RACE #6 2015 fall finale weekend
QUALIFYING
ELIMINATIONS
round #1
Al Matuska came into the weekend sitting 67 points outside of 1st place but he wasn't going to go down without a fight!! He took that fight all the way to the winners circle on Saturday night and barely needed a round to overtake Bill Benson. 17 Points separated them going into the final race of the season!! Al qualified 4th to Benson's 5th, making up the one point and now only 1 round separated the two. Al was up against Blaine Huffman, they were the 1st pair of 8.90 cars to take to the track during eliminations and that is where Al's fight for the title would come to an end. The race was over almost as quickly as it began when Al blew the tires off and just could not recover, Blaine would take the win and Al would have to wait another year to pick up a 3rd title...
Scott Williams, started out the weekend in 6th place and held the spot going into Sunday's race but when he went down to the dreaded deep stage foul in 1st round against Mike Pleveich, with it went any shot of cracking the Top 5...his only hope would be to hang on to a Top 8 position!
Bill Benson took round 1 over a new guy, Kevin Chess, who was taking advantage of the one race waiver to feel things out for himself before 2016.
On Saturday, Clay Courson went up against John Sahli in round #2...John broke out with a 8.89 to Clay's 8.92. They quickly squared off again in a reverse deja vu style rematch, Sunday Round #1 it was Clay's turn to put up an 8.89 to Sahli's 8.91. Clay was sitting in 7th place but going down 1st round was costly and he would watch racers shift around him and at the end of the day he would finish up in 12th place.
Troy Wotring was the only other racer who could have potentially stood between Benson and the title that had been eluding him for the past couple years. When Troy took the win over rookie Bob Keaton, his shot at the title was still alive!! Bob Keaton didn't make his debut till midseason but found himself sitting in the Top 8 going into the last race, again a 1st round loss would prove costly, Bob would wrap up his 1st season in 10th place over all!
Eric Tuuri and Chico came into the weekend 4th and 5th place respectively and going into Race #6 they held those same positions. The two squared off 1st round and that is where Eric Tuuri's season would come to an end! It would be up to Chico to decide where they would fall at the end of the day, an event win would have been enough to swap spots with Tuuri!!
Tom Swan (#1 qualifier) and Jim Loveland (#2 qualifier) would both have bye runs into round #2
Scott Williams, started out the weekend in 6th place and held the spot going into Sunday's race but when he went down to the dreaded deep stage foul in 1st round against Mike Pleveich, with it went any shot of cracking the Top 5...his only hope would be to hang on to a Top 8 position!
Bill Benson took round 1 over a new guy, Kevin Chess, who was taking advantage of the one race waiver to feel things out for himself before 2016.
On Saturday, Clay Courson went up against John Sahli in round #2...John broke out with a 8.89 to Clay's 8.92. They quickly squared off again in a reverse deja vu style rematch, Sunday Round #1 it was Clay's turn to put up an 8.89 to Sahli's 8.91. Clay was sitting in 7th place but going down 1st round was costly and he would watch racers shift around him and at the end of the day he would finish up in 12th place.
Troy Wotring was the only other racer who could have potentially stood between Benson and the title that had been eluding him for the past couple years. When Troy took the win over rookie Bob Keaton, his shot at the title was still alive!! Bob Keaton didn't make his debut till midseason but found himself sitting in the Top 8 going into the last race, again a 1st round loss would prove costly, Bob would wrap up his 1st season in 10th place over all!
Eric Tuuri and Chico came into the weekend 4th and 5th place respectively and going into Race #6 they held those same positions. The two squared off 1st round and that is where Eric Tuuri's season would come to an end! It would be up to Chico to decide where they would fall at the end of the day, an event win would have been enough to swap spots with Tuuri!!
Tom Swan (#1 qualifier) and Jim Loveland (#2 qualifier) would both have bye runs into round #2
round #2
This round would decide it all...if Bill Benson was taken out of competition then Troy Wotring still had a shot at the title, but it just wasn't meant to be for Troy in 2015. When Blaine Huffman went red, Benson would take the round win and lock up the title in the quarter-finals!!
Congrats to Bill Benson and his crew for becoming your...
