RVW RESULTS   X275 RESULTS -  PRO 275 RESULTS  ULTRA STREET RESULTS  LIMITED DRAG RADIAL

FRIDAY GALLERY SATURDAY GALLERY

 

HARRIS SUFFERS SECOND STRAIGHT LDR CRASH AT SGMP - So far, Duck X Productions events in 2022 have not been kind to Justin Harris. Last month during the season-opening Lights Out event, Harris slammed his turbo-boosted '87 Mustang into the left side guardwall at South Georgia Motorsports Park.

Saturday morning, in the very first pair to take the same track it happened again, with Harris winding up against the wall as the third round of Limited Drag Radial qualifying carried over from the previous night.

"It was actually almost in the same spot, that same lane," he said. "It left pretty good; we went I think a 1.09 60-foot and it was driving great, you know, making a little move to the right, but nothing outta' the ordinary, that's what these radial cars kind of do.

"Then it turned hard left about 300 foot out, probably going about 130 to 145 miles an hour. So I dumped the chute, turned the wheels, hit the gas and it spun me around and caught the quarter panel.

"Then the chute went under the car and it picked the car up sideways and when it hit in the rear end it popped the trunk up and going backwards like that down the track the trunk slammed up over the roof and spun the car around in the center of the track. I ended up landing it actually at the finish line."

Fortunately, Harris was uninjured in the crash, but the car sustained significant body damage primarily to the roof and left front and right rear fenders, breaking the parachute bracket, turbocharger, charge pipe, headers, and fuel cell among other critical parts in the process.

"There's a  lot more (damage) than you would expect," Harris said. "It really doesn't look terribly bad visually from the outside, but it did quite a bit of damage. It's a real setback for us, especially after just fixing it from Lights Out."

Harris added the first thing he did upon reaching his pit was call his wife, just to let her know he was okay. His next inclination was to immediately pack up and head home to Anderson, SC, but she talked him down and encouraged him to stay at the track and enjoy the race as a spectator with longtime crew member and even longer-time friend, Nick Nichols.

"So I just left my golf cart here and I just went for a walk through the pits, just to think and cool down so I could figure things out. Then I went down to Kenny Hubbard's pit and talked to him and Brian Singletary, they're both great friends," Harris continued. "I also had people calling and reaching out to ask what I need and this and that. So I've gotta' make the decision whether to buy another body, try to fix this one, or figure out what comes next."

PERSONAL BEST FOR JAMES AS NO. 1 ULTRA STREET QUALIFIER - It earned her the top spot in Ultra Street qualifying for Sweet 16 V, but Haley James would've been thrilled with the 4.48 at 160.65 mph she ran at SGMP Friday afternoon regardless, as it also represented her first trip to the 4.40s.

"We've been shooting for the .40s for a long time, ever since someone went the first 4.49, so it feels really good to get it done here," she said.

As far as the race goes, James believes "consistency" will be the deciding factor over raw speed in eliminations.

"It's all about cutting the light, cutting the tree, but mostly it's about making good A-to-B passes," she said. "This class is just so close. We call it 'Pro Stock on Radials,' it's just that close. You can't really bet on a winner ever. It's just kind of a toss up. As long as everybody does their job and their car does its job, you really have no idea who's gonna' win at the end."

James slightly bettered her 4.484 qualifying effort with a 4.481 solo pass to open eliminations Saturday evening, then advanced from the second round after an identical ET got her past a 4.49 by Shawn Pevlar.

REESE HOLDS ON AS PRO 275 TOP QUALIFIER - After he and Manny Buginga ran identical 3.723-second elapsed times at the end of four rounds of Pro 275 qualifying for Sweet 16 V, Georgia's David Reese managed to hold on to the top spot over a 31-car field as his 205.32 mph trumped the 199.05 by Buginga in his Massachusetts-based '03 Mustang Cobra.

It also gave Reese a valuable first-round freebie, as he advanced despite making an off-the-pace, five-second pass while Buginga ran a solid 3.76 at 198.55 over final qualifier Joel Wensley Jr. and his 2014 Camaro in round one of racing.

Round two of racing saw 16th-place qualifier Mo Hall step up with low ET for the class so far as he went 3.70 at 199.23 mph with his nitrous-huffing C6 Corvette against another traction-troubled effort by Reese in his screw-blown '17 Mustang.

Buginga also fell in the second round after slowing to a 4.38 at 177.60, while Tennessee's Jack Greene rose from the 18th starting spot to improve over his first-round effort with a 3.82 pass at 195.65 mph in his unique, nitrous-fed 2016 Caddy.

