THE FIRST 2 RACES ARE IN THE BOOKS FOR 2012!!!
Saturday, May 5th and 6th, the MWTS were at Byron Dragway, "The playground of Power". With the weather not looking too good for the weekend, and several of our members not ready to go yet, our car count was lower than expected, but we started out the day with 5 new members! We welcome back after a year off, Joe Palmer. Also, welcome to MWTS are new members Steve Jaeger, John Hochstedler, Richard Englebert, and Steve Mass. With time running out on Saturday, we were not able to run our final round. We couldn't run it on Sunday morning due to the weather and the amount of cars expected for their big show, so Mike Olenick and Dave Green split the money and took semi-final points each. Congrats to both, for a great day! Dave Howard was low qualilfier for the day with a 6.88.
Sunday, looking like rain all day, kept racers and spectators away. John Hochstedler, having ignition wiring problems and Brian Brown and Erik Carlson, unable to run Sunday, took us down to 10 cars. The staff at Byron did a great job getting the track ready and the show went on all day with NO RAIN!!! Dave Green was low qualifier with a great 6.79 pass! Nice pass Dave! The final round was father against son, Steve Howard against Dave Howard. Running against each other, I'm not sure who has the edge, but it was Steve this day! Dave rolled thru the lights before activation and Steve got the win. Congrats, Steve and his team! All in all MWTS put on a great show!!
Saturday, May 5th and 6th, the MWTS were at Byron Dragway, "The playground of Power". With the weather not looking too good for the weekend, and several of our members not ready to go yet, our car count was lower than expected, but we started out the day with 5 new members! We welcome back after a year off, Joe Palmer. Also, welcome to MWTS are new members Steve Jaeger, John Hochstedler, Richard Englebert, and Steve Mass. With time running out on Saturday, we were not able to run our final round. We couldn't run it on Sunday morning due to the weather and the amount of cars expected for their big show, so Mike Olenick and Dave Green split the money and took semi-final points each. Congrats to both, for a great day! Dave Howard was low qualilfier for the day with a 6.88.
Sunday, looking like rain all day, kept racers and spectators away. John Hochstedler, having ignition wiring problems and Brian Brown and Erik Carlson, unable to run Sunday, took us down to 10 cars. The staff at Byron did a great job getting the track ready and the show went on all day with NO RAIN!!! Dave Green was low qualifier with a great 6.79 pass! Nice pass Dave! The final round was father against son, Steve Howard against Dave Howard. Running against each other, I'm not sure who has the edge, but it was Steve this day! Dave rolled thru the lights before activation and Steve got the win. Congrats, Steve and his team! All in all MWTS put on a great show!!
MARTIN, MICHIGAN US131 RACES 3 & 4
This was a great weekend!! Saturday started out a little weather weary, but turned into a beautiful day for racing. There was lots of activity with a regular bracket race and a big bucks bracket race and of course Midwest Top Sportsman, all in one day. We got another new member, Richard Motycka from Kalamazoo, who I believe had some engine breakage in the 1st round of qualifing and could not continue. We certainly hope he can come and run with us again this season, we are glad to have him! Saturday we also were joined by Steven Pym of Canada, who is freinds with John Hochstedler and now we hope friends of all of us who were there. So when racing Saturday got underway, Dave Howard was low qualifier after 2 rounds of qualifing. The semi final round found Steve Jaeger vs Bill Rotz and Joe Cleary had the bye run into the final round. It was a great final round race, very close, and it wasSteve Jaeger who prevailed over Joe Cleary. Congrats to Steve and all his crew. Also, congrats to Joe and his brother and dad on a great day! Dave Green took the bounty hunter $50, by taking out Steve Howard in the first round. The perfect light has still not been won! Sunday it will be $200!!
