Sunday

The crew has the track cleaned and ready for an exciting day of racing, Wade Rich, the Operations Manager (right), shown here with Tony Little the Director of Marketing work hard keeping things on track here at Orlando Speed World to provide a great venue and top notch, record setting surface. We go hot at 10AM with Prater Radiator 10.0 Index followed by JKR inc 8.50 Index and then get into the heads up classes with Extreme Concrete Pro Mod.

We had a late night qualifying Saturday with the third session finally concluding just after midnight and several competitors carding new personal best runs including Melanie Salemi in ‘Purple Reign’s Side Piece’ Radial vs the World car with a 3.61 at 207 MPH. A hit that made the team very happy after struggling earlier in the day.

Jesse Lambert qualified second in Holeshot Wheels OL 10.5 with a 3.89 at 204 MPH but hurt the engine and will not be able to continue for eliminations today. Lambert ran the Billet Atomizer Injectors Outlaw 10.5 series again this year and made the switch to the radial tire for the 2019 season with good results. “This is the best surface we have been on this year for the radial and we are starting to figure out what it likes compared to the slick…” Jesse said. He was number five in points coming into this race with just 60 points between two and five coming into this final points race of the season. Lambert finished in the top five for 2018 both nationally and at Cecil County’s 10.5 series.

Future plans call for pulling the engine for repairs and setting it up for the 2020 season at J&E Performance. He uses a conventional head big Chevy displacing 540 cubic inches with Precision XPR 94 MM turbos. “ With Joe Newsham, Pro Torque Converters, Billet Atomizer, Cutaway Creations, VP Racing Fuels, AMS 2000, everybody is really helping us out and getting us where we need to be. The last two races we have really started to get a handle on the car and seeing some good numbers on the track. We went an .87 at Virginia PDRA and won that race and went an .89 on the last pass here.” – Jesse Lambert, shown with his father Rodney on the left.

Frank Meshaw is entered in Holeshot Wheels Outlaw 10.5 this weekend and scored his first three second run netting a 3.998 at 194 MPH in the second session. It’s been a long time coming for the Palm Bay, Florida based racer who was a long time NMCA competitor before moving over to the outlaw ranks in Outlaw Drag Radial and more recently in RVW and where ever he fits in. The Meshaw/Fratena Trans Am uses a Nelson Competition Chevy with Precision turbos and an ATF Transmission and converter. Frank has run the same basic combination for several years and just keeps pecking away at the tune up and moving with the new technology available for suspension tuning engine management using the Fuel Tech FT 600. Baskin Truck Sales has been a long time supporter of the team along with TRZ Motorsports who has been a big part of the build and success over the years.

Fabio Costa was the first car down this morning as the number one qualifier and had a solo pass to kick things off. He laid down a smooth pass showing the Brazilian is ready for eliminations.

Jerico Balduf has struggled with getting consistent runs witht he car getting up set early on several passes this weekend. He had a single this morning as Jeff Rudolf was unable to make the call today. It’s a long list of racers out early due to breakage which made for quite a few single passes in round one. Balduf again had issues but managed a 4.01 at 183 and will move to round two in Extreme Concrete Pro Mod.

Kris Thorne qualified seventh and faced off with Derek Ward. Thorne was another racer facing issues making clean hits but he put down a 3.75 at 216 to Ward’s 3.89 at 192 to move on to the next round.

Jason Lee landed second in qualifying for Pro Mod and the PTP tuners Lee and Patrick Barnhill put the Sunday tune in the car scoring a clean 3.67 at 204 showing they are eready to go some rounds in the field full of solid 3.60 players in class.

Bryan Markiewicz got a luck break in his match with Jennifer Brooke Rice in Duck X Radial vs. the World as she rolled the beam and he struck the tires and pedaled the car several times to no avail as the tires were unable to grab the surface.

Mike Stavrinos is piloting the teams RVW Camaro this weekend representing Swangang.com. He improved his performance to a 3.70 at 203 on a single run.

Wild Bill Devine improved his ET to a 4.24 at 170, his best of the weekend but could not fend off Ty Kasper’s 4.05 at 195.

Jon Bitler scored a new best in his ATFSpeed.com Xtreme Street Nova, a 4.49 at 165. He runs a blow through carb set up from his company IRD Racing Carburetors topping a Scotty’s Racing Technology big Chevy topped with Edelbrock conventional heads based out of Weekiwachi. Florida.