2015 #1 PERFORMANCE CENTER 8.90 Champion!!
Congrats to Bill Benson and his crew for becoming your...
2015 #1 PERFORMANCE CENTER 8.90 Champion!!
The rest of the field...
John Sahli takes on #1 Qualifier, Tom Swan. John covered him on both ends of the track for the win.
Not sure what happened between Mike Pleveich and Chico but with no time on the boards for Mike the win definitely belonged to Chico!
Troy Wotring beat Jim Loveland off the line for the win. The championship may have been out of reach but runner-up was still up for grabs and this sealed the deal for him as he bypassed Al Matuska to officially claim the spot as his own and bumping Al Matuska down to a 3rd place finish!
Congrats to Troy Wotring...your 2015 #1 Performance Center 8.90 Runner-Up
John Sahli takes on #1 Qualifier, Tom Swan. John covered him on both ends of the track for the win.
Not sure what happened between Mike Pleveich and Chico but with no time on the boards for Mike the win definitely belonged to Chico!
Troy Wotring beat Jim Loveland off the line for the win. The championship may have been out of reach but runner-up was still up for grabs and this sealed the deal for him as he bypassed Al Matuska to officially claim the spot as his own and bumping Al Matuska down to a 3rd place finish!
Congrats to Troy Wotring...your 2015 #1 Performance Center 8.90 Runner-Up
Round #3
The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat...
All racers have had those moments where it just goes all wrong or somehow despite everything going wrong it still ends up in your favor. This was the case for both Chico and Troy Wotring in the semi-finals. 1st somehow Chico's nitrous had never been turned on but obviously by the time Chico realized it...well it was too late, he was along for the ride and no way he was going to put up the kind of numbers needed to beat Troy. The race should have been all but over when in one of those moments you never expect from the caliber of racer that Troy Wotring is. Everyone including Troy were shaking their heads when he gave the round back to Chico breaking out by .006.
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On the other side of the ladder your newly crowned Champion Bill Benson would face 8.90 Rookie John Sahli and this is where the Champs season would come to a close just one round after locking it all up! Sahli got the jump on Benson off the line and in an effort to make it up on the top end Benson gave it just a little too much and found himself on the wrong side of 8.90, putting up an 8.898 and John would move on to meet Chico in the finals.
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8.90 finals
In the tradition of saving the best for last, I believe the last round of competition for the season was also the tightest round of competition on the right side of 8.90 within the Rossler Transmissions 8.90 Index class for the entire weekend. When the dust settled in this final round a little over .016 separated these two racers but as in most races within the RRA reaction time will make or break the race and this race was no different.
Tightest race of the weekend occurred during Saturday's race and once again included Chico, he and Troy Wotring would put up almost identical reaction times .0398 for Chico and .0394 for Troy, Chico took the win with a 8.88 to Troy's 8.87...Chico would come up just short of knocking Eric Tuuri out of 4th place and would keep his position rounding out your Top 5!!
John Sahli is a rookie to 8.90 but not to the RRA (he raced 10.50 for the passed two years with his Dad's Camaro) and 2015 was time to bring his Monte Carlo out to play with the 8.90 boys of the RRA!! Somehow his season didn't go quite as he had planned, like so many Renegade racers this year John was plagued with mechanical issues...taking out 3 Motors in less than 3 months in both the Monte Carlo and the Camaro!! But Racers Never Say Die, right?? With nothing to lose he came out swinging late in the season, taking the win in race #6 to close out the year and in doing so he managed crack the top 8, finishing 7th overall...despite missing half the season!
Tightest race of the weekend occurred during Saturday's race and once again included Chico, he and Troy Wotring would put up almost identical reaction times .0398 for Chico and .0394 for Troy, Chico took the win with a 8.88 to Troy's 8.87...Chico would come up just short of knocking Eric Tuuri out of 4th place and would keep his position rounding out your Top 5!!