So, Sunday, ( whom some people found came a might early!???), was a beautiful day, it was hot, but the track personel did a great job and we were ready to go. Dave Green was our low qualifier for the day and earned a first round bye run. Nice job Dave. Semi's found Dave Green against Bill Rotz ( who got the $50 bounty on Steve Jaeger, 2nd round), and the other semi was Steve Howard on a bye run to the final. Steve's car broke a clevis on the diagonal bar on his run and had to really thrash to get it welded and put back together. The track called us up a couple of times, but Dave Green who beat Bill Rotz, was very graciously willing to wait till Steve was ready and so was the US131staff! Truely great sportsmanship was shown here, as there was all the t/s racers at Steve's pit to help if necessary and to make sure Dave was ready when the time came . And the time did come, we all stood at the line and watched a very close race, that saw Steve Howard take the win. That's his second win of this season! Congrats to Steve and Jake and all the crew. Congrats to Dave and crew on a great day! His car is very fast and consistant!! So as I said Bill Rotz took the bounty hunter and no one had a perfect light in elims, so, on Sat. June 23rd @Byron Dragway the
perfect light payout will be up to $250!!!!! YIKES !!! Practice on those lights boys!!! We also celebrated Rick Sojka Sr.'s 65th Birthday and every t/s racer and crew was there, just to hang out, tell stories, and enjoy MWTS.
This was a great weekend!! Saturday started out a little weather weary, but turned into a beautiful day for racing. There was lots of activity with a regular bracket race and a big bucks bracket race and of course Midwest Top Sportsman, all in one day. We got another new member, Richard Motycka from Kalamazoo, who I believe had some engine breakage in the 1st round of qualifing and could not continue. We certainly hope he can come and run with us again this season, we are glad to have him! Saturday we also were joined by Steven Pym of Canada, who is freinds with John Hochstedler and now we hope friends of all of us who were there. So when racing Saturday got underway, Dave Howard was low qualifier after 2 rounds of qualifing. The semi final round found Steve Jaeger vs Bill Rotz and Joe Cleary had the bye run into the final round. It was a great final round race, very close, and it wasSteve Jaeger who prevailed over Joe Cleary. Congrats to Steve and all his crew. Also, congrats to Joe and his brother and dad on a great day! Dave Green took the bounty hunter $50, by taking out Steve Howard in the first round. The perfect light has still not been won! Sunday it will be $200!!
So, Sunday, ( whom some people found came a might early!???), was a beautiful day, it was hot, but the track personel did a great job and we were ready to go. Dave Green was our low qualifier for the day and earned a first round bye run. Nice job Dave. Semi's found Dave Green against Bill Rotz ( who got the $50 bounty on Steve Jaeger, 2nd round), and the other semi was Steve Howard on a bye run to the final. Steve's car broke a clevis on the diagonal bar on his run and had to really thrash to get it welded and put back together. The track called us up a couple of times, but Dave Green who beat Bill Rotz, was very graciously willing to wait till Steve was ready and so was the US131staff! Truely great sportsmanship was shown here, as there was all the t/s racers at Steve's pit to help if necessary and to make sure Dave was ready when the time came . And the time did come, we all stood at the line and watched a very close race, that saw Steve Howard take the win. That's his second win of this season! Congrats to Steve and Jake and all the crew. Congrats to Dave and crew on a great day! His car is very fast and consistant!! So as I said Bill Rotz took the bounty hunter and no one had a perfect light in elims, so, on Sat. June 23rd @Byron Dragway the
perfect light payout will be up to $250!!!!! YIKES !!! Practice on those lights boys!!! We also celebrated Rick Sojka Sr.'s 65th Birthday and every t/s racer and crew was there, just to hang out, tell stories, and enjoy MWTS.
BYRON DRAGWAY RACES 5 & 6
It was a great day for racing Saturday, June 23rd @ Byron Dragway for race #5. We started out the day with 3 new members, they are Rick Bowman, Robbie VanderWoude and Bobby Ince. Welcome and enjoy the ride! We had 18 cars on Saturday morning and unfortunately for Rick Zirk and driver Bob Romano, their day ended at
1st round qualifing with a broken torque convertor. So, with an odd number of cars it was Ricky Sojka who found himself low qualifier with a great pass of 6.91 to get the bye run for 1st round. Winners in the quarter finals saw: Steve Mass over Steve Howard, Dave Howard over Dave Green, and Mike Olenick got the bye to the semi finals. Steve Mass had a bye run to the finals and Olenick took out Dave Howard to set up the final round. It was Mass over Olenick. Congrats to Steve on a great day, and also to Mike and his crew. Steve Mass also recieved $50 bounty on Steve Howard. There has still not been a winner for the PERFECT LIGHT in eliminations, so Sunday's race it was up to $300!!!!!!!
