DAVIS DOUBLES UP IN ADRL TOP SPORTSMAN WINS

At the ADRL Summit Racing Equipment Ohio Drags VI presented by Mickey Thompson, Ronnie Davis joined his final-round rival as the only drivers to post multiple ADRL Top Sportsman wins. Marco Abruzzi became the first multi-time winner in the class just three weeks earlier in Memphis and Davis beat Abruzzi in the final Sep. 29, at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, OH, to add to his breakthrough win in August at Charlotte.

“I feel very fortunate, very blessed, to win this race. We worked hard and we maybe shouldn’t have won this race, but we deserve it because we work hard and we don’t quit,” Davis said after going .060 on the tree before running 4.176 at 172.76 against a 4.15 dial in, while Abruzzi broke out at 4.163 and 169.15 mph against a 4.17 dial.

“It was a tough weekend; we never got a good run in on four (qualifying) shots—shook every time, including this morning in the last qualifying round. So I went back, took a run from Michigan this year in July, put that tune-up in the car, put it in the weather station and took it from there,” Davis explained.

He ran just one-thousandth over a 4.19 dial in the opening round against Travis Harvey.

“I’ve got records on every run I’ve made for probably the last 20 years, so I went back, picked the run conducive to the tune-up I wanted, put it in the weather station and that’s what we did,” he continued. “Then, the second round the guy redlighted on me so I ran it out the back door and that’s really what gave something to dial in.”

Ohio racer Randy Primozic went red by -.007, while Davis ran 4.190 at 172.61 against his 4.17 predicted elapsed time. In the semis, William Brown III left with a .009 light, but his car slowed to 4.238 at 169.23 against his 4.19, while Davis posted a .042 reaction time before going 4.172 at 172.76 on a 4.17 dial in.

“The transmission started acting up; it’s full of metal. It’s dragging and not releasing itself and that’s why my lights were a little off, too. We changed the transmission fluid and the filter for every run,” Davis said.

On the opposite side of the ladder, points leader Abruzzi made it past Don Klooster, polesitter Joshua Vettel (who ran an unprecedented 3.97 in qualifying and was dialed in at 3.95) and a redlighting Lizzy Musi.

“It’s a real honor to race someone like Marco in the final; he’s the cream of the crop out here,” said Davis, who is locked in a tight points battle with only Abruzzi and Brown ahead of him as they head to the ADRL season ender Oct. 19-20, at the Texas Motorplex, near Dallas. “But I don’t look at points; not during a race, at least; that’s just added pressure.”

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