John Sahli is a rookie to 8.90 but not to the RRA (he raced 10.50 for the passed two years with his Dad's Camaro) and 2015 was time to bring his Monte Carlo out to play with the 8.90 boys of the RRA!! Somehow his season didn't go quite as he had planned, like so many Renegade racers this year John was plagued with mechanical issues...taking out 3 Motors in less than 3 months in both the Monte Carlo and the Camaro!! But Racers Never Say Die, right?? With nothing to lose he came out swinging late in the season, taking the win in race #6 to close out the year and in doing so he managed crack the top 8, finishing 7th overall...despite missing half the season!
congrats and thank you to all the racers within the
rossler transmissions 8.90 index class for another great season!!!
QUALIFYING
Jack Brown came out Sunday morning with a swift reminder that he may be down but he was definitely not out!! Only racer to put up a 9.90 pass in qualifying...gaining a few points on Kennelley in the process.
ELIMINATIONS
rOUND #1
Word of mouth is something that can make or break a series and we have been continually blessed over the past 6 years to have many racers find a home within the RRA, all because our racers themselves share their excitement and invite them to come join in on the fun. Both the ladies of the 9.90 class were brought into the fold this way.
Dan Marvin and Brian Prior are the two we can thank for bringing in Sue Cooper, her husband Kelly and their son Nate to our Renegade family! Their 1st attempt to join us at SMP turned out more like a National Lampoons trip vs a weekend racing but glad to see they didn't let them deter them from coming back down to join us!! Icing on the cake is they single-handedly take our series international...which is pretty sweet!! For a small grass roots series, we now have racers coming from all over Ohio, PA, NY, Michigan and now Canada on a regular basis to race with the RRA which is awesome!! I am so thankful for all of you, whether you tow 5 hrs or 5 miles, together we make one badass racing family!!
Wanda Johnson came out for the last race of 2014 after much encouragement from fellow 9.90 racer, Dennis Chillik. She definitely made her presence known by snagging the #1 qualifying position, but unfortunately she did not have a competition license so did not pass tech and had to withdrawal from competition. She took it like a champ and didn't let that deter her. She came back this year, ready to run and had a great rookie season, even once again securing that #1 qualifying spot, which she took in race #4.
These ladies were the 1st pair of racers to go at it in the season finale. Unfortunately the race wasn't what it could have been, Sue Cooper was DQ'd right out of the gate for deep staging and the round win would go to Wanda Johnson. Sue finished up 12th overall, be exciting to see what she can do next season!
Last year Brian Kennelley had to wait until the final round of the final race to know whether the Championship was his or not, but when Dennis Moore won the race he surpassed Kennelley by a single point to claim the title for himself, A SINGLE POINT!! But not this year, Brian has literally been on fire this entire season and when it came down to the season finale all he needed was one round and the Championship that eluded him during his rookie season would be his!! When he got around Joe Hlivko in round 1...the title was his!!
Congrats to Brian Kennelly your...
2015 9.90 INDEX CHAMPION!!!
Dan Marvin and Brian Prior are the two we can thank for bringing in Sue Cooper, her husband Kelly and their son Nate to our Renegade family! Their 1st attempt to join us at SMP turned out more like a National Lampoons trip vs a weekend racing but glad to see they didn't let them deter them from coming back down to join us!! Icing on the cake is they single-handedly take our series international...which is pretty sweet!! For a small grass roots series, we now have racers coming from all over Ohio, PA, NY, Michigan and now Canada on a regular basis to race with the RRA which is awesome!! I am so thankful for all of you, whether you tow 5 hrs or 5 miles, together we make one badass racing family!!
Wanda Johnson came out for the last race of 2014 after much encouragement from fellow 9.90 racer, Dennis Chillik. She definitely made her presence known by snagging the #1 qualifying position, but unfortunately she did not have a competition license so did not pass tech and had to withdrawal from competition. She took it like a champ and didn't let that deter her. She came back this year, ready to run and had a great rookie season, even once again securing that #1 qualifying spot, which she took in race #4.
These ladies were the 1st pair of racers to go at it in the season finale. Unfortunately the race wasn't what it could have been, Sue Cooper was DQ'd right out of the gate for deep staging and the round win would go to Wanda Johnson. Sue finished up 12th overall, be exciting to see what she can do next season!