Sunday June 25th, race #6, we found ourselves alittle shorter on cars, as we lost a few to breakage on Saturday. We lost Rick Zirk, Erik Carlson ( not sure what happened to Erik), Bill Rotz had tranny issues, Kyle Dumke should I say "broke" his flexplate? OUCH!!! THAT HURTS!!!! Robbie VanderWoude and Bobby Ince could not stay for Sunday. With Joe Cleary joining us, we had 13 cars. Hoping for a little cold front, which never came through, IT WAS HOT!!!! But, we are racers and raced on!! Here, I have to say that Byron's crew provided us with a great track both days and hats off to them for the effort, it is greatly appreciated by all MWTS. Dave Green made a stellar pass in the heat of 6.90 for the low qualifing position and a bye run in the first round. The semis found Joe Cleary against Dave Howard, Joe had some trouble at the line and Howard took the round. And in the other semi, it was Steve Howard and John Hochstedler, with Steve not being able to start and John taking the round. The track crew very patiently waited for the final two to get ready and up to the line, as they, as all of us were very hot and exhausted. Dave Howard took the win over John Hochstedler. Great job to Dave and team Tacchia, and to John and his crew. Steve Howard got $50 for taking out Saturday's winner Steve Mass. GET OUT THOSE PRACTICE TREES!!!!!! YOU HAVE 3 WEEKS!!! $350.00 TO THE FIRST PERFECT LIGHT IN ELIMINATIONS, JULY 14th.
It was a great day for racing Saturday, June 23rd @ Byron Dragway for race #5. We started out the day with 3 new members, they are Rick Bowman, Robbie VanderWoude and Bobby Ince. Welcome and enjoy the ride! We had 18 cars on Saturday morning and unfortunately for Rick Zirk and driver Bob Romano, their day ended at
1st round qualifing with a broken torque convertor. So, with an odd number of cars it was Ricky Sojka who found himself low qualifier with a great pass of 6.91 to get the bye run for 1st round. Winners in the quarter finals saw: Steve Mass over Steve Howard, Dave Howard over Dave Green, and Mike Olenick got the bye to the semi finals. Steve Mass had a bye run to the finals and Olenick took out Dave Howard to set up the final round. It was Mass over Olenick. Congrats to Steve on a great day, and also to Mike and his crew. Steve Mass also recieved $50 bounty on Steve Howard. There has still not been a winner for the PERFECT LIGHT in eliminations, so Sunday's race it was up to $300!!!!!!!
Sunday June 25th, race #6, we found ourselves alittle shorter on cars, as we lost a few to breakage on Saturday. We lost Rick Zirk, Erik Carlson ( not sure what happened to Erik), Bill Rotz had tranny issues, Kyle Dumke should I say "broke" his flexplate? OUCH!!! THAT HURTS!!!! Robbie VanderWoude and Bobby Ince could not stay for Sunday. With Joe Cleary joining us, we had 13 cars. Hoping for a little cold front, which never came through, IT WAS HOT!!!! But, we are racers and raced on!! Here, I have to say that Byron's crew provided us with a great track both days and hats off to them for the effort, it is greatly appreciated by all MWTS. Dave Green made a stellar pass in the heat of 6.90 for the low qualifing position and a bye run in the first round. The semis found Joe Cleary against Dave Howard, Joe had some trouble at the line and Howard took the round. And in the other semi, it was Steve Howard and John Hochstedler, with Steve not being able to start and John taking the round. The track crew very patiently waited for the final two to get ready and up to the line, as they, as all of us were very hot and exhausted. Dave Howard took the win over John Hochstedler. Great job to Dave and team Tacchia, and to John and his crew. Steve Howard got $50 for taking out Saturday's winner Steve Mass. GET OUT THOSE PRACTICE TREES!!!!!! YOU HAVE 3 WEEKS!!! $350.00 TO THE FIRST PERFECT LIGHT IN ELIMINATIONS, JULY 14th.
