National Sand Drag News - PTN BRSD Aug '10 Race Recap

The Pro Truck Nationals 2010 season finished on a high note with the Show-Me Pro Truck Nationals at Big River Sand Drags in Bonne Terre, MO taking place in early August. Warm weather didn’t deter racers and spectators as things came together for this Season Finale. With championships and lots of prize money on the line, the action was bound to be spectacular and it surely was. Let’s take a look at the action.

Pro Truck

A stout field of 20 competitors showed up to wage battle in the Pro Truck class at BRSD. The focus heading into the event was on the points battle as five racers still had a shot at the championship. Dave Kramer, Ben Dozeman, Kyle Harney, Kip Martin, and Ryan Wilson all had mathematical shots at the title. Qualifying shook out with points contender Martin taking the top spot with a stellar .022 RT. The Low ET qualifying points would go to Ben Dozeman, who ran a 3.569. Once the round one pairings came down, there were some intriguing match ups.

The top two points leaders would battle it out in round one as #4 qualifier Dozeman faced off with #14 qualifier Kramer. Another big pair would be the first one of the round between low qualifier Martin & fellow championship contender Kyle Harney. This match up would be a wild one as Harney sprayed his Jeep a little too hard and put it on the bumper off the line causing him to lift; handing Martin the round one victory. Later in the round would be the big battle between Kramer and Dozeman. Dozeman’s shot at a repeat championship went away right on the starting line with a .021 red light, handing the win to Kramer. The championship was far from locked up for Kramer, though, as both Martin and Ryan Wilson advanced past round one.

Round two kicked off with Martin keeping the pressure on Kramer, taking the win over a trouble plagued Steve Barton. This round was doubly important for Martin as it also earned him the bye run in round three. Kentucky’s Ryan Wilson would face off with Missouri’s Kling, and Kling ended Wilson’s championship hopes with a Margin of Victory of just .013 at the finish line. Kramer would finish off the round against PTN organizer Rich Simon. Simon was ready to spoil Kramer’s day, but the transbrake issue has plagued him all season long reared its ugly head again causing a red light & an easy win for Kramer.

Let’s set the stage for round three. Four Michigan contenders and one lone Missouri entrant made up the final five. The first pair saw Michigan’s Lee Reynders face off with Missouri’s Joel Kling. The battle of the center seat Funny Jeeps was tight all the way down track with Reynders turning on the win light by just .026 with a nearly dead-on 4.410 (4.40). The next pair was ultra important in the points hunt as Kramer would face off with another Michigander in Jeramie Boeve in his potent S-10 Truck. A Kramer win would earn him the semi-final round bye as well as clinch the season long PTN Pro Truck class championship. Boeve would leave first by .022, but Kramer would run dead-on as he had all weekend with a 3.700 (3.70) to turn on the win light and secure the series championship.

With the championship battle decided, it was time to focus on who would take home that last $1000 check on the season. The first semi-final saw Martin and Reynders face off. This one would be decided on the tree as Reynders would go .031 red, handing the win and final round berth to Martin. Kramer would take it easy on his bye to save up for the final round.

At this point, Kramer had locked up the championship and Martin was secured into second place points wise, so the money & bragging rights as the Season Finale race winner were all that was left on the line. Martin would take a .090 to .161 starting line edge, and force Kramer into a 3.679 (3.70) break out. Martin would run a 3.846 (3.80) for his first PTN Pro Truck class victory with his Primal Scream Jeep. Congrats to Martin & the Primal Scream Jeep on the BRSD Season Finale Pro Truck class win as well as to the 2010 PTN Pro Truck Class Champion Dave Kramer & the Cascade 4WD/Super Toy Team.

Kip Martin

Dave Kramer

Lee Reynders

3.5 Index

The 3.5 Index class came into the Season Finale with quite a battle for the season long PTN series championship. The team of JR & John Dreher had swept the season’s first two races, however they were unable to attend the third race of the season allowing the battle to tighten up heading into the season finale. Ben Dozeman’s Bad Company Jeep had a decent shot at surpassing Dreher as did Dan Wies in the Wies Racing Altered. A full field of 16 entries came to play at BRSD, the largest PTN field of the 2010 3.5 Index season meaning that whoever emerged as the champion would have to work for the title.

