EXTREME MOTORCYCLE

Eric McKinney

Drag 965 Pro Extreme Motorcycle was dominated by the team of Eric McKinney and Ashley Owens. Owens, who tunes for McKinney, qualified number one with a 4.013 and three-time PDRA champion McKinney qualified number 3 with a 4.014. Terry Schweigert was sandwiched in between at 4.013 (slower mph). McKinney took out Schweigert with low et of 3.990 at 179.52 in the semifinals, to meet teammate Owens in the finals. McKinney’s 4.001/179.04 defeated Owen’s 4.024/177.72 in a great race.

“The performance this weekend was just stellar,” McKinney said. “We started off where we left off last year. We had a couple good days of testing and thought we could just put it on cruise control for qualifying, but it wasn’t easy.”

SPORTSMAN CLASSES

Fernandine, Florida’s Tom Vanbeek proved that an ultra-quick car isn’t always necessary to win in Magnafuel Top Sportsman as he upset low qualifier Randy Perkinson in the final. Vanbeek dialed in at 4.68 and 4.69 through eliminations, while Perkinson chose the low 3.9s for his dial-ins. Vanbeek marched around Top Sportsman hitters Aaron Glaser, Billy Albert, and Barry Daniluk before meeting Virginia’s Perkinson in the final. In the end, Vanbeek’s ’88 Beretta was quicker off the starting line and closer to his 4.68 dial-in with a 4.695 compared to Perkinson’s 3.926 on a 3.90 dial.

A mass of supercharged dragsters were on hand to compete in Lucas Oil Top Dragster, with Louisiana driver Mario Boesch earning the event win in his MKD Racing entry. He defeated low qualifier Jody Stroud, Matt Cooke, and Ashley Tidrick on his way to the final, where he faced defending world champion Justin Kirk. Boesch left the starting line last and was a few hundredths off his 3.91 dial-in, but Kirk slowed from his 3.87 dial-in to a 3.964, allowing Boesch to take the win.

Campers Inn RV Pro Junior Dragster winner Sadie Wicks used a large holeshot to defeat Amber Franklin in the final round, running 7.964 on the 7.90 dial-in. The opposite was the case in the MegaCorp Top Junior Dragster final when Tripp McCarthy ran four thousandths off his 9.04 dial-in to overcome a starting-line advantage by Connor Shields, who broke out on his 9.38 dial with a 9.289.

The next stop on the 2017 PDRA Tour is the 2017 PDRA East Coast Nationals, March 30-April 1, at GALOT Motorsports Park in Benson, NC.