BYRON DRAGWAY RACES 7 & 8
Saturday was hot and rain threatened, but we had a great day at Byron. Dave Green was low qualifier, and took on John Hochstedler in the first round. Rick Sojka was second quickest and took on Richard Englebert's Show and Tell car. Then Dave Howard and team Tacchia took on the orange Monte Carlo of Steve Jaeger, and the 4th pair was Bill Rotz and his Crabby's Bar corvette against Steve Howard in the Jake Burkhart entry. The semi round was Dave Green vs. Dave Howard, and Rick Sojka vs. Steve Howard, which set up an all Howard final, with Steve taking the win. Congrats to both teams. Saturday night, with out a fire pit, we sat around some camping lanterns and mosquito candles, ( although some preferred to go fishing??), and had just as great of time as always.
Sunday, Race #8 was a very hot day. The track personnel prepared the track and it was in great shape! Good job out to BJ and his track personnel !! We all got in our first qualifier and then they had a MAJOR tranny failure and took the whole length of the right lane away. It was a very lengthy clean up time and with the temperature rising and the sun beating down the right lane just did not want to come around. So with the day getting shorter we voted to fore-go our 2nd qualifier and go right into eliminations. So Dave Green had the bye as low qualifier and would meet the winner of Steve Howard vs. Richard Englebert. Rick Sojka and Bill Rotz winner would get a bye 2nd round, and Steve Jaeger vs. Dave Howard would meet John Hochstedler vs. Ed Kurth. 2nd round was Green/S. Howard ; Sojka/bye ; and Jaeger/Kurth. The semis was S.Howard/Sojka and Jaeger/bye run. The final found Steve Jaeger and Steve Howard, with Jaeger taking the win. Congrats to both teams!! Also, a very hearty "job well done " to all our teams who did a great job all weekend!!!
Saturday was hot and rain threatened, but we had a great day at Byron. Dave Green was low qualifier, and took on John Hochstedler in the first round. Rick Sojka was second quickest and took on Richard Englebert's Show and Tell car. Then Dave Howard and team Tacchia took on the orange Monte Carlo of Steve Jaeger, and the 4th pair was Bill Rotz and his Crabby's Bar corvette against Steve Howard in the Jake Burkhart entry. The semi round was Dave Green vs. Dave Howard, and Rick Sojka vs. Steve Howard, which set up an all Howard final, with Steve taking the win. Congrats to both teams. Saturday night, with out a fire pit, we sat around some camping lanterns and mosquito candles, ( although some preferred to go fishing??), and had just as great of time as always.
Sunday, Race #8 was a very hot day. The track personnel prepared the track and it was in great shape! Good job out to BJ and his track personnel !! We all got in our first qualifier and then they had a MAJOR tranny failure and took the whole length of the right lane away. It was a very lengthy clean up time and with the temperature rising and the sun beating down the right lane just did not want to come around. So with the day getting shorter we voted to fore-go our 2nd qualifier and go right into eliminations. So Dave Green had the bye as low qualifier and would meet the winner of Steve Howard vs. Richard Englebert. Rick Sojka and Bill Rotz winner would get a bye 2nd round, and Steve Jaeger vs. Dave Howard would meet John Hochstedler vs. Ed Kurth. 2nd round was Green/S. Howard ; Sojka/bye ; and Jaeger/Kurth. The semis was S.Howard/Sojka and Jaeger/bye run. The final found Steve Jaeger and Steve Howard, with Jaeger taking the win. Congrats to both teams!! Also, a very hearty "job well done " to all our teams who did a great job all weekend!!!
CEDAR FALLS, IOWA RACES 9 & 10
Most everyone was there Friday night to get settled in and enjoy some MWTS socializing!!!!
