Return to Press Release Archive

AHDRA DODGES WEATHER FORECAST AND GIVES FANS A DYNAMITE SHOW AT NORWALK RACEWAY PARK

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., June 17, 2005 - Despite the gloomy weather forecast, Norwalk Raceway Park managed to remain unscathed and the Roeder Harley-Davidson Buckeye Nationals presented by Drag Specialties was completed before thousands of satisfied fans.

Screamin' Eagle Top Fuel - Romine

JIMS Pro Fuel - Streeter

Kresto Pro Drag - Schmidt

Samson Pro Modified - Ainsworth

G-Squared Street Pro - Johnson

Screamin' Eagle V-Rod - McNaughton

Mike Romine of Sturgis, MI, came off the trailer with a 6.493 in Saturday's opening round of Screamin' Eagle Top Fuel, qualifying for the #1 spot that would be the best from the field all day.

North Carolina rider Jay Turner tried to edge Romine out of the spot with a 6.496 on the Mancuso Harley-Davidson ride in the final round, but despite coming up shy of pole position, he leapt from the middle of the pack to the #2 spot.

Another Carolina rider gave it his best shot in qualifying with little seat time in fuel competition under his belt and competing with the heavy guns. Tommy Grimes, the current rider for Ray Price-Samson Exhaust Racing, laid down respectable numbers that included a 6.582 in round two and the top speed of the weekend at 216.27 mph. An anxious move to step up the tune in the final round resulted in a sluggish 9.791, but Grimes and the team were elated with the third spot in qualifying.

Romine and Grimes advanced easily in Sunday's opening round, but for Turner things went awry at the hit of the throttle. The Mancuso team was mostly puzzled at the demise of the bike, and gave it a few more shots in the Barnett- sponsored Outlaw field that was won by Mike Ferris, but the mystery continued for team Mancuso as the bike continued its struggle.

In round two, Romine was unstoppable with a 6.475 at 210.87 mph while Grimes lost to Steve Moore after spitting a belt.

Tracy Kile, the #7 qualifier, was still in it after a pair of rounds and advanced over Moore in the semis. Romine flew to an even quicker 6.474 to advance over Mike Lehman-thereby setting up a final with Kile.

Kile got off with the holeshot advantage, but Romine's team had worked hard for this one and they were rewarded the win with a 6.635 to a 7.044 from Kile.

In JIMS Pro Fuel, Lehman, of West Palm Beach, FL, and local favorite Chris Streeter led the field in qualifying. Despite major damage to Lehman's bike in the final qualifying round, he entered eliminations in the top spot from his earlier 6.792 pass.

The Lehman team thrashed through the night to make repairs for Sunday's rounds. Although slightly off his marks, Lehman managed to get through the field to the finals against Streeter, who was notably consistent all weekend.

His ride gave way when he needed it most-in the final-and Streeter celebrated a first-time home track victory, much to the pleasure of the FBM racing fans on hand.

In S & S Pro Stock, Iowa's Dave Feazell made only one lap in qualifying and the 9.579 wasn't enough to push Dale Raudenbush of Old Zionsville, PA, out of the top spot with his 7.486 pass.

The pair met in Sunday's final round. Though Raudenbush pulled out the best number of the weekend (7.445), Feazell hammered him at the tree on the Jon Miller-prepared bike with a .013 reaction to a .131 from Raudenbush, thus giving Feazell a holeshot win.

Phil Schmidt made a long haul from Orangevale, CA, and made the most of the mileage in Kresto Pro Drag competition. He was the #1 qualifier with a 7.412 lap and sailed to the finals on Sunday to face Floridian and Drag Master, Willie Herschberger.

Herschberger lost a motor during qualifying and, in a gutsy move, withdrew the bike, thus eliminating earlier runs; he then entered a new bike for Saturday's final round. "No Guts, No Glory," as they say, and this truth was evident as he improved his position from third to second spot with a 7.420 on the new entry.

He continued his quest on Sunday and met Schmidt in the finals where he repeated that 7.420, but it wasn't enough to hold off a better 7.405 from Schmidt, who took the win light.

Tom Bradford of Eagle, WI, made a third-round blast in the S & S Pro Gas field at 7.405 for the #1 qualifying spot and with a quicker 7.341 in Sunday's semifinal round, it appeared that he had the obvious performance edge over his final-round opponent, Mike Lozano. Anything can happen in racing-true indeed!-as Bradford had big problems in the final and was left coasting while Texan Lozano rode by for the win with a 7.531 at 171.86 mph.