Last year Brian Kennelley had to wait until the final round of the final race to know whether the Championship was his or not, but when Dennis Moore won the race he surpassed Kennelley by a single point to claim the title for himself, A SINGLE POINT!! But not this year, Brian has literally been on fire this entire season and when it came down to the season finale all he needed was one round and the Championship that eluded him during his rookie season would be his!! When he got around Joe Hlivko in round 1...the title was his!!
Congrats to Brian Kennelly your...
2015 9.90 INDEX CHAMPION!!!
Chris Hyatt came out to play and miraculously put up the fastest 1/4 mile pass in the history of the RRA...being clocked at an insane 5.48!!! But all the credit for that pass and the forced rerun goes to a misguided leaf of all things!! JR Phillips and Chris reran the round and JR took the win 9.91 to Chris' 9.95.
When Ray Tumbry went up against Tom Brown, he took the advantage off the line and the round win. Tom came into the weekend in 12th place but finished up just outside the Top 8 coming in 9th overall.
It was awesome to have Vinnie Barbone joining us at the finale, unfortunately his time out was a short lived when he went out 1st round to Tom Hyatt. While doing so Tom was tugging on everyone's heart strings when he brought Tim Campbell's Firebird out in an attempt to hang on to 3rd place in points after breaking the rear end in the '55 on Saturday.
Dave Janu, is newcomer to the RRA in 2015, his weekend may have come to an end when he lost to Dennis Chillik during round 1 but he has plans to get his car up to code and officially join us in 2016, hope to see him throw his hat into the Championship chase.
Jack Brown and Brad Courson both had 1st round bye runs.
When Ray Tumbry went up against Tom Brown, he took the advantage off the line and the round win. Tom came into the weekend in 12th place but finished up just outside the Top 8 coming in 9th overall.
It was awesome to have Vinnie Barbone joining us at the finale, unfortunately his time out was a short lived when he went out 1st round to Tom Hyatt. While doing so Tom was tugging on everyone's heart strings when he brought Tim Campbell's Firebird out in an attempt to hang on to 3rd place in points after breaking the rear end in the '55 on Saturday.
Dave Janu, is newcomer to the RRA in 2015, his weekend may have come to an end when he lost to Dennis Chillik during round 1 but he has plans to get his car up to code and officially join us in 2016, hope to see him throw his hat into the Championship chase.
Jack Brown and Brad Courson both had 1st round bye runs.
round #2
Jack Brown has had quite the season, clearly putting a couple of rough years behind him. He found his way to the winners circle 2 times this season including taking the win at this summer's Inaugural WAR BY THE SHORE event. His season came to a close after his loss to Ray Tumbry but 2nd place was clearly his for the taking as he and Kennelley were back and forth all season long with no chance of anyone catching them.
Congrats to Jack Brown your 2015 9.90 Runner-Up
Congrats to Jack Brown your 2015 9.90 Runner-Up
Wanda Johnson's season would come to a close at the hands of the Champ in round #2. She ended her rookie season rounding out the Top 8, holding onto the last official spot in the Abruzzi Smackdown, job well done!!
Brad Courson has been quite the competitor this season, but regrettably did not throw his hat into the points ring or we could be telling a different story here. Something was off in his round vs Tom Hyatt and he was extremely late on the tree and didn't cover the number.
JR Phillips would be caught sleeping on the tree and his 9.91 pass would go down to Dennis Chillik's 9.94. JR made up some very nice ground in the finale weekend going from 9th up to 6th place overall!!
Brad Courson has been quite the competitor this season, but regrettably did not throw his hat into the points ring or we could be telling a different story here. Something was off in his round vs Tom Hyatt and he was extremely late on the tree and didn't cover the number.
JR Phillips would be caught sleeping on the tree and his 9.91 pass would go down to Dennis Chillik's 9.94. JR made up some very nice ground in the finale weekend going from 9th up to 6th place overall!!
round #3
Unfamiliar with his late father-in-laws set up, Hyatt was struggling with the car causing him to break his typical pattern of always staging last, this round it bit him but with the typical 9.90 jokester mentality when this photo surfaced Hyatt bragged on having the biggest hole shot of the weekend with this round!! Despite his issues thorought the weekend Hyatt would still finish 4th place just 7 points behind Chillik.