Cedar Falls treated us very well, providing us with great pit spaces and a fantastic race track both days! It is a very nice facility and look forward to returning next season!! Most of the guys I talked to said it was the smoothest we have been on this year!! Mother Nature decided to treat us to a rain storm Saturday, which pushed back the start of the day by quite a few hours, but when the track was ready so were we! There was a few Iowa boys who wanted to run with us, but were also running in the Open. The class that they were running in was right in front of us, and they decided that they wouldn't be able to do both. We hope that they look us up in the future, we would be glad to have them with us! Rick Sojka Jr. had the low qualifing time of 6.93 @ 197, he had a bye run 1st round. The other first round pairs were as follows:
Steve Howard vs. Steve Jaeger; Dave Howard vs. Rick Bowman;
Mike Olenick vs. Larry Demers; and Bill Rotz vs. Erik Carlson.
2nd Round it was S Howard over Sojka; D Howard had the bye;
Demers over Carlson.
Semis it was S Howard over D Howard; and Demers had the bye. Steve Howard won his 4th race of the season!! Congratulations to
Steve and his team Burkhart. Great Job!! Also, congrats to Larry Demers and his team on a job well done! We were glad to have you run with us and look forward to seeing you again!! Steve Howard also won the $50 bounty on Jaeger. And there was no "Perfect Light" in elims. so, Sunday it is $500.00!! YIKES!!!!!
Saturday night the track provided everyone with a great band!! Thank-You Cedar Falls for the entertainment. We all had a great relaxing evening, music, food, and the best racing family there is!!
Sunday, the weather was beautiful!! Rick Sojka Jr. was low qualifier with a 6.96 @ 196! Good Job!! He had a bye run 1st round, as we had an odd number of cars, as Demers went to run the Open, and we lost Steve Howard after 1st round qualifing with a broken front strut mount. Thanks, to Erik for seeing that and letting them know. Other 1st round pairs were D Howard had S Jaeger; and M Olenick had Bill Rotz; and R Bowman had E Carlson. 2nd round it was Steve Jaeger over Rick Sojka; and Bill Rotz over Rick Bowman. Steve Jaeger won his 3rd race of the season over Bill Rotz. Congratulations to Steve and his family on another great job! Also, congrats to Bill and his crew on a very good day!! We had a winner of the "Perfect Light" in eliminations!!!!! A BIG TIME CONGRATS TO BILL ROTZ!!!!!! It didn't seem like a very long ride home at all, and have made some new friends and memories. Thanks again to Cedar Falls for having us and providing us with a great racing facility!!! See you next season!!
Most everyone was there Friday night to get settled in and enjoy some MWTS socializing!!!!
Cedar Falls treated us very well, providing us with great pit spaces and a fantastic race track both days! It is a very nice facility and look forward to returning next season!! Most of the guys I talked to said it was the smoothest we have been on this year!! Mother Nature decided to treat us to a rain storm Saturday, which pushed back the start of the day by quite a few hours, but when the track was ready so were we! There was a few Iowa boys who wanted to run with us, but were also running in the Open. The class that they were running in was right in front of us, and they decided that they wouldn't be able to do both. We hope that they look us up in the future, we would be glad to have them with us! Rick Sojka Jr. had the low qualifing time of 6.93 @ 197, he had a bye run 1st round. The other first round pairs were as follows:
Steve Howard vs. Steve Jaeger; Dave Howard vs. Rick Bowman;
Mike Olenick vs. Larry Demers; and Bill Rotz vs. Erik Carlson.
2nd Round it was S Howard over Sojka; D Howard had the bye;
Demers over Carlson.
Semis it was S Howard over D Howard; and Demers had the bye. Steve Howard won his 4th race of the season!! Congratulations to
Steve and his team Burkhart. Great Job!! Also, congrats to Larry Demers and his team on a job well done! We were glad to have you run with us and look forward to seeing you again!! Steve Howard also won the $50 bounty on Jaeger. And there was no "Perfect Light" in elims. so, Sunday it is $500.00!! YIKES!!!!!
Saturday night the track provided everyone with a great band!! Thank-You Cedar Falls for the entertainment. We all had a great relaxing evening, music, food, and the best racing family there is!!