Round one racing action kicked off with Mike Page’s Chevy Blazer facing off with the potent Altered of Ben Steele. Page would go red, and then proceed to get out of shape down track ending up in Steele’s lane. Both veteran drivers would keep their cool and keep their rides in one piece; Steel would advance on. The first points contender to the line would be Ben Dozeman as he faced off with Missouri local Phillip Moser. In this battle, it would be Dozeman taking a close victory to advance on. The next title combatant would be Wies as he faced off with Rich Simon. Wies would advance on as Simon’s bad luck in 2010 continued with another small problem shutting his truck off. This would set up a huge battle as Dozeman and Wies would be paired up in round two. The door would open for both of them as the next pair would see JR Dreher face off with Matt Wilson in the Wilson/Steele Racing Dragster. Wilson would lay down a great pass while Dreher had an uncharacteristic off the pace pass with Wilson turning on the win light at the other end. Dreher’s loss meant that the winner of the Wies-Dozeman round two battle must go on and advance to the final round to pass Dreher for the title.

The second round kicked off with Steele’s Altered facing off with Dave DeLoof in the Back Draft Dragster. This would be a close battle with Steele coming out on top at the finish line. Next up would see “Black Widow” Kathy Ellington face off with “Dragonfly” Ed Engel in an Ohio vs. Michigan battle. Kathy would leave first and be victorious in this race. The next pair would see the all important Wies vs. Dozeman match up. Ironically, Dozeman would fall to the same fate he would suffer as well the next night, a red light came on in his lane, handing the win to Wies and the shot at passing Dreher for the series championship. Closing out the round would see Wilson face off with Arizona’s Keith Ahart in the Second Urge Dragster. Wilson continued his hot hand taking the win over the always tough Ahart.

A pair of Altereds rolled to the line to start off the semi-final round as Ellington and Steele lined up. Steele would have problems on the line, and Ellington would make another clean win to advance to the final round. The second Wilson/Steele Racing entry in the round, Matt Wilson, would try to play spoiler as he faced off with Dan Wies. With the championship on the line, Wies did not let the pressure get to him and scored the huge victory to secure the 2010 PTN 3.5 Index class championship. Congrats to Dan, Terry, and Versy Wies on the huge accomplishment of being PTN champions.

With the championship decided, all that was left was to decide who would take home the money & the super-sized check. Ellington had nothing to lose, and put it all out on the line, forcing Wies into a slim break out. Kathy win was a repeat of the 2009 3.5 Index class PTN Season Finale. Congrats to Kathy, Mike, and the girls on this accomplishment.

Kathy Ellington

Dan Wies

Pro Outlaw FE

The Pro Outlaw FE had a great showing at BRSD with eight entries on hand shooting for that $500 victory & super sized check at the end of the night. The bulls eye was on Brian Ambs, winning both previous Pro Outlaw FE class events in the 2010 PTN season. Qualifying proved tricky for many of the Pro Outlaw FE racers. Case in point, Josh Stephens in the Blown Income BAE-powered Altered had quite a ride in the first qualifying session. The Stephens team tried something a little different at this race, which resulted in a monster wheel stand and hard right turn once the car unloaded on the wheelie bar. Josh did an incredible driving job to save the car once it ended up in the opposite lane. Josh would walk away, but unfortunately the car was not as lucky as some chassis damage would put them out for the weekend. Qualifying would continue on, and it would be Ambs taking the top spot with a 3.066. Following him was Brian McWethy in “The Boss” with a 3.160. Rounding out the top half of the field would be Kathy Ellington’s Black Widow Altered with a 3.32 and the Wies Racing Altered of Dan Wies with a 3.42.

Round one would kick off with Ambs’ Ambs Auto Clinic/Go Fast Energy Drink Altered up against David Risher’s Missouri-based small block Chevy-powered Altered. By the way, Risher’s Altered was named the Best in Show at the Thursday night Racer’s Car Show in Bonne Terre. However, in this battle, Ambs Blown big block Ford power was too much for the SBC, winning a 3.06 to 3.47 decision. The next pair would see Ellington face off with Ben Steele in a battle of small block Chevy-powered Altereds. Steele would take the upset win as Ellington turned on the red bulb by .061. Steele ran a 3.59 in his winning effort. The third pair of round one would see a pair of Blown Michigan-based entries square up as Brian McWethy’s “The Boss” BBC-powered Funny Jeep opposed Gary Verekee’s BBF-powered F-150 Truck. McWethy would leave first and not look back in a 3.29 to 3.32 decision. The final pair of the round was to see a pair of Missourian’s face off as the SBC-powered Altered of Dan Wies would go up against Josh Stephens’ all conquering Blown Hemi Altered. As described earlier, Stephens was unable to continue following his qualifying round incident, handing Wies the round one single. Wies would lay down a 3.45/94mph blast to advance on.