LEE WINS RVW POLE; GUIST QUICKEST IN E1- Jason Lee earned the number-one start in Radials vs. the World qualifying for Sweet 16 V this weekend at South Georgia Motorsports Park, going 3.53 seconds at 199.85 mph in his Procharger Hemi-equipped '69 Camaro, though it could've been a little quicker, he said.

"I blew the burst panel at about 3.38 seconds into the run, so it would've been about a .51 flat," the Maumee, OH-based driver said. "The RVW record is a .49 with an 8, but we're a little heavier now than we were at the last race so I don't know if it's achievable now, to be honest."

Canada's Paolo Guist qualified close behind Lee at a career-best 3.55 seconds and a class-leading 208.07 mph in "Black Betty," his screw-blown '69 Camaro, while Bryan Markiewicz placed third in a third '69 Camaro with a 3.59 at 204.66-mph combo over the all-concrete SGMP eighth mile.

"Those are career-best numbers for me, so we're all pretty happy over here, really happy," Guist said. "I think we're in good shape."

With only 11 cars entered and just seven taking the tree for round-one eliminations, this marks the shortest RVW field in Duck X race history at SGMP.

Lee made an off-the-pace, traction-challenged solo pass in Saturday night's lone eliminations round, while Guist went low ET and top speed with a 3.56 at 208.52 mph in his Jim Salemi-tuned ride. Markiewicz also made a 3.67 single when fellow Floridian Greg Powrie was unable to answer the call to race.

Also advancing to round two on Sunday were Virginia's Ev Bernardo with a 3.86 win over Enzo Pecchini, the second Canuck in the field, and Alex Taylor from Booneville, AR, in her RVW debut with a career-best 4.01 at 197.74 mph solo pass after Luis de Leon was forced to withdraw after a crash in qualifying.

 

 

WILD RIDE IN X275 - Lee King of Sharpsburg, GA, went on a wild ride upon launching his nitrous BBC-powered '87 Mustang in round one of Sweet 16 X275 eliminations at South Georgia Motorsports Park. King's Pony car almost immediately went into a wheelstand and just kept climbing through the first couple of hundred feet.

"We've been fighting some issues ever since we went to fuel injection. We've just been battling it for probably the first three or four races since we switched over for the October race here last year," he revealed.

"So we've just battled some issues and FuelTech helped us out to figure 'em out, but our tuneup was a little hot, but then first round we were going up against (number-two qualifier) Manny Buginga, so we had to put something in it to run hopefully in the .20s. And it was just a little too spicy."

The front end just kept climbing off the launch until King finally bailed on the power and it crashed back to the all-concrete track surface in a shower of sparks. Though jarring, King said it did little obvious damage.

"I knew it was going straight when it started coming up and it's just one of those things when you're driving, you can kind of feel when the car just eases up, if it's gonna' come back down okay," he explained.

"But it was weird this time because it just kind of eased up and then probably after the 60 foot it just kept going and that's when I felt it kind of leaned to the right and that's when I tried to pedal it, but it was too late.

"Luckily, I don't think we hurt much stuff. There's a couple suspension things we gotta' fix, but fortunately I don't think it hurt the motor. And the left front headlight came out and hit the windshield somehow. I didn't know what it was at first until the guy handed it to me. So that was kind of funny," he added.

"But you know, overall, nothing catastrophic. So yeah, we're just gonna' keep testing. The engine's good, the chassis' good; I think it's just more of a power management deal, but I do think we may have a little converter issue, too. But you know, we'll figure it out. We'll be back."

 

FRIDAY QUALIFYING CUT SHORT - Qualifying for Sweet 16 V was originally scheduled to continue until 2 a.m. at South Georgia Motorsports Park, but amid dropping temperatures and deteriorating track conditions shortly before midnight on Friday, promoter Donald "Duck" Long made the tough call to cut things short.

"I don't want to risk anyone getting hurt or damaging anyone's race cars," an obviously disappointed Long announced over the track's P.A. system shortly before midnight on Friday. "We'll start up again at 9:30 in the morning."

After one session of Radials vs. the World qualifying, Canada's Paolo Giust led the way with a 3.63 at an also-class-leading 206.76 mph in his screw-blown '69 Camaro. 

"We're having no complaints at all," Guist said. "Betty seemed happy. She was smoking a little bit when we started her up, but it was a new motor, so we figure the rings are seated now.

"Sixty-foot still felt a little slow. It was 940, but the back split, it was trucking. I could feel it. That screw blower was working. We're only spinning at 92 over. We're a PDRA setup."

Georgia's own David Reese held the top spot after two rounds of Pro 275 qualifying, going 3.72 at 205.32 in his 2019 Mustang.

"We came out first round and we have some new parts on the car from the last race," Reese said. "We tore the engine up and the blower, so we had to send a blower off, put a new fresh engine in. And we went up with a track was a little bit marginal to begin with. And we just... the motor was fresh, just a perfect storm. We ended up running... we tried to wait till they called us. We ran at the very back of the pack. So perfect storm."