Sunday, the weather was beautiful!! Rick Sojka Jr. was low qualifier with a 6.96 @ 196! Good Job!! He had a bye run 1st round, as we had an odd number of cars, as Demers went to run the Open, and we lost Steve Howard after 1st round qualifing with a broken front strut mount. Thanks, to Erik for seeing that and letting them know. Other 1st round pairs were D Howard had S Jaeger; and M Olenick had Bill Rotz; and R Bowman had E Carlson. 2nd round it was Steve Jaeger over Rick Sojka; and Bill Rotz over Rick Bowman. Steve Jaeger won his 3rd race of the season over Bill Rotz. Congratulations to Steve and his family on another great job! Also, congrats to Bill and his crew on a very good day!! We had a winner of the "Perfect Light" in eliminations!!!!! A BIG TIME CONGRATS TO BILL ROTZ!!!!!! It didn't seem like a very long ride home at all, and have made some new friends and memories. Thanks again to Cedar Falls for having us and providing us with a great racing facility!!! See you next season!!
CORDOVA DRAGWAY RACES 11 & 12
Saturday was plenty cold, and we decided to just run 1/8th mile aslater rounds would be at night and most likely colder yet! Rick Sojka was low qualifier. We had a 16 car field, which included in order of qualifying: Rick, Mike Olenick, Joe Cleary, Dave Howard, Steve Maas, Steve Howard, Bill Rotz, Steve Jaeger, T. Larson, Dave Green, Tom Vanacora, Ed Kurth, Erik Carlson, Bobby Ince, Lou Rausch, and Robbie VanderWoude. The Semi's found Lou Rausch over Rick Sojka, and Mike Olenick over Steve Jaeger. Lou Rausch took the win over Mike Olenick in the final. Mike Olenick got the $50 Bounty on Steve Jaeger and there was no Perfect Light in Elims.
Sunday, we were down to 12 cars, as 4 guys had mechanical failure. Rick Sojka was again low qualifier. Good job Rick! The semis found Rick with a bye run to the final, and Mike Olenick took the win over Steve Jaeger. Mike Olenick took the win as Rick was unable to make the final round. Mike also took the $50 Bounty as he took out Rausch in the 2nd round. There was no Perfect Light winner.
Saturday was plenty cold, and we decided to just run 1/8th mile aslater rounds would be at night and most likely colder yet! Rick Sojka was low qualifier. We had a 16 car field, which included in order of qualifying: Rick, Mike Olenick, Joe Cleary, Dave Howard, Steve Maas, Steve Howard, Bill Rotz, Steve Jaeger, T. Larson, Dave Green, Tom Vanacora, Ed Kurth, Erik Carlson, Bobby Ince, Lou Rausch, and Robbie VanderWoude. The Semi's found Lou Rausch over Rick Sojka, and Mike Olenick over Steve Jaeger. Lou Rausch took the win over Mike Olenick in the final. Mike Olenick got the $50 Bounty on Steve Jaeger and there was no Perfect Light in Elims.
Sunday, we were down to 12 cars, as 4 guys had mechanical failure. Rick Sojka was again low qualifier. Good job Rick! The semis found Rick with a bye run to the final, and Mike Olenick took the win over Steve Jaeger. Mike Olenick took the win as Rick was unable to make the final round. Mike also took the $50 Bounty as he took out Rausch in the 2nd round. There was no Perfect Light winner.
MWTS FINAL 2 RACES OF THE SEASON: BYRON DRAGWAY RACES 13 & 14
By 2 o'clock Friday afternoon there were 2 large fire pits blazing in the MWTS pits at Byron Dragway, to try and keep warm by!! Not sure how much wood was used over 3 days, but I'm betting it was alot- BECAUSE IT WAS COLD!!! By Friday evening there were allready 22 Top Sportsman cars set up in the pits. Everyone had a great time around the fire. Some new faces and some we haven't seen often during the year were there, catching up on stories and getting to know everyone. It was great to welcome back a few like, Jeff Fleming and his family; Dave & Rosie & Davy Dins; Rick Zirk and his driver Bob Romano; Al Griffy, a long ago Q16 racer with most of us. Also, we welcomed Al's driver Scott Haas, and first time with us Luke Volk, and new members Myron & Judy and Chris Mertens.