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9.90 finals
In true deja vu fashion these two met up in the final round of both Saturday and Sunday's races during the Fall Finale and Kennelley took the win on both days!! On Sunday, the last race of 2015 the newly crowned champ was he was leaving nothing to chance covering Chillik on both ends. Reacting just a .01 faster off the line but running a 9.90 pass to seal the deal!! Dennis Chillik's 2 finals appearances did him good, he was sitting outside the Top 5 going into the weekend and when it was all said and done he bypassed Tumbry and Hyatt to move up into 3rd place...impressive last minute swing for sure!!
Congrats and thank you to all the racers who have taken part
in the 2 fast garage 9.90 index class this season!!
look forward to seeing you in 2016!!
QUALIFYING
ELIMINATIONS
10.50 has always been referred to as the "Filler Class" as it was no secret boasting the largest car counts they cushioned the purse of the classes above them, but those days are behind us. In 2015 we shook things up a bit and the classes stood independent of one another when it came time to cut those fat checks!!! 10.50 succeeded in taking home the largest payouts event after event as they consistently put up high car counts. Anyone who has made their way through the RRA will tell you 10.50 is wicked...the competition is fierce, when you go rounds vs go home early, even if you don't win it all...it's still a good day!!
round #1
Mike Carroll was the only racer with a shot at the title that did NOT have a bye run in round #1 of competition but he took the round win over Mike Meredith assuring he was still in the fight.
Mike Herno's shot at the Top 5 was still secure when he covered Alex Tavana on both ends of the track in round #1.
Rick Russell was all but sleeping on the tree in his last outing for the year, with a .31 light there was no way for him to recover and Paul Carillon took the round win for himself.
Unfortunately for John Peffer he was the only 10.50 racer to go red in the 1st round, and his rookie season would end there, Barry Wood would be moving on.
Bill Kennelley put up an impressive # is his 1st weekend ever running with the RRA but when you get beat off the line we all know sometimes not even a 10.508 is enough to get you the win, he would go down at the hands of Bob Singer.
It was great to have Terry Buza out racing during the finale weekend, I'm sure he wished he could have stayed longer. He had Jim Slaughter off the line but just didn't quite cover the number at the top end and Jim would take the win.
Mike Herno's shot at the Top 5 was still secure when he covered Alex Tavana on both ends of the track in round #1.
Rick Russell was all but sleeping on the tree in his last outing for the year, with a .31 light there was no way for him to recover and Paul Carillon took the round win for himself.
Unfortunately for John Peffer he was the only 10.50 racer to go red in the 1st round, and his rookie season would end there, Barry Wood would be moving on.
Bill Kennelley put up an impressive # is his 1st weekend ever running with the RRA but when you get beat off the line we all know sometimes not even a 10.508 is enough to get you the win, he would go down at the hands of Bob Singer.
It was great to have Terry Buza out racing during the finale weekend, I'm sure he wished he could have stayed longer. He had Jim Slaughter off the line but just didn't quite cover the number at the top end and Jim would take the win.
round #2
Mike Blair would put up a solid pass with a 10.51 but that wasn't quite enough and he would slip just outside the Top 8 spots with his round 2 loss to Mike Herno.
Gary Wojnowski gained ground on cracking the Top spots when he got passed Rick Pearson. Rick Pearson is not a regular to the RRA but hopefully that will change in the seasons to come.
Tim Toothman closed the book on his 2015 season with a red light against Jim Slaughter. Tim was hit or miss with attendance this year but even considering that he finished middle of the pack which is not bad at all!
Dan Addair opted to sacrifice his shot at any title to step up and play in the 10.50 class midseason, taking the class win at WBTS proved the rookie had made a pretty good choice. Round 2 was as far as he would get in the finale when he lost to Bob Singer.
Greg Zilke qualified top of the field but his day would be cut short when Paul Carillon would beat him off the line. Greg would still gain one position and finish 12th overall.
The Top Guys gunning for the title would be the among the last 3 pairs to take turns battling it out down the quarter mile during round #2...Qualifying set the stage for it all to come down to this one single round. An entire season builds up to be determined by the fate of a single round...
