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The marathon that has been No Mercy 7 is in the home stretch, as we’ve reached the final day of competition here in South Georgia. Five classes completed their first rounds last night, and we’ll be picking right back up where we left off and rolling right on through until the champions are crowned. Keep it right here on Dragzine for same day coverage presented by Fuel Air Spark Technology!
Troy Pirez, Jr.’s Mustang can be seen already running away from Ron Walker and his Pontiac GTO in the first round of Ultimate Street last night, as he took the win with a 4.83.
Paul Falcon took his ’98 Pontiac Firebird to a round one win in Ultimate Street over Florida runner Troy Fredrickson, 5.20 to a slowing 9.59.
Shawn Ellington and the world famous 'Murder Nova' are moving on to round two of Pro 275 after a strong wheels-up 4.3-second pass.
In its debut race, Eric Leeper (left) put his gorgeous new Mustang in the second round of Pro 275 after opponent Scotty Gaudagno, the favorite in this pair based on qualifying numbers, broke on the starting line and could not make the run.
Lyle Barnett, who was seriously injured in a fiery crash here at No Mercy one year ago, received a huge round of applause last night as he was welcomed back to SGMP by announcer Lee Serbring and Donald Long. Barnett announced that he’ll be back behind the wheel as planned at Lights Out in February.
Donald Long and Stephanie Sapp have been working their tails off all weekend long to make this event go off without a hitch.
It was all hands on deck in the Alepa Racing pit area after Daniel Pharris torched the block in fiery fashion at the No. 1 cylinder in his second round victory in Radial vs The World. Despite assistance from some of the best in the business, including Steve Petty, Eric Dillard, Josh Ledford, Mark Micke, Mark Woodruff, and a host of others, an attempt to bandage the wounded powerplant -- including robbing parts from the engine they damaged earlier in the week -- the effort was abandoned and opponent Barry Mitchell will take a single into the semifinals.
Nitrous X, RvW, and Leaf Spring Results
Round one of Nitrous Express Nitrous X featured eight pairs with Lake Wales, Florida’s Matt Schlein put an .027 reaction up against Doug Casselman who is based out of Andrews, South Carolinawho put up a 4.93 at 141 for his efforts. Schlein will advance to round two to face number one qualifier Shawn Pevlor. Robert Rogers from VP Fuels was paired with Rick Shelby with both racers having identical reaction times but Rogers was the one that went A to B scoring the round win. Micheal Hicks set low ET for the round with a 4.68 at 149 and will face Aiden Chavis next round.
In Strange Engineering Xtreme Leaf Spring California’s Kevin Wallauer advanced over Ray Ladnieer scoring a 4.70 at 153 after giving up the light. The other Cali racer left in the class is Armen Maghdessian who wheelied his way to a 5.03 on an opponent broke bye.
Maghdessian's flamed out '57 is a frequent flyer here at SGMP and always a crowd pleaser with it's stunning graphics.
The two will face off next round with Wallauer having lane choice. In the upset of the round Jack Dykeman had trouble at the line with the car rolling the beams as he went on the trans brake giving Port Orange, Florida;s John Paterno to advance in his 67 Chevy II. Bobby Flippen also hung out the hoops in his S-10 scoring a 4.98 at 148.
Yellow Bullet Nationals winner Nova Joe Albrecht is running well here this week scoring sixth in qualifying and coming away with a round two win over Tim Kincaid’s wheel standing Pro Mod Corvette after a little push back after the burnout.
Dewayne Mills put up a 3.83 at 209 easily earning top MPH for the round in a good match with Frank Soldridge from PSI Speed Solutions who scored a 3.94 at 196.
Sitton earned a win over Josh Klugger who struck the tires early, as did several other racers this afternoon, including Steve Jackson, who got lucky as Chris Daniels crossed the center line after getting loose near 100 feet out. The Scotty Cannon-owned entry of Alan Pittman got an opponent broke bye as Jamie Hancock’s car would not fire in the water box.
Cannon and Pittman gave the Hancock team ample time and called them selves broke as the car refused to cooperate.
Joe Albrecht took the third round win over Rodney Whatley who struck the tires in the former Jeckyl Camaro, now in the Fast Forward Innovation camp.
Steve Jackson went for one of the wildest rides in the history of radial tire racing in the quarterfinals of Radial vs The World, as The Shadow began to wheelstand near alf track in his matchup alongside DeWayne Mills. With wind underneath the 3,000-plus pound car, it floated on its parachute pack for several hundred feet before pirouetting and crashing down rear bumper first in the guardrail, sending it into a violent roll before sliding to a stop on fire. As the fire grew more intense, Jackson came rolling out of the car and signaled to the medical crew that he was okay.
