O’Reilly E.T. Bracket Series Results 05/08/2011

Footbrake Results

Winner – Jay Robinson

Runner-Up – Terry Sawyer

Semis – John Stelly

Jay “Footbrakin’ Fool” Robinson turned a trip to the buyback booth into his second event win for this season on Sunday.  His first round loss to Brian Nelson didn’t seem to faze him as he went on to extend his points lead with a solid performance.  Saturday’s Super Pro semifinalst Terry Sawyer showed what he could do at third bulb racing on Sunday with a sound second place finish.  Sawyer proved he could run with the best of them, taking out both Steve and Matt Exner, Gilbert Munoz, Jason Patterson, Robert Penn and John Stelly.  In the final, however, Robinson took a .047 starting line advantage over Sawyer all the way to the 1/8^th mile finish line to seal the victory.  Jay survived a tough race with Daniel Martinez in the third round, perhaps due to a late miscalculation at the stripe.  Other victims of the “fool” were Matt Exner, who had to face both eventual finalists on this day, and Keenan Eisemann from Sugarland.  Also worth mentioning is John Stelly’s overall performance for the weekend, finishing deep in the rounds on both days.  Quarterfinalist Bryan Day also went to the quarterfinals in Super Pro to take the prize for most trips down the track in the same car.  Congratulations to all the money winners on a job well done! 

Super Pro Results

Winner – Chanse Bullock

Runner-Up – Tony Rabito

Semis – Brenda Kay

In Sunday’s Super Pro class, Baytown’s Chanse Bullock took home the grand prize over a redlighting Tony Rabito from Houston.  This is the second time this year Bullock has parked his ’67 Camaro in the Royal Purple Raceway Winner’s Circle, putting him back on top of the points list.  Chanse was solid on the tree all day, earning himself a first round bye in time trials and carrying a .009 reaction time average through 7 rounds of eliminations.  Only Robert Gregory carried a better average into the late rounds, with a .006, including a very tight race with Bart Nelson in the 3^rd round where both drivers were double O and dead on, with a MOV of .001.  It was Tony Rabito who ended our hopes for a Footbraking Super Pro winner, taking out Bryan Day in the 5^th round on a double breakout.  In fact, it was a very good day for those that choose to take a knife to a gun fight, with 4 of 5 known footbrakers surviving the first round.  Jay Robinson decided not to dial exactly what I was dialing in the first round this time, and that seemed to be a recipe that works for him.  Sheila Day tied Ricky Kay to the tree with a .004, husband James took out heavy hitter Stephen Hughes only to face him again in the second round with a different result.  Son Bryan forced a red light from Danny Ray Martinez and picked up where his dad left off with a 3^rd round win over Hughes.  There were some really close races this time out, and Chanse Bullock seemed to find himself on the winning side of a lot of them.  Congratulations on your win, and to all the other money winners, Runner-Up Tony Rabito, semifinalist Brenda Kay, quarterfinalists Mitchell Lawrence and Bryan Day, and 1/8^th finalists Robert Gregory, Jonathan Johnson, Kenny White, Chris Le Blanc and Mike Johnson, who was able to just get his car fixed in time to buy back into the second round with no time trials. 

Advanced Jr. Dragster -- Ryan Grigsby, Baytown, TX, '06 Half Scale, 7.907, 83.29 def. Brooke Heckel, Baytown, TX, '06 Half Scale, 7.939, 76.29

Sportsman Jr. Dragster -- Austin Watson, Deer Park, TX, '00 So Cal, 9.196, 68.99 def. John Legg, Liberty, TX, '10 RPC, 9.124, 72.45

O’Reilly E.T. Bracket Series Results 05/07/2011

Footbrake Results

Winner – Richard Forrest

Runner-Up – Mike “Drew” Porcher

Semis – Donna Lummus, Dennis Clark

Saturday’s Footbrake class was dominated by our friends from the North, Richard Forrest and Drew Porcher.  These guys can be seen racing at Pine Valley Raceway in Diboll, TX when they’re not down here teaching us how it’s done.  Lufkin, TX’s Richard Forrest used a reaction time advantage in all 7 rounds of elimination to defeat his opponents, including a .001 in round 5 to knock out Adam White from Houston.  In the final, he put down a .015 light and ran .004 under his dial to survive the double breakout with Porcher from Conroe, TX.  Porcher also used good reaction times to get through some rounds, but when he wasn’t right on time at the tree, his ’88 S10 was there for him, running dead on the dial in rounds 4 and 5 and one over in round 2.  Semifinalist Dennis Clark recorded two .000 perfect reaction times in eliminations Saturday, including one in the 4^th round that took out current points leader, Jay Robinson.  Congratulations to Richard Forrest for surviving the 66 car field and taking home the $800 winner’s check and 3’ tall Royal Purple Raceway winner’s trophy.  Congratulations also to Mike “Drew” Porcher for the runner-up finish and to all the other money winners, Donna Lummus, Dennis Clark, Joey Cram, Jason Patterson, Adam White, John Stelly, Kim Milton, Matt Exner, Ronny Speer, Joel “Dusty” Fincher, Steve Exner, Troy Lakey and Jay Robinson.  Thanks to our friend Robert Penn, you have something to take home in addition to prize money. 

Super Pro Results

Winner – Derrick Patton

Runner-Up – John Winn

Semis – Terry Sawyer, Bill Arning

Saturday’s Super Pro contest was brought to you by the color red.  “Daunting” Derrick Patton must’ve been doing something right, he was able to draw red bulbs in the other lane 5 of the 7 rounds of eliminations.  One of those being a controversial “time-out” by Bart Nelson and another was a bye run he earned by surviving a heads-up race with James Fruge.  In that race, both drivers dialed 10.34 and both drivers cut .001 lights at the tree, but Patton ran closer to his dial with a 10.341, giving him a .002 total package.  Leaving the tree just a bit early was not uncommon in Super Pro this time out, 8 of the first 17 pairs of cars that went down the track on Saturday were decided by the red eye.  Runner-Up John Winn is no stranger to final round finishes, in fact this makes back-to-back trips to the finals for the Deer Park resident.  Winn was able to earn a 5^th round bye by throwing down a .005 to take out Humble’s Rick Kay in round 4.  His next victim would be Conroe’s Terry Sawyer in round 6, where Winn went .002 and dead on with a 1, setting up the final round with Derrick Patton.  The “missed it by that much” award for Saturday has to go to Tommy Costales, who went .000 on the tree, scrubbed 12 mph and broke out by .006 to a .056 and .02 over Howard Kramer in round 2.  Congratulations to Derrick for taking home the $1200 top cash prize and 3’ Royal Purple Raceway trophy, John Winn for his Runner-up finish, $600 cash prize and to all the other money winners:  Terry Sawyer, Eddie League Jr, Donny Burleson, Chanse Bullock, Stephen Hughes, Paul Holman, Roy Martinez, Ricky Kay, Jenifer White and Tony Rabito.  We can thank footbrake racer Robert Penn for arranging for us to get our “money winner” stickers again in 2011. 

Advanced Jr. Dragster -- Henry Canales Jr., Baytown, TX, '02 Hardens, 7.946, 78.41 def. Dillon Richards, Lake Charles, LA, '05 Half Scale, 7.955, 78.88

Sportsman Jr. Dragster -- Blaine Hightower, Crosby, TX, '06 Hardens, 8.998, 73.60 def. Trace Casey, Van Vleck, TX, '08 Motivational, 16.261, 46.81