Gene Adamic's car was not only pretty in pink after getting a brand new paint job in the off season but Gene himself had been sitting pretty in the points all season long, he spent the 1st half of the season sitting in 1st place and going into the finale he was less than 2 rounds behind Dennis. Not sure what happened but Gene was uncharacteristically late on the tree and he just could not recover. The round would go to Barry Wood and Gene's hopes for a title would have to wait for another season. He would finish 3rd place overall.
Bob Marr was set on kill in the next pair up...but think he forgot we were running 10.50 for a moment there! .000 off the line but 10.39 in the quarter mile, needless to say he was on the losing end of the double break out round and Geno Adkins was still in the fight but could he claim a title in his rookie season? He needed Dennis DeWeese to be taken out of competition, it was now or never...
Mike Carroll is a two time 10.50 Champion and the current defending Champion, anyone familiar with the RRA knows he is a force to be reckoned with! Despite a rough start to the season and mechanical gremlins impacting 2 races he still had a shot at the title and that is impressive! But a successful defense was not to be had. You could probably count the number of red lights Mike has had in the past 5 years on one hand but that is exactly what happened...he went red against Dennis DeWeese bringing his season to an end.
Bring on the CHAMPION!!! With that round win we didn't need to wait till the end of the race to crown a new champion...he had locked it up!! Dennis DeWeese was officially the Newest Champion of the 10.50 Index Class! Dennis took over 1st place at the close of the 4th race of this season and never looked back...you knew by talking to him he definitely had his eye on the prize!! He had spent 3 seasons climbing the ladder to that coveted top spot. 3rd place finish his rookie season in 2013, last year he was runner-up and now this year it was finally his for the taking!
Gary Wojnowski gained ground on cracking the Top spots when he got passed Rick Pearson. Rick Pearson is not a regular to the RRA but hopefully that will change in the seasons to come.
Tim Toothman closed the book on his 2015 season with a red light against Jim Slaughter. Tim was hit or miss with attendance this year but even considering that he finished middle of the pack which is not bad at all!
Dan Addair opted to sacrifice his shot at any title to step up and play in the 10.50 class midseason, taking the class win at WBTS proved the rookie had made a pretty good choice. Round 2 was as far as he would get in the finale when he lost to Bob Singer.
Greg Zilke qualified top of the field but his day would be cut short when Paul Carillon would beat him off the line. Greg would still gain one position and finish 12th overall.
The Top Guys gunning for the title would be the among the last 3 pairs to take turns battling it out down the quarter mile during round #2...Qualifying set the stage for it all to come down to this one single round. An entire season builds up to be determined by the fate of a single round...
Gene Adamic's car was not only pretty in pink after getting a brand new paint job in the off season but Gene himself had been sitting pretty in the points all season long, he spent the 1st half of the season sitting in 1st place and going into the finale he was less than 2 rounds behind Dennis. Not sure what happened but Gene was uncharacteristically late on the tree and he just could not recover. The round would go to Barry Wood and Gene's hopes for a title would have to wait for another season. He would finish 3rd place overall.
Bob Marr was set on kill in the next pair up...but think he forgot we were running 10.50 for a moment there! .000 off the line but 10.39 in the quarter mile, needless to say he was on the losing end of the double break out round and Geno Adkins was still in the fight but could he claim a title in his rookie season? He needed Dennis DeWeese to be taken out of competition, it was now or never...
Mike Carroll is a two time 10.50 Champion and the current defending Champion, anyone familiar with the RRA knows he is a force to be reckoned with! Despite a rough start to the season and mechanical gremlins impacting 2 races he still had a shot at the title and that is impressive! But a successful defense was not to be had. You could probably count the number of red lights Mike has had in the past 5 years on one hand but that is exactly what happened...he went red against Dennis DeWeese bringing his season to an end.
Bring on the CHAMPION!!! With that round win we didn't need to wait till the end of the race to crown a new champion...he had locked it up!! Dennis DeWeese was officially the Newest Champion of the 10.50 Index Class! Dennis took over 1st place at the close of the 4th race of this season and never looked back...you knew by talking to him he definitely had his eye on the prize!! He had spent 3 seasons climbing the ladder to that coveted top spot. 3rd place finish his rookie season in 2013, last year he was runner-up and now this year it was finally his for the taking!
