Michael VanDenHeuvel

Michael VanDenHeuvel (Elkton, Md.), who splits his time between Maple Grove and Cecil County (Md.) Dragway, grabbed a repeat victory on this side of the Mason-Dixon Line in his ’84 Cutlas, beating MGR veteran Paul Werner (Sinking Spring, Pa.) for the Street Eliminator title. VanDenHeuvel had a superior .015 (to .045) reaction time and raced to a 7.243 at 88.39 to beat Werner, MGR’s ’09 season champ, who ran 7.389 at 91.72.

VanDenHeuvel had a close call in the second round as both he and Tim Ash (Spring City, Pa.) both left the start too early. However, VanDenHeuvel was only .005 too quick, while Ash’s red light came a hair sooner. After his third-round opponent, Jon Showers Jr. (Reading, Pa.) also drew a red light, Mark Barnes Sr. (Coatesville, Pa.) gave him a race in the quarterfinals. VanDenHeuvel’s Cutlas was the winner with a 7.261 run (7.25 D/I) and a .022 reaction time, while Barnes’ ’72 Chevy truck crossed the strip in 7.977 (7.97 D/I) with a .046 R/T.

He then survived a double-breakout in the semis with Harhart, who ran two classes, with a 7.227 (7.23 D/I), while Harhart was 8.856 (8.86). Werner had a bye run in the semis after using a superior .012 reaction time in the quarters to beat William Cummings (Glenmoore, Pa.)

Another track champion who didn’t quite make it the top this time around was Top Biker Joe Stuebner (Hamburg, Pa.). He was eliminated in the final when he fouled at the start. That let Christopher Olejar (Collegeville, Pa.) ride to an easy run of 6.504 at 106.81 on his ‘95 Honda.

Christopher Olejar

Olejar was quick off the starting line in both his quarterfinal and semis runs in beating Keith Alesin (Mohnton, Pa.) and Gary Malone Jr. (Norristown, Pa.), respectively. Olejar won the quarters with a run of 7.032 and the semis with a pass of 6.723. Stuebner had a bye in the semis and beat Cory Stuebner (Hamburg, Pa.) in the quarters with a good R/T of .027 and followed through with a pass of 5.492.

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