"Finally," said Canadian Doug Ainsworth when he grabbed a long-awaited win in Samson Pro Modified racing. Ainsworth stayed out in front of the pack all weekend while fighting off stiff competition from champion Junior Pippin and heavy-hitter Paul Smith in the final.

Ainsworth held all the top marks in Norwalk, including #1 qualifier (8.285) and the low E.T. and top speed (8.243 at 159.40 mph) that came in the final lap against Smith.

Travis Lummus of Asheville, NC, was the ringleader in G2 Street Pro with the only 8-second number in qualifying at 8.989-plenty enough for the #1 spot.

After advancing on a bye in Sunday's opening round, something went away for Lummus in the semi against newcomer Jeff King of Muscatine, IA. This set up King's final with Zach Johnson of Germanton, NC-also a newcomer and son of master bike builder Kendall Johnson.

Johnson's first-ever victory came easily as King left early, lighting the red bulb while Johnson clocked a 9.269 at 149.35 mph for the win.

Joey Sternotti is the current G2 Street Pro Champ, but he's also quickly knocking on the door of a new championship title in S & S 124 competition.

Sternotti entered the Norwalk event with the record book numbers at 9.592 at 142.40 mph from earlier events. By Saturday's third round of qualifying, he had reset those marks at 9.498 and 142.76 mph.

Those records were icing on the cake to his win over California's Robbie McCaa in the Norwalk final.

Mike Roberts of Akron, OH, was the Drag Master Hot Street #1 qualifier in front of #2 Bruce Croneberger. The pair remained the top two to beat in Sunday's eliminations as they made their way to the final.

Croneberger was running consistently throughout the day (10.164 being his slowest time), well below the 10.40 marks from Roberts, but a technical snafu from the rider in the final cost him the win.

Croneberger had the numbers to win (10.149) as Roberts broke before the finish, but officials determined that Croneberger had lined up on the wrong side of a designated cone for treaded tires, resulting in disqualification of the win that then went to Roberts.

Croneberger would not leave empty-handed, however: he was also flexing his skills in S & S Super Sport competition where he landed a second final-round appearance for a "non-questionable win" over reigning champ David Hope.

Hope, of Nevada, MO, had another card to play himself, and he drew the winning hand this time with a win in Syn3 ET racing over Iowa's Kevin Markham.

It may be the first time in some time that champion Tripp Nobles has trailed the Screamin' Eagle V-Rod field, according to previous standings, and after falling to Arizona's Terry Vaughan in Sunday's semis, he set himself up to play more catch up.

Nobles will need to catch Wisconsin's Jamie McNaughton, the current leader whose sheer determination is evident. With a pair of national records in hand, McNaughton advanced over fellow record holder Larry Edmondson in the semi to set up the final match with Vaughan.

Vaughan was out quicker at the tree and scored a 9.699, but McNaughton charged on with a 9.517 for another '05 win while advancing his points lead.

They call the team "Poor Boys Racing," but there was nothing poor about the performance from Dean Druschel in Performance Corner Super Eliminator action. Druschel, of Swanton, OH, advanced in a hefty field of entries to race Stephen Galati of Osteen, FL, in the final.

That race was one of the closet in the finals, with a .023 reaction and a 10.962 from Druschel for the win over a slightly shy .026 and 10.995 from Galati in the 10.90 index field.

The Rucker Performance Super Gas class dials in a 9.70 index and local rider Dale Miller nailed it perfectly in Saturday's qualifying for the #1 spot-just before falling in round one to Frank Genzale. Genzale later missed a call to the lanes for what would have given him a ride to the semis.

Instead, Craig Fisher and Brett DeGood ended up with byes in that semi round, advancing to the final round.

Fisher scored a 9.774, but DeGood, of Mt. Top, PA, beat him at the tree with a speedy .007-9.822 for his second win of the season and a move out front in the points standings.

Wallace Ethington joined the #1 qualifier lineup on the starting line Sunday with a perfect .000 reaction in Syn3 ET racing-but after four rounds he let the tree get him with a redlight foul. Not the case in SEP 11.50 index competition, as Ethington advanced all the way to the final and landed another near-perfect reaction with a .005-11.527 to beat Billy Rowe Jr.'s .022-11.540.

The finals at the Roeder Harley-Davidson Buckeye Nationals presented by Drag Specialties were met with threatening sprinkles of rain, but a blessing rose above it all and allowed a thrilling finish to an outstanding weekend of racing.

Next up for the Screamin' Eagle Championship Series is the Kresto Pacific Nationals presented by Destination, Downtown, and Eastside Harley-Davidson dealers, June 25th and 26th, at Pacific Raceways in Seattle, WA.

For more information, please contact 336-924-2095 or visit www.ahdra.com.