Congrats to Dennis DeWeese...
YOUR 2015 10.50 INDEX CHAMPION!!!
YOUR 2015 10.50 INDEX CHAMPION!!!
ROUND #3
Gary Wojnowski continued to move up the points board when he took Jim Slaughter out in a insanely tight double breakout round. Gary put up a .014 / 10.458 to Jim's .018 / 10.457.
.000 lights will get you 8 bonus points but not when you go .000 Red...ouch!! Mike Herno had a great season finishing 7th place overall.
2015 was probably the roughest season mechanically and the black cloud was series wide covering all 4 classes. Paul Carillon was among those effected but didn't stop him from making almost every race we held. But midway through the season Paul got his motor and was back in competition, wrapping up the season in the top half of the field. Even though the title was out of reach, moving on the semi finals secured Geno enough points to move past Gene and take over 2nd place.
.000 lights will get you 8 bonus points but not when you go .000 Red...ouch!! Mike Herno had a great season finishing 7th place overall.
2015 was probably the roughest season mechanically and the black cloud was series wide covering all 4 classes. Paul Carillon was among those effected but didn't stop him from making almost every race we held. But midway through the season Paul got his motor and was back in competition, wrapping up the season in the top half of the field. Even though the title was out of reach, moving on the semi finals secured Geno enough points to move past Gene and take over 2nd place.
CONGRATS TO GENO ADKINS...10.50 INDEX RUNNER UP!!
Bob Singer finished out his 2015 in the quarter finals of the finale against the newly crowned Champ, Bob rounded out the Top 8 racers who would move on to the Abruzzi Smackdown.
round #4
10.50 finals
Back to Back Fall Finale wins might not have been in the cards for Wojnowski, but he had a hell of a weekend. Wrapping the season up in 5th place over all when he entered into in sitting back in 11th place. The event win would go to the now current 10.50 Champion Dennis DeWeese. He may have been sending a message that is you want his title in 2016 you better be ready because he tends on defending it, if so I know there are many guys ready to step to the challenge!
congrats to all the racers who made 10.50 such a success in 2015!!!
QUALIFYING
ELIMINATIONS
11.50 is the newest branch of the Renegade Family tree, the class is just two years old but showed great promise this season. With 20 racers joining points and 17 of the 20 competing throughout the year, not only that but boasting a points program that was like nothing we have ever seen before...going into the finale weekend anyone one of the Top 5 racers was capable of claiming the title and going into race #6 things had been shaken up a bit on Saturday and the chase itself got even tighter!!! Only 35 Points separated the Top 5 and the Top 3 were only separated by 5 points!!! THAT IS INSANE!!!
round #1
After qualifying was said and done Scott Chitty, Renee Blair and Mark Franko along with Big Ricky were all safe from eliminations earning a bye directly into round #2. Brad Slaughter and Tim McKenzie found themselves outside the safe zone with 1st round competitors.
Brad Slaughter would face Brian Chillik, Brian didn't quite have enough to cover the number that round and Brad moved on to the next round.
Tim McKenzie had a year to be proud of, he came out swinging at the very 1st race and took the #1 qualifying spot all the way to the winners circle. He took control of the points program and held that lead all the way to race #5. Even as he sat in 3rd place he was only 5 points back but two thousandths of a second would be all that would stand between him and the possibility of hitting this one out of the park and taking home his 1st title. Tim was left to stand on the sidelines watching to see how the points would play out and where he would finish overall.
Jeff Wheeler in possibly his 1st event with the RRA would go to fast and send Zack Bartos onto round #2.
Not sure if Bill Wasmer left before the tree cycled or what happened but with no time recorded the win went to Steve McBride Jr.
round #2
1st pair up was a big one, this was a game changer no matter what way the round went as Brad Slaughter was currently holding that top spot and Renee was hanging on to that 5th place position. They both were pushing for the win, both pushed it just a little too hard running too fast. Brad Slaughter found himself on the wrong side of the double breakout. Now he was with Tim on the outside looking in to see where the final points tallies would leave him at the close of his rookie season with the RRA.
