It’s race day at Cecil County Dragway for the Yellowbullet Nationals! The sun is shining, the fans are pouring in, and the racers are ready and eager to get on the track and start eliminations. Eliminations will kick off this morning starting with 8.50 index, Top Sportsman, Warriors, Outlaw 10.5, Pro Mod, x275, Ultra Street, and finally No Time. Stay Tuned to Dragzine, we’ll keep you updated as the race unfolds!
Elimination ladders for X275, Ultra Street, Pro Mod, and Outlaw 10.5.
While 8.50 index kicked off their first round this morning, Monty Mikho held an event for the kids where they all had an opportunity to win a prize because Yellowbullet is for everyone, not just the racers!
We reported last night that after Mike Decker III's record setting 3.90 pass in qualifying round two, Mike and his crew noted there was more in the car and they were ready to "turn it up" and turn it up they did! Mike "Hollywood" Decker III blew everyones minds last night with a 3.89 at just 174 mph as they blew the burst panel on the car, earning himself the number one spot going into eliminations today.
Tommy Mauro scored the upset of the weekend as he went into round 1 eliminations as the number 16 qualifier against Mike Decker III and picked up the win. Mauro picked up the victory with his .063 reaction time to Hollywood's .156 and took the win with a 4.089 at 193mph.
Reggie Richards came all the way from Louisiana looking to take the win in x275 to advance in points, but he got taken out first round as their nitrous did not activate.
Blake Copson ran his first pass into the 3 second zone last night in qualifying with a 3.99, and he backed that pass up this morning with another 3.99 at 196mph for the win against Joel Wensley in round 1 of eliminations. Blake mentioned that nearing the end of his first season in a race car he is feeling more comfortable than ever and having a blast out here at the Yellowbullet Nationals. His emphasis is on staying safe and going A-to-B down the track. In Pro Mod eliminations Melanie Salemi took the win in round 1 against Steve Drummond who shook the tires hard on his twin-turbo Mustang.In Ultra Street round one eliminations, Jeff Kinsler won his first round ever in Yellowbullet history with his nitrous small block Pontiac powered Firebird!Round 2 for Pro Mod saw Kevin McCurdy unable to get his car started so Andy Jensen took a single pass down the 1/8th mile and is onto the next round.
Brian Chin is the only 10.5 slick tired car left in Outlaw 10.5. In round 1 he had some issues running on seven cylinders with one plug wire left off but still managed to get the win against Jesse Lambert. Chin will face Mike Decker Jr. in the semifinals.
The final round for x275 will be Ron Rhodes vs. Joe Albrecht. If Joe takes the win he will be the first person to win three different categories at this race. Mike Thompson faced off against Jeff Kinsler in the semi finals of Ultra Street, Kinsler made a great pass but it wasn’t enough and Thompson got the win. For the final round in Ultra, Thompson went up against Joel Greathouse who got the win.For the Pro Mod final it was a battle of nitrous vs boost with Cecil County Dragway owner/operator Jim Halsey’s nitrous car against Andy Jensen’s small block turbo car. Halsey took the win as Jensen seemed to have issues getting down the track.Ron Rhodes is your 2018 Yellowbullet Nationals X275 champion!
Blake Copson took the win in Outlaw 10.5 against Mike Decker Jr. This has been Blake's first season in a race car and his first big win. Blake also ran a new personal best on this pass of 3.92 at 196mph. Both cars were nearly side by side the entire pass with Blake getting out just a little bit quicker with a .050 reaction time to Decker's .072. Decker's ET of 3.931 at 195mph made this an extremely close race and a great final round of Outlaw 10.5. Congratulations Blake Copson on a well deserved win!
It’s Saturday here at the Yellow Bullet Nationals and everyone’s rain dances have paid off. It has remained dry all day today and the sun is even beginning to come back out this evening. Round 1 of qualifying saw a load of wild passes from the pro classes today.
Gary Shaller had no problems hooking up this morning in qualifying round 1 for the Warriors class, as his 1963 Impala stood right up on the bumper despite his efforts to pedal the car. Gary noted that the system was only at 20% when the outlaw Chevrolet decided it wanted to fly. Warrior racer, Jimmy Dolan sets his ’04 Lightning dubbed “The Yeti” on the bumper in round one of qualifying and put on a big show for the fans. Dolan was able to repair the truck and continue to race.Frank Pompilio got the number 1 spot in round 1 of qualifying for Outlaw 10.5. Frank’s ’67 Mustang went a 3.953 at 190mph. He was followed by local legend Mo Hall at number 2 with a 3.957 at 189mph and Ken Quartuccio at number 3 with a 3.97 at 200 mph.
Andy Jensen took the number one spot in first round qualifying for Pro Mod with a 3.658. Cecil County track operator Jim Halsey landed in the number two with a 3.705, both passes were the exact same mile-per-hour at 204.14.
Qualifying round number one for x275 saw Ron Rhodes take the top spot with a 4.24 and Nicky Notch came in number two with a 4.49. Joe Schroeder is the new owner o GTO that was driven to severy victories by Nova Joe Albrecht. Through the first two rounds of qualifying Schroeder fought severalissues with the car and hasn’t been able to make a full pass yet.
In round 2 Mike Decker III shattered the Outlaw 10.5 record with a 3.905 at 193mph! When asked how it feels to be the baddest man in 10.5 Mike said, “it seems like an oxy-moron since they’re 315’s, but we’re gonna try to turn it up for round 3 and see what happens”.
Jeff Miller with the Bumble Bee Camaro went a 4.20 in qualifying despite their efforts to run in the 3’s, they noted that the car was down a cylinder on that pass. After working on the car between rounds they had poor luck in the 2nd round of qualifying as they spun the tires on the line and didn’t get to make a pass.
It’s day one of the Yellowbullet Nationals here at Cecil County Dragway, and rain showers this morning cut out the possibility of testing and forced the event to go straight into sportsman qualifying this evening. The racers and their crews have taken advantage of this downtime by staying hard at work in their pits when weather allows, and have remained extremely optimistic about the race.
We were able to get through a few rounds of sportsman qualifying this evening in between sprinkles, until mid way through 8.50 qualifying the sky opened up and decided to shower us once again. Stay tuned to Dragzine for more updates on the 2018 Yellowbullet Nationals.
Mike Decker III is excited for qualifying. He noted that while his car has been tested before on radials, this will be his first time behind the wheel in this configuration.
Jeff Miller is here and ready to shake things up with his 275 drag radial tired Bumble Bee Camaro. Running this car in Outlaw 10.5, Jeff will have the smallest tires in the class but is no stranger to this combination. Jeff's crew say that as long as the track is working well a 3.88-3.89 pass is in the works.
Familiar face Nova Joe Albrecht is here with his all new x275 Camaro. You may know Joe's old race car, a supercharged Outlaw 10.5/ Radial vs the World GTO, which is here but under new ownership with a different racing team. One things for certain, Joe's new ride is sweet.
The crew here at Cecil County Dragway did a top notch job working the track back to a perfect racing surface today for the sportsman qualifying. There was absolutely no loss of traction here in between showers.