Saturday morning they worked really hard to ready the track for racing. Somewhere around noon we got our first qualifying session. The track was in real good condition, about 67 degrees, but good shape. We were just about down to 5 or 6 cars yet to run and a guy who wasn't even supposed to be in our field, blew his transmission, and instead of pulling off to the side right away, he proceeded to run the whole length of the lane and ruin the track!!!! That took about an hour to clean up - totally should not have even happened, but the track crew did an outstanding job in getting the track back in great condition. Hats off to BJ and his guys!! Later, there was a horrible crash in another class. It is great to say that the driver of that car was ok. He came back to the track on Sunday after spending the night in a hospital. It was a long time in cleaning up that incident, and with no cars running on it all that time the track lost heat and as late as it was, the board men decided to cancel our race for the day. Everyone that was in Purse Snatchers got 10 points for qualifying and the monies were divided amoung the entrants for the day. Jeff Fleming was low qualifier with an outstanding pass of 6.66 @ 208 mph. Luke Volk had the top speed of 209. Wow!! Both guys got a free dinner at the food stand, from the track. Great job to both guys! Saturday night our Pres. Ed Kurth, provided all of us with a great feast of smoked brisket and pork butts. They had been in the smoker since Friday night and that meat was fantastic!!! Everyone brought a dish to pass and a great time was had by
all!!! The fire pits were blazing again, what a better way to end the day, than great food, warmth, and good people!!! There were so many Top Sportsman people, I think we could have used a couple more fire pits!!! It was a great time, cold weather or not! WE hope all the new racers and crews got to know us and will come race with us next season!!
Sunday everyone was up early and ready to go when called. There was a points chase to finish and the cold was making some guys think- FAST ET's !!!! Let's Race !!! 25 cars qualified, and Rick Sojka was low qualifier with a great 6.65 @ 204. NIce pass guys! Ron Leek paid low qualifier and top speed for the day, $100 for each. So, Ricky picked up a nice $200. Thanks, Ron!!!
So, the second round looked like this:
Rick Sojka vs. Steve Maas ; Chris Mertens vs. Steve Jaeger :
Bill Rotz vs. Steve Howard ; Dave Espisito vs. bye ;
Davy Dins vs. Alex Bosak ; Bob Romano vs. Dave Howard ;
and Richard Englebert vs. Luke Volk.
The Quarters were:
Maas vs. Jaeger ; Rotz vs. bye ; Espisito vs. Dins ;
D. Howard vs. Englebert.
The Semis :
Steve Maas vs. Bill Rotz
D. Howard vs. Dave Espisito
The Final Round was a heads up dial of 7.26. It was Steve Maas over Dave Howard. Both ran 7.26. It was a great race to finish the day!!! Congratulations to Steve Maas on the win, and that was a great Birthday present for your Dad!! Good job to Dave Howard and Team Tacchia for your runner-up day. With the round wins Dave finished in second place in points behind his son, Steve. And, oh by the way, Congrats to our points Champion, Steve Howard. A great job all year!!
Bill Rotz won the "Perfect Light in Eliminations", it was up to $200! Nice!! I believe that's two times he won that this year!! Great Job!! There was no "Bounty Hunter" paid out, as our last race winner wasn't here!!! How was the wedding Mike??? Another season completed!!? Where did that go??? I can't believe it's over already!! Midwest Top Sportsman is continually growing and making strides to be even better! We have the best racers and families, that make us what we are!!
The Banquet is near!!! Can't wait !! What a blast, every year!!!
November 17th at Wise Guys Bar and Grill, Princeton, Il. See you there!!!
Midwest Top Sportsman- racing on into 2013. Come and be a part of the best!!!