Renee had a shot at the title but it all hinged on the next pair up, if Scott Chitty takes the round win there is just not enough rounds for her to make up the points deficit BUT if he were to be taken out of the game she had a shot to become the 1st female racer to claim a RRA title!! Scott and Zack Bartos ran almost identical ET's but Scott took the tree, took the round and TOOK THE TITLE!! Zack Bartos had a great rookie season, he had a lot of fun and reminded some of us veterans what it's really all about, not only that but he rounded out the top 8 securing himself a trip to the SMACKDOWN!!
Renegade history has officially been made...Scott Chitty is not only the youngest racer to claim a title in the series 6 year history he is the 1st Rookie to do so! (outside of a new classes introduction to the series when all the racers are rookies)
Renee had a shot at the title but it all hinged on the next pair up, if Scott Chitty takes the round win there is just not enough rounds for her to make up the points deficit BUT if he were to be taken out of the game she had a shot to become the 1st female racer to claim a RRA title!! Scott and Zack Bartos ran almost identical ET's but Scott took the tree, took the round and TOOK THE TITLE!! Zack Bartos had a great rookie season, he had a lot of fun and reminded some of us veterans what it's really all about, not only that but he rounded out the top 8 securing himself a trip to the SMACKDOWN!!
Renegade history has officially been made...Scott Chitty is not only the youngest racer to claim a title in the series 6 year history he is the 1st Rookie to do so! (outside of a new classes introduction to the series when all the racers are rookies)
Congrats to Scott Chitty...
YOUR 11.50 INDEX CHAMPION!!!
YOUR 11.50 INDEX CHAMPION!!!
Mark Franko would be the 2nd to fall to the ominous glow of the red light of the tree. Mark was the 1st racer to ever have the honor of being the 11.50 Champion. Mark is a class act, he may not have successfully defending his title but I think that is ok by him, hard to say if things would have had a different ending if Mark hadn't missed the call for eliminations during our early start double header event, car was ready, he and his son were down fighting for another title in QCMP's TCR program and by the time he made it back the race was already under way.
Breakouts were commonplace in the finale and that is how Steve McBride Jr's season would come to an end and Big Ricky would be going to the semi-finals on a borrowed motor.
Breakouts were commonplace in the finale and that is how Steve McBride Jr's season would come to an end and Big Ricky would be going to the semi-finals on a borrowed motor.
ROUND #3
3 out of the Top 5 were gone by the close of quarter finals, Scott had claimed the title as his own but how much of how the season would wrap up would be determined by the semifinal round. Big Ricky and Jimbob Davies each had an equal shot to bypass Mark and Tim and crack into the Top 5 spots, but it wasn't meant to be and both would fall short, being eliminated in the semis leaving Jimbob finishing 7th, Big Ricky 6th, and Tim McKenzie who led the entire season would be in 5th just one point behind last years Champion Mark Franko. Renee's win in the semis gave her enough points to bypass Brad Slaughter who would lock in the 3rd place position overall.
CONGRATS TO RENEE BLAIR...2015 11.50 RUNNER UP!!
11.50 FINALS
History was about to be made yet again...Renee may have not been the 1st lady to come mix things up with the boys of the RRA, that honor went to Lisa Chess back in 2013 when she raced in the 10.50 class. Renee was however the 1st to make a commitment to running points when 11.50 came along, she was soon followed by the ladies of the 9.90 class...Wanda Johnson and Sue Cooper.
Look out boys, the girls are here to stay!!! In the final round Renee was lined up against the newly crowned Champion, last race of the season it was now or never! She left it all on the line, chopping the tree down with the best reaction time of any of the 11.50 racers that race and a time that was among the top 5 reaction times of the season for 11.50!! That .008 light got Renee her 1st event win and a spot in the history books as the 1st female racer to find herself in the winner's circle!!
Look out boys, the girls are here to stay!!! In the final round Renee was lined up against the newly crowned Champion, last race of the season it was now or never! She left it all on the line, chopping the tree down with the best reaction time of any of the 11.50 racers that race and a time that was among the top 5 reaction times of the season for 11.50!! That .008 light got Renee her 1st event win and a spot in the history books as the 1st female racer to find herself in the winner's circle!!