eric Kuhn strengthened his lead in the Ultimate Radial class with a 7.46 average. Brad Thessen slipped a bit in second to an 8.09 average.
The Gasser class still has the 1970 Chevrolet pick-up of Joe Grier at the forefront, courtesy of an 11.21 average. Jason King’s 11.87 average from his ’50 Willys keeps him in the second spot.
The tiny tire Rowdy Radial class remains in control of Josh Reich, who clocked his third 5-second lap of the week for a 5.78 average. Melisa Dickehage is second with a 6.26 average from her ’84 Mercury, and Chris Patterson rounds out the top three with a 2006 Dodge ¾-ton pick-up.
Chris Baker continues to scorch the Motorcycle class, dropped another 9.teen pass for a three-day average of 9.53 and over a full second lead compared to the 10.63 average of Pat Cook.
Lydia Walden continues to lead the Junior Street class, clocking her third 9.2-second elapsed time in as many days to keep the number one spot.
For those that like the third pedal on the left, the Stock Shift class got a bit of a shuffle after the third day of competition. Incoming leader and two-time Sick Week winner Richard Guido slowed to a 10.04 pass, slowing his average to a 9.30.
That gave William Hagan room to slide his ’96 GMC pick-up by just a hundredth of-a-second, a 9.29 average. Billy Armstrong kept his ’66 Ford Fairlane in third with an 9.38 average.
The Naturally Aspirated classes kept their same status, with Dave Berry at the helm of Small Block with a 10.10 average, while the Big Block side remains in control of Robert Voss thanks to his 10.09 average.
Jacoby Betts (9.0325 average), Travis Urbach (10.014 average), Michael Hollis (11.033 average), Travis Boltman (12.009 average), Eric Carroll (13.068 average) and Anthony Watson (14.012 average) lead their respective Index classes.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of 1320 Video and RMRW – High Speed Media.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com