Also on top heading into Saturday's scheduled qualifying were Rob Goss in X275, Tim Kincaid in Limited Drag Radial, and Haley James with a class record 4.84 in Ultra Street.

 

ALEX TAYLOR MAKING RVW DEBUT AT SWEET 16 - A week ago in Florida, 24-year-old Alex Taylor broke the 200-mph barrier for the first time in her career and this weekend she's driving an even faster car in Radials vs. the World competition at South Georgia Motorsports Park.

Taylor had travelled to the NMCA Shootout at Bradenton Motorsports Park to  test the new, full-tube-chassis '55 Chevy that she and her father built from the ground up at home in Booneville, AR. With the help of Holley's Ryan Witte and Patrick Miller, son of longtime RVW racer Jeff Miller, she wound up running 7.06 at 200.20 mph over the quarter-mile at Bradenton.

With Jeff unfortunately not able to make the Sweet 16 trip, Taylor's success led to Witte suggesting the Millers put her in their twin-turbocharged "Bumblebee" '17 Camaro for the Sweet 16 event at SGMP this weekend.

"Ryan has known me since I was 16," the University of Arkansas grad says. "So he has watched my driving progress and he and Jeff and Patrick were all in a group text--I saw the messages--when Jeff asked, 'What if we put Alex in our car? And Ryan said, as long as she's comfortable with it I don't have any doubts about her. So they had been scheming behind the scenes and then they presented to me.

"I really couldn't believe it. I was going home, I had things booked, places to be and stuff like that. But when an opportunity like this comes up, you don't pass it up," she states. "I always say when people always ask me what my end goal is that I don't know yet. Like, if the opportunity is there, I take it and I know I'll get where I'm supposed to go."

After a tire-smoking test launch on Thursday at SGMP, Taylor's first full pass in the car, in round one of Radials vs. the World qualifying for Sweet 16 V, delivered a 4.96 at just 116.89 mph. It left her sixth among 11 entries for the opening session. But in a legitimate 200-mph ride over half the distance she's used to, Taylor recognizes a step-by-step approach is a wise approach.

"It felt great, but talk about trial by fire, right? Something I was struggling with a little bit is because it's a Liberty transmission and I've never driven a car with a Liberty in it. So just getting that sequence down of getting it in reverse and not getting it stuck in forward gear and all that. That was something I was a little nervous about," she admits.

"And even when it makes sense, executing is still the difficult part. So I'm just so thankful to have that pass under my belt. I mean, it was a slower pass and we let off, but you know, that's what we wanna' do.

"Like, I don't want anybody to think I'm wanting to come in and just set the world on fire. I just want to progress my driving. And this is an opportunity I just couldn't pass up. So yeah, we're gonna' work into it this weekend and see what happens. My only goal is just to get some experience and see where it takes me."  

DE LEON UNINJURED IN RVW QUALIFYING CRASH - It started off okay, as Luis de Leon launched into a take-it-easy 3.92-seconds shakedown run at 187.94 mph in the opening round of Radials vs. the World qualifying at Sweet 16 V. But just as it crossed the left-lane finish line, his nitrous-huffing '17 Camaro suddenly darted right, turned around nearly backwards and blew the front bodywork off before de Leon wrestled it to a sideswiping stop against the right-side guardwall.

Adding insult to injury, the crash came in the former J.R. Gray car's first trip down the track after a complete rebuild by new owner Grant Tuttle and his crew in the off season. So de Leon got the call just to shake it down at SGMP and get it ready for this season's racing by Tuttle.

"I actually remember everything that happened, but I can't tell what caused it from inside the vehicle," explained de Leon. "But we have an onboard camera, so we can see by the finish line I go to neutral and the car darts to the side without any brake input or anything. And then as the car is going sideways, I pull the chutes, I try to steer, hit the brakes, you know, that kind of stuff. And I almost got it off the wall, but it just had too much momentum.

"It looks kind of bad, but I don't think the car is terrible. But it's not fixable at the track. It's going to need some attention," he added.

Though only racing for the past two years, de Leon said he has experience driving at least 10 different Pro Mod-type cars and this marks the first time he's ever touched the wall.

"I've always felt really comfortable driving; it's something that I really enjoy doing," he said. "I've been out of shape before and come pretty close to the wall sometimes, but this is my first impact, so I can't really tell how much worse it can get.

"Like you can feel the bump, and it's not comfortable for sure, but I can tell you I'm not even sore right now. But I don't know how it's gonna' be tomorrow. But today I feel kind of good. The only thing that happened is I was trying to saw it left and right and at one point it kind of caught my left thumb, so my left thumb hurts a little, but that's it."