2009 ADRL MARTIN - SAME DAY COVERAGE
Sat, 2009-06-06 20:01
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SATURDAY - ADRL POSTPONES MARTIN EVENT UNTIL TOPEKA
A huge crowd, estimated to exceed 45,000 over two days, attended the
National Guard ADRL Ford Drive One Summer Drags V at U.S. 131
Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan, before the event was cut short by
rain and rescheduled for completion during the series’ next event July
3-4, in Topeka, Kansas.
“We want to thank you, the tens of thousands of Western Michigan fans who came out to watch the National Guard ADRL,” series president and CEO Kenny Nowling said in announcing the postponement over the track’s public address system. “We were prepared to wait it out and get back to racing, but I’m afraid Mother Nature has other plans.”
The same fate befell the event last year at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park, forcing the final rounds to be completed elsewhere when much more violent storms ripped through the region. This time, first-round eliminations for all five National Guard ADRL professional classes and one pair of cars in the quarter-finals of Extreme Pro Stock were in the books, leaving three elimination rounds for each class to be wrapped up in Topeka.
“You’ve proven you love National Guard ADRL racing,” Nowling told the standing-room-only crowd, estimated at more than 45,000 strong over the two-day event. “And we love coming here. We’ll be back next year and I hope you’ll all come back to finally get to experience a complete event.”
On Friday night in Michigan, the National Guard ADRL completed its rain-interrupted event from two weeks earlier in Memphis, Tennessee. Two-time reigning Pro Extreme champion won the delayed Memphis title, as did defending Extreme 10.5 champ Billy Glidden, with Brian Gahm picking up his second-straight win in Extreme Pro Stock and Ashley Owens earning his first Pro extreme Motorcycle win. The Pro Nitrous final, further postponed to Saturday in Michigan, went to points leader Jim Halsey.
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FINAL QUALIFYING LISTS
PRO EXTREME - FRID
PRO NITROUS -
EXTREME 10.5-
EXTREME PRO STOCK -
PRO EXTREME MOTORCYCLE
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SATURDAY SECOND SESSION QUALIFYING LISTS
PRO EXTREME - FRID
PRO NITROUS -
EXTREME 10.5-
EXTREME PRO STOCK -
PRO EXTREME MOTORCYCLE
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FRIDAY - WINNERS CROWNED IN MICHIGAN FOR RAIN-DELAYED MEMPHIS EVENT
Mississippi’s Jason Scruggs (near lane) beat Quain Stott in the
rain-postponed Pro Extreme final from the Quarter-Max Memphis Drags II
Friday night in Martin, Michigan. Scruggs also holds the provisional
pole after one round of qualifying for the Ford Drive One Summer Drags
V at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park.
The Pro Nitrous semi-finals and final round were held over to Saturday, as series officials and fellow racers agreed to wait for one of the semi-finalists, who had a family event to attend on Friday evening.
Scruggs, who defeated Mike Neal and Joey Martin two weeks earlier in Memphis, took out Todd Tutterow before reaching the Memphis Drags final and posting a winning 3.84-seconds run at 178.96 miles per hour down the Martin eighth mile against a traction-challenged Quain Stott.
“The mile an hour dropped off because we popped the burst panel on the blower about three-quarters of the way down the track,” Scruggs explained. “I was waiting for him (Stott) to come back around me, but I guess he had more trouble than I did.”
So far in 2009, Billy Glidden has proved unbeatable in Flowmaster
Extreme 10.5 action, winning his fifth-straight National Guard ADRL
event in the rain-postponed Quarter-Max Memphis Drags II final at
Martin, MI.
“If we had the same (ambient air) conditions we had in Memphis, that would’ve been an .03,” Glidden stated. “But that’s the end of that motor; you can see it all over my windows.”
Gahm advanced his ’07 Mustang to the postponed semis after a first-round bye and win over Jason Collins in Memphis, then beat Michigan racer Bob Bertsch to meet John Montecalvo in the Extreme Pro Stock final. Gahm led stripe-to-stripe over Montecalvo with a 4.10 at 175.63 mph combination to earn his second-straight race title and solidify his points lead.
“We had to change (the gearing in) our transmission before the final because the weather changed a lot while we were waiting,” Gahm said of running the Memphis semis for all classes before the initial
Brian Gahm, number-one qualifier for the Ford Drive One Summer Drags V
in Martin, MI, also scored the Extreme Pro Stock win for the
Quarter-Max Memphis Drags II, which was postponed two weeks by rain at
the National Guard ADRL’s previous event.
Owens, aboard the 2005 Suzuki owned by fellow rider T.T. Jones, got past Monte Campbell and Travis Davis in Memphis, and then ran a record-setting 4.20 seconds in his semi-final win over Jack Young. In the final round, Owens officially backed up the record within the required one percent with a 4.24-seconds pass at 174.13 mph over Eric McKinney.
“Eric and I and his dad, Scott, we’re all such good friends that I really didn’t feel any pressure going into the final,” Owens said. “I would’ve been happy no matter who won, but I’m glad to give this win to T.T. (Jones); it’s a real pleasure for me to ride his bike.”
Provisional number one qualifiers after Friday night’s lone qualifying session include Scruggs at 3.77 and 201.24 mph; Qatar’s Khalid Al-Balooshi at 3.89 seconds and 192.06 in Pro Nitrous; Glidden with his 4.09 at 176.15 mph; Extreme Pro Stock’s Gahm at 4.10 and 176.25; and Owens new record 4.20 at 176.31 mph leads the Pro Extreme Motorcycle field.
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FRIDAY FIRST SESSION QUALIFYING LISTS
PRO EXTREME - FRID
PRO NITROUS -
EXTREME 10.5-
EXTREME PRO STOCK -
PRO EXTREME MOTORCYCLE
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