Following the Money Trail

Words by Evan Jones
Photos courtesy Maple Grove Raceway

There was a morning rain delay, followed by wind gusts of 40 mph. However, the weather couldn’t put a stop to the first weekend of racing on the Sunoco Race Fuels Money Trail Saturday, May 8. Winners were crowned in six different categories for the initial time in 2010 at Maple Grove Raceway.

Besides canceling one of two time shots for each racer, the weather also shortened the race from a quarter-mile to an eighth-mile as the wind blew throughout the day.

Mike Yarnall

Mike Yarnall (Kennett Square, Pa.) won the Super Eliminator championship, working his way through the bracket by drawing opponent after opponent who would foul out by leaving the starting line too early. His finals opponent, Kevin Scholl (Eagleville, Pa.), had the discipline not to jump too soon. However, Yarnall had a solid .002 reaction time off the start, which turned out to be handy at the end. He raced to a victory of 4.875 seconds at 136.44 to Scholl’s 4.975 at 137.65.

Scholl also benefitted from opponents with itchy trigger fingers, but had a close call in the second round, when he was closer to his dial-in after a double-breakout run against Jay Helman (Norristown, Pa.).

Dan Smith (Morgantown, Pa.) returned to Victory Lane at Maple Grove in his 1989 Baretta, taking the Pro Elminator win with a run of 6.446 at 102.63 to beat Tim Rambo (Kenhorst, Pa.), who ran 6.765 at 100.28.

Dan Smith

In making it the final, Smith did a great job in brushing up against his dial-ins. In the quarterfinals, he beat Dean Mowery (Middleburg, Pa.) with a run of 6.441 (6.44 dial-in) and then outran Michael O’Mara (Douglassville, Pa.) in the semis with a 6.439 (6.42 D/I). Meanwhile, Rambo hit his dial-in perfectly in the quarters to beat Thomas Harhart (Elysburg, Pa.), going 6.740 (6.74 D/I) while Harhart broke out. Rambo then had the bye run in the semis.

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