Bill Gregan who is debuting his new supercharged engine combo this weekend earned an upset win over veteran racer Troy Pirez Sr driving the General Lee here this afternoon. Pirez left hard but was forced to pedal the car after a small wheel stand and was not able to make up any ground allowing Gregan to move on in eliminations.

The semi finals of Duck X Radial vs the World featured the first side by side pair in the 3.50’s with Steve Jackson earning the round win on a hole shot over Marcus Birt. Jackson nailed a .009 reaction time to Birt’s .029 but was losing ground all the way to the stripe with Birt going 3.572 at 206 to Jackson’s 3.587 at a whopping 212.63 MPH. Steve Jackson will face off with Melanie Salemi who shut off early after a stellar .896 60′.

Mo Hall had a single in the semi finals of Holeshot Wheels OL 10.5 and he pushed it hard netting a .958 60′ and running a 3.771 at 193 for his effort.

Jerry Morgano and Ty Kasper was the other half of the semis in OL 10.5 with Morgano making the full trip running a 3.92 at 201 and Kasper slowing after taking the starting line advantage.

Final Results

Randy Weatherford earned his first win in a boosted car this weekend out running Jason Lee in the Coast Packing Camaro owned by Eric Gustufson in the all Procharger Extreme Concrete Pro Mod class this weekend. “My weekend was going good and we made it to the final, the Proline Racing prepared Pro Boost car is awesome and performed flawlessly this weekend. I have one of the best tuners with Steve Petty on our team, he put me in this damn winner circle for the first time with this new Jerry Bickel car. All my workers at WS Construction are good hard workers without them I couldn’t be out here doing this, it’s what I live for right here, winning.”

Melanie Salemi did what she had to do at the starting line and put up a .007 reaction time against Steve Jackson and running out the back to a 3.583 at 209 to Jackson’s 3.585 at 213 to take the Duck X Productions Radial vs. the World win with the debut of the team’s new car here this weekend. The final round was the quickest side by side match in drag radial history and an epic side by side battle with the 2019 NHRA Pro Mod Champion Steve Jackson. This was Salemi’s fourth final round appearance this year and her first win for 2019 “We had a picture perfect weekend, we hurt zero parts, made countless runs, we were learning things and figuring out how this car is going to work… I have to thank the people we have behind us and definitely thank Mark Menscer for giving us a hand this weekend and Eddie Whelan, this is all his so this is all for him.” – Melanie Salemi Winner circle photo courtesy BME Photography.

Jerry Morgano came from the seventh qualified position to capture the Holeshot Wheels Outlaw 10.5 win this weekend setting a personal best and slick tire record 3.867 at 202 MPH in the final against the 2019 Billet Atomizer Outlaw 10.5 series Champion Mo Hall. “I think that is the fastest pass in the history of Outlaw 10.5 on a slick tire.” Morgano said. He is running the new Hoosier 10.5 tire and the team has been working with Frank Papp at Hoosier on the development along with another racer. “Frank has been doing an awesome job helping another car that we run with and now we have it on ours as well. We use some oddball stuff in our program compared to to what everyone else runs but we work hard and make it work” Morgano uses a Disomma Racing Engines small block Ford topped with Vizner Engine Development heads and billet intake fed by a pair of Bullseye turbos on his 2002 Cobra Mustang.

This is the first event win for Chris Holdorf who was the Performance Welding Pro 632 champion this weekend. He has been racing for just about two years now jumping with both feet into the highly competitive Pro 632 class and competing in the PDRA where he finished third in points over all with his team mate Walter Lannigan landed fifth. “It feels great, its definitely something we’ve been working for for a while..” Holdorf told us. “…its a really tough field with Voss and Pluchino and the other guys, its not an easy class to compete in and it feels good to beat one of the best over there in Dillon Voss. Our crew is fantastic and they work hard for us at Black Flag Motorsports. Thanks to my dad and wife Betsey and all my family for putting up with this endeavor of ours and always supporting us through it all, its kind of a new dream come true. My number one here is Alan he is probably the biggest help besides my dad, and our tuner Mark Medeiros.” Courtesy BME Photography

ATFSpeed.com Xtreme Street was spawned by the revamp of Heavy Street and aslo featured a wide variety of cars in this new class. From Mike Schmidt’s NMCA NPS/Outlaw 632 Camaro to Scott Husted’s Limited Drag Radial Mustang it made for a very interesting intersection of class cars combined into a new venture.

