X275 Recap from Virginia Motorsports Park

The next stop on the X275 tour was Virginia Motorsports Park and as usual the faithfuls followed the series south. John Sears once again put together an impressive field for the event at the Dinwiddie, Virginia based facility and Saturday night they would put on one hell of a show. Sponsors like Mickey Thompson, Holeshot Wheels, Goodyear and Induction Solutions made it all possible with quite a few bonus sponsors stepping up at each race. With twenty two competitors battling for the number one spot, the field would be tight and two full classes of eight would run for the money.

After qualifying was completed, there were a few familiar names at the top of the pack, Justin Smith sitting at the front with a stout 5.15@138mph and Dale Handy Sr. sitting in a close second with a 5.20 second elapsed time. Al Marlow was working the tune on his Camaro trying to get a handle on things which put him in the the number three spot. Bobby Flippin rounded out the top eight in his red S10 which is very capable of being the one to beat at any given time.

X275 Final Qualifying

Justin Smith 5.15/138

Dale Handy Sr 5.20/136

Al Marlow 5.22/138

Joe Alverez 5.30/133

Shelly Smith 5.32/135

Randy Haywood 5.45/134

Jon Rittenhouse 5.46/129

Bobby Flippin 5.593/131

Fourteen more cars would be fighting for the final eight spots to get into the shootout.  It was Tim Savoy sitting at the top of the group in his Mustang. Savoy posted a 5.59@125mph to narrowly edge out Lyle Barnett who ran a 5.60@126mph. There were a lot of tough cars in this field including Daniel Whestine, Mike King and Ryan Clark. Clark rounded out the field with a 5.80@119mph and that left the likes of Steve Monotgomery, Clinton Smith and John Sears riding the bleachers for the rest of the night. On a side note John Sears had another bout with the wheelie gods as he put his Induction Solutions-assisted Malibu on the bumper for the second race in a row, which pushed him outside the qualifying ladder.

Shootout Final Qualifying

Tim Savoy 5.594/125

Lyle Barnett 5.607/126

Russell Mcmanious 5.608/131

Dan Whetstine 5.67/127

Mike King 5.703/121

Steve Haun 5.706/121

Ryan Ellington 5.73/121

Ryan Clark 5.80/119

X275 Eliminations Highlights

Round 1

First up was the number four and five qualifiers Joe Alverez and Shelley Smith in his Mustang. Smith would step up his elapsed time for the win over Alverez with a 5.21@137mph. John Rittenhouse and Dale Handy faced off in the second pairing with Rittehouse taking the win light. Justin Smith took the win over a struggling Bobby Flippin who was off the pace with a 6.79@100mph.  The final pair was Al Marlow and Randy Haywood and Marlow got left at the tree as Haywood picked up a holeshot win. Haywood would move on to face John Rittenhouse in round two.

Round 2

In a battle of the the Smith’s it was Justin taking on Shelly Smith. It also was a classic battle of Ford versus Chevy with Justin in a Camaro and Shelly in a Mustang. Once again Shelly would step up his game and take a convincing win over Justin with a 5.15@137mph to Justin’s 5.25@138mph. In the other semi-final it was John Rittenhouse battling Randy Haywood and Haywood would take the win to move on to the finals against Shelly Smith.

Finals

Coming into the final round Smith had been stepping his performance up each round and the finals would be no different against Randy Haywood. Smith would go low elapsed time for the event and take the win at the same time. His 5.11@137mph was dominant against Haywood’s 5.74@136mph. Shelly Smith would take home the $1000 for winning and an additional $200 from Mickey Thompson for winning on the 275 Mickey Thompson Drag Radial tire.

Shootout Eliminations Highlights

Round 1

Coming through the water first was Steve Haun versus Russell Mcmanious. Mcmanious would slow from his qualifying effort and Haun would capitalize for the win. Tim Savoy was next up to take on the number sixteen qualifier Ryan Clark. Savoy would win the round with a 5.66@125mph over Clark’s slowing 7.31 second elapsed time. Mike King has ventured over from running outlaw drag radial to take his shot at the 275 tire and he would have to take on the ever tough Dan Whestine. Whestine would use a 5.43 second elapsed time to take the win over King. Lyle Barnett and Ryan Ellington would be the final pair in the final round and Barnett used a huge holeshot advantage to take the win.

Round 2

Lyle Barnett would have a big challenge taking on Whestine in round two but he stepped up his performance and knock off Whestine in route to the final round. Lyle ran a 5.57@126mph which edged out Daniel’s 5.66@126mph and would place him in the final against the winner of the next pairing. That pair was Steve Haun and Tim Savoy battling to see who would be in the finals with Savoy holding off Haun with a 5.52@126mph.

Finals

Lyle Barnett and Tim Savoy lined up to do battle in the finals of the shootout. Savoy has been a consistent runner in the 275 program and his performance at VMP proved that. Although it would be Lyle Barnett doing his part at the starting line to gain a holeshot advantage to hold off the faster Savoy. Savoy’s 5.54@127mph was not enough to run down the starting line advantage by Barnett who ran a 5.62@127mph to take the win.

Mark your calenders for the next X275 event which will take place at Maryland International Raceway on May 29th.