By 2 o'clock Friday afternoon there were 2 large fire pits blazing in the MWTS pits at Byron Dragway, to try and keep warm by!! Not sure how much wood was used over 3 days, but I'm betting it was alot- BECAUSE IT WAS COLD!!! By Friday evening there were allready 22 Top Sportsman cars set up in the pits. Everyone had a great time around the fire. Some new faces and some we haven't seen often during the year were there, catching up on stories and getting to know everyone. It was great to welcome back a few like, Jeff Fleming and his family; Dave & Rosie & Davy Dins; Rick Zirk and his driver Bob Romano; Al Griffy, a long ago Q16 racer with most of us. Also, we welcomed Al's driver Scott Haas, and first time with us Luke Volk, and new members Myron & Judy and Chris Mertens.
Saturday morning they worked really hard to ready the track for racing. Somewhere around noon we got our first qualifying session. The track was in real good condition, about 67 degrees, but good shape. We were just about down to 5 or 6 cars yet to run and a guy who wasn't even supposed to be in our field, blew his transmission, and instead of pulling off to the side right away, he proceeded to run the whole length of the lane and ruin the track!!!! That took about an hour to clean up - totally should not have even happened, but the track crew did an outstanding job in getting the track back in great condition. Hats off to BJ and his guys!! Later, there was a horrible crash in another class. It is great to say that the driver of that car was ok. He came back to the track on Sunday after spending the night in a hospital. It was a long time in cleaning up that incident, and with no cars running on it all that time the track lost heat and as late as it was, the board men decided to cancel our race for the day. Everyone that was in Purse Snatchers got 10 points for qualifying and the monies were divided amoung the entrants for the day. Jeff Fleming was low qualifier with an outstanding pass of 6.66 @ 208 mph. Luke Volk had the top speed of 209. Wow!! Both guys got a free dinner at the food stand, from the track. Great job to both guys! Saturday night our Pres. Ed Kurth, provided all of us with a great feast of smoked brisket and pork butts. They had been in the smoker since Friday night and that meat was fantastic!!! Everyone brought a dish to pass and a great time was had by
all!!! The fire pits were blazing again, what a better way to end the day, than great food, warmth, and good people!!! There were so many Top Sportsman people, I think we could have used a couple more fire pits!!! It was a great time, cold weather or not! WE hope all the new racers and crews got to know us and will come race with us next season!!
Sunday everyone was up early and ready to go when called. There was a points chase to finish and the cold was making some guys think- FAST ET's !!!! Let's Race !!! 25 cars qualified, and Rick Sojka was low qualifier with a great 6.65 @ 204. NIce pass guys! Ron Leek paid low qualifier and top speed for the day, $100 for each. So, Ricky picked up a nice $200. Thanks, Ron!!!
So, the second round looked like this:
Rick Sojka vs. Steve Maas ; Chris Mertens vs. Steve Jaeger :
Bill Rotz vs. Steve Howard ; Dave Espisito vs. bye ;
Davy Dins vs. Alex Bosak ; Bob Romano vs. Dave Howard ;
and Richard Englebert vs. Luke Volk.
The Quarters were:
Maas vs. Jaeger ; Rotz vs. bye ; Espisito vs. Dins ;
D. Howard vs. Englebert.
The Semis :
Steve Maas vs. Bill Rotz
D. Howard vs. Dave Espisito
The Final Round was a heads up dial of 7.26. It was Steve Maas over Dave Howard. Both ran 7.26. It was a great race to finish the day!!! Congratulations to Steve Maas on the win, and that was a great Birthday present for your Dad!! Good job to Dave Howard and Team Tacchia for your runner-up day. With the round wins Dave finished in second place in points behind his son, Steve. And, oh by the way, Congrats to our points Champion, Steve Howard. A great job all year!!
Bill Rotz won the "Perfect Light in Eliminations", it was up to $200! Nice!! I believe that's two times he won that this year!! Great Job!! There was no "Bounty Hunter" paid out, as our last race winner wasn't here!!! How was the wedding Mike??? Another season completed!!? Where did that go??? I can't believe it's over already!! Midwest Top Sportsman is continually growing and making strides to be even better! We have the best racers and families, that make us what we are!!
The Banquet is near!!! Can't wait !! What a blast, every year!!!
November 17th at Wise Guys Bar and Grill, Princeton, Il. See you there!!!
Midwest Top Sportsman- racing on into 2013. Come and be a part of the best!!!