Here are a few shots from an on track perspective. You can see the butterflies mostly closed as Jackson pedaled the car in the second photo. The third one he is back on the gas with the tires planted trying to keep up with Dewayne Mills.
“It was unfortunate, unexpected and painful” Steve Jackson said after the crash. 'The car was for sale, and now it's still for sale but it's cheaper... It was pretty tough, I've wadded up a couple of 'em, but that was pretty substantial there, that'll make the top ten.” The crowd was silent as we all waited for word Stevie Fast was ok, he is one of the most popular drivers in radial racing and everyone here and watching the feed was relieved to hear the good news.
Hannah Sanders would advance again in round two of Induction Solutions Ultimate Street as Bart Tobener spun at the hit in his new ride.
The Ridenour Rocket driven by Tony Ridenour is a stable here at Duck X events. He faced off with Phil Hines this round and they were neck and neck till the tires let loose on Ridenour’s Camaro soon after the sixty foot.
Round Two Results
In the semis of PTC Radial vs the World it would be Joe Albrecht vs Barry Mitchel with Albrecht coming away with the win as Mitchel was forced to pedal from a wheel stand. A common occurrence here this weekend and in the closing rounds. Mills was to face off with Alan Pittman who developed a leak and was forced out for safety reasons. Albrecht will have lane choice with his 3.823. The final of PTC Radial vs the World was insane as Joe Albrecht and Dewayne Mills both ran in the 3.70’s with Mills scoring a 3.765 at 209 to Albrecht’s 3.781 at 200.00 for the quickest side by side drag radial pass in history. Albrecht was leading to half track but Mill’s 209 MPH freight train scooted by taking the win.
Semis of Outlaw Drag Radial put Phil Hines and Shawn Ellington together and they had a great match with both drivers scoring 4.38’s. Hines was a touch quicker earning the round with a 4.385 to Ellington’s 4.386 in the Murder Nova. Ron Hamby was paired with Mustang Mike Modeste in the other half of the ODR Semis coming away with the win after Modeste had to pedal the car after the front end came up just a bit too far down track. The final set as Ron Hamby with lane choice and Phil Hines with the ET advantage going to Hamby’s nitrous huffing C4 Corvette. Hines put up another 4.45 doing his part but Hamby ripped off a 4.12 at 177 to earn the win as the 2016 ODR No Mercy 7 Champion. Pro 275 was another single for a final with Don Burton’s car unable to crank forcing a forfeit and Hamby doubling up in Pro 275.
The Precision/KBX 275 final pit Sean Lyon against Shawn Fisher in an all turbo battle. Fisher got away first with both cars making good runs. Fisher led the whole way scoring a 4.422 at 168.16 to Lyon’s game 4.505 at 162.98 runner up finish.
Shawn Pevlor bested Robert Rogers in the semi final of Nitrous X scoring a 4.61 at 156 to Rogers improved 4.78 at 144. Chris Witzel out of Shelby North Carolina will be Pevlor’s opponent in the class final. Pevlor and Witzel left together with Witzel getting the front end up and Pevlor eased out front. He took about a car length lead and stayed there scoring a 4.599 at 155.76 to earn the event win to Witzel’s 4.709 at 149.33.
The Semis of Ultimate Street was Troy Pirez Jr. who earned the win over Chris Lancaster on a red light start and running a 4.79 at 145 MPH, his best shot of the weekend. He will face Joel Greathouse who has lane choice with what may be an Ultimate Street record 4.72 at 149.95, low ET of eliminations. In the final it would be Pirez taking the win with a 4.80 after Greathouse struck the tires in his KBX Mustang.
Ron Rhodes met with Jeff Plemmons in a battle of Chevy’s for the Xtreme Leaf Spring Finals. Both cars staged but when the tree lit up it was all Rhodes as he powered his way to a 4.501 at 155.45 MPH and the victory earning yet another championship for the Rhodes Custom Auto team.
Dominic Augustine ran well with his small tire 65 Chevelle in Pro Fab/Commando OL 632 snagging a win over Ken Quartuccio who lost traction early in the run. Phil Smith faced off with Mike Oldham’s 37 Coupe sending him home with a 4.51 at 159. The semi finals came to Smith vs Wallace and Augustine vs Patterson with both Smith and Augustine going out with wheel stands for both cars setting up the final with Joe Wallace and Thomas Patterson. Joe Wallace earned the win in OL 632 on a single running a 4.40 at 164 MPH as Thomas Patterson was unable to make the call for the round.