The semi-final round saw a familiar match up start the round as Ambs and Steele would face off for the third time in 2010 Pro Outlaw FE action. Steele would lay down a nice 3.54/92mph lap; however it would not be enough for Ambs, who ran a 3.05/103mph effort to advance to the final round. Up next would be another Blown vs. unblown battle as McWethy would pair up with Wies. On this night, the supercharged route was the way to go as McWethy powered to his best pass of the weekend with a 3.12/111mph run to defeat Wies’ 3.46/96mph effort.

This would set up an all-Michigan, all-Supercharged final round. Both teams had their cars hopped up for the final round looking to dip into the 2 second zone. When the tree dropped, the dreaded red bulb came on McWethy’s side of the tree while Ambs stormed to a season best 3.010/106mph shot. Ambs win capped off a sweep of the 2010 PTN Pro Outlaw FE class. Congrats to Brian Ambs, Brian & Nikki Morgan, and the whole Ambs team on a great season.

Brian Ambs

Brian McWethy

Ironman

BRSD & the PTN series came up with a special 4.99-Faster Bracket class for the racers to compete in on Friday night. The semi-final round saw local racer Will Sutton face off against Kentucky’s George Colwell. Colwell was the Friday night winner at the previous PTN event in Michigan. However, on this night it would be the high-winding SBC-powered Altered of Sutton advancing on. He would meet up with Kansas City’s Russ Bailey, in his extremely fast Motorcycle-powered Buggy. Bailey would run as quick as 3.20 on the weekend. In the final round, Bailey would cut a great light, however he would get out of shape & have to do a quick pedal job giving Sutton just enough room to take the win and nice cash prize.

William Sutton

Russ Bailey

Comp Eliminator

The feature BRSD class on Saturday night was the Comp Eliminator, 4.99-Faster Sportsman Tree Bracket class. This class saw a massive 35 entries make the round one call. The quarter-final round kicked off with a pair of local racers facing off as Brad Lunn came up against Friday night victor William Sutton. Sutton would force Lunn into a break out in their battle. Up next would be Michigan’s Lee Reynders in his Jeep versus Illinois’ own Eric Gallay in the Dirtinator Dodge Truck. Eric would take a slim starting line advantage, and turn the win light on as Lee had a wild wheels up ride in the other lane resulting in a break out. Gallay’s win earned him the semi-final round bye & a spot in the final round. Starting off the semi-final round would be Sutton’s Altered up against Ed Bunch in his potent Missouri-based Funny Jeep. Both drivers were even off the tree, but at the other end Bunch would break out with a 4.05 (4.10) handing Sutton the win. This set up a great final round between Sutton and Gallay. Gallay would get just over a one-second handicap on the tree. Sutton would be on his game and turn a .021 RT and 3.733 (3.69) into a win light as well as a $1000 winner’s prize. Congrats to William, Bill, and the whole Sutton crew on their double-up weekend at BRSD.

William Sutton

Eric Gallay

Ed Bunch

Lee Reynders

Other Bracket Classes

The ATV classes saw some tight racing action at BRSD. On Friday night, Mr. Shocker Racing himself, Matt Ewing took the class win back to Michigan over Missouri’s Kody Bunch. Ewing would then go on to sweep the weekend, taking the Unlimited ATV class title in an all-Michigan final round over Buddy Hammett. Precision Powersports’ Art Gordon was the man to beat in the Outlaw ATV heads-up class, dipping into the 3.6 zone defeating Brad Adams in the final round. Justin Kuhns and the IOK-based Just A Jeep crew took a well earned win in the Vehicle ET class after a problem filled weekend. The Keeler’s, Tommy Morgenson, and crew worked hard with a lot of help from the sand drag community getting their car straightened out, then ending up in the winner’s circle. Other winners on the weekend include Miranda Kling (Super Pro ATV), Damion Morgan (Juniors), and Bennett Dozeman (Peewees).

Matt Ewing

Art Gordon

Buddy Hammett

Jason Waller Sr.

Dave DeLoof

Justin Kuhns

Photos Courtesy Lone Star Graphics .