Chris Perry earned top qualifier in Xtreme Street and rode that all the way to the final with a string of 4.20’s and dipping to a new personal best 4.18 at 188 in the semi final to overcome former OWSN winner Scott Husted in a very close match. His opponent in the final was Jon Bitler, a first time participant here at the OWSN, running his Procharged 1969 Nova. He had somewhat of an easy ride to the final on his side of the ladder but set new personal best ET with a 4.49 in round a one match with Phil Hines He let it eat on a semi final single scraping the bumper near half track in a monster wheel stand but set it down soft and was able to make the final with Perry only do have it come up again as the air got much better as the sun went down Sunday night. “We were fighting all the way but the car is really coming around…” Perry told us. “We are taking a car that used to run 4.40’s, and we have been working hard to get this thing to run 4.0’s and that is a goal we are gonna end up going, hopefully by February, for lights out XI. Kris Nelson has been a super help to me beyond just building our engine. I have to thank him and all the sponsors along the way, Fuel Tech and Cameron, I cant thank everyone enough. My crew chief Tony Londo has been with me the whole way Andrew and Dave and the guys at NBS fabrication have helped us a lot with the car as well. We have come so far in a short period of time and to win here is amazing.” Courtesy BME Photography

TRZ Ultra Street is a fiercely competitive class and this weekend was no exception with Brian Keep earning the top qualifier with a stellar 4.638. He met with number two qualifier Kirt Sanders in the final with Kirt earning his first drag race win taking advantage of Brian Keep on the tree with an .028 reaction time. It was close all the way to the stripe with Sanders scoring a 4.696 at 152 MPH to earn the win. “The biggest thing to me is my crew chief Brad Cox and my girlfriend Ruth Pund. We have a 22 year old crew chief calling the shots, he made all this happen all I did was the driving. They are the heart and soul behind the whole thing. Thanks to Nelson Competition for the horsepower, Mickey Thompson Tires BLP, BES Larry Hart Transmissions and FTI for being a part of out program.” – Kirt Sanders. From left to right: Justin, Tara, Ruth, Kirt and crew chief Brad Cox.

Randy Seward came away a two time winner this weekend, earning the 1-Stop Automotive True Street win on Saturday and coming back to win Maximum Machine Works Heavy Street Sunday night after qualifying second in class. The new rules for Heavy Street had a wide variety of cars and combinations in the class for 2019 and brought out some more street oriented cars as was the purpose of the revisions. Attrition was heavy in qualifying with five cars unable to make it for round one on Sunday. “I got lucky on Saturday, there were some fast cars in True Street and it ended up I was the one that didn’t make big mistakes and won that it…” Randy said. “I had some decent runs in Heavy Street but the best was the final with Lil Bull. I didn’t know I had won till I asked them at the scales, it was really an incredibly tight race.” Randy scored a hole shot win with the margin of victory being just .002 at the stripe.

The BME Photography Open Comp finals came down to Larry Hamby and Mickey Pearce after six grueling round of competition. Number one qualifier Pearce had a single going into the final putting up an 11.38 at 105 MPH on his 11.33 dial to prepare for the match with Hamby who took the semi final win over David Crohe. In the final round Pearce went red with a -.047 reaction handing Hamby the win at the starting line. “It was a crazy weekend…” Larry told us after the race. “I’m not much of a quarter mile guy but this is BLP’s first time as the title sponsor for this event and they are my main sponsor so I said I will come out and support and do whatever it takes. We fought, we clawed to get here, it was a true battle, my guys were unbelievable and we made it happen. I want to thank Jacob Warren who builds my engines and my sponsors BLP, All Performance Super Center, Outlaw Race Fuels, and Accurate Powder Coating, we had a blast this weekend.”

“The Axeman” Marcus Birt earned the No Time 28 class win in John Gotti for car owner Mike Adams in the Adams Towing sponsored Reese Brothers Race Cars built Camaro. That makes two for two after a debut win at Jackson, South Carolina for the Gene Fulton powered machine.

Wayne Van Beek earned the win in Platinum Products Top Sportsman with his 1996 Chevy Beretta defeating John Rougas in the closest final of the event, determined by just .001 of a second at the stripe. Courtesy BME Photography

JKR Inc 8.50 Index featured five round of racing this weekend with John Wallauer from St Cloud earning the win with his very clean Plymough Duster. He matched up with Plainville, Connecticut’s Freddy Perkins putting up a .012 reaction leaving Perkins to try and catch up. He went just a little too fast at the stripe giving Wallauer plenty of margin who ran a 8.57 at 155. Courtesy BME Photography.

Number six and seven qualifiers met up in the Prater Radiator 10.0 Index final with Mike Ruff fouling out by .002 and Matt Gramzinski going on to win the event after six rounds.