Al Marlow wins X275 Event at MIR Raceway, Complete Recap Inside

Maryland International Raceway and X275 recently held their most recent 275 Drag Radial race and it was astounding to say the least – with qualifying heading into the lanes there was 28 cars battling for the top eight positions. Racers from as far as North Carolina to take part in the fastest growing series on the east coast. All the regulars were in attendance to try and take down Chris Evans and his nasty Procharged Mustang, which has been a consistent player all year long.

Qualifying Highlights

Qualifying was a familiar scenario with that green Mustang finding its way to the front of the pack with a 5.00 @ 142mph to take the number one position throughout both sessions of qualifying. So the challenge would be to see just who could try and catch Chris Evans. Al Marlow and his nitrous assisted Camaro would be game for the challenge and would find its way to the number two spot with a 5.13 elapsed time. Dale Handy was in a close third position and would be ready for eliminations where he would be up against the likes of Bobby Flippin, Ron Rhodes and the rest of the field of eight. Also the X275 Shootout would be comprised of the number 8 through 16 qualifiers being led by DeeDee Mahoney in his 1993 Mustang.

Eliminations Highlights: X275

The call was made for the stars of the X275 to head to the lanes and first out of the gate would be Al Marlow and his Camaro versus Anthony Parsons in his 2009 Mustang. Marlow would take the win with a strong 5.12 @ 141mph. Bobby Flippin qualified in the number six spot and would face off against Dale Handy. Flippin and his red S10 were first off the line and would race to the stripe to pick up the victory with a 5.25 second elapsed time. Chris Evans and Ron Rhodes would also advance into round two.

Chris Evans would take on the powerful Camaro of Ron Rhodes out of the Rhodes Custom Auto Works stable. Evans did his part at the tree with a .046 reaction time and when paired up with another low 5-second pass it was enough to take the win. In the other pairing it was Al Marlow and Bobby Flippin battling for a final round spot to take on Chris Evans.  Flippin was out first with a great reaction time but the big power of Marlow came around on the big end for the victory. Marlow’s 5.13 would not be enough to get lane choice over Evans in the final though.

Evans and Marlow would come around the corner for a battle of the green machines. Evans has been a consistent player going to every final so far this year but has not capitalized on one yet. Marlow would have to step up if he wanted to outrun the Procharged small block of Evans. As Chris and Al staged up it would be Marlow out first but the two had nearly identical reaction times. Marlow’s nitrous power was coming on hard and would find its way into the 4-second club and the winners circle. Evans’ 5.02 was another consistent pass but the 4.997 second pass was way to much for the Mustang to handle. Marlow also ran 145mph in the final which shows just how much power the Camaro has on tap.

Eliminations Highlights:  Shootout

In the Shootout it was a battle of Mustangs for the majority with a Malibu and a Camaro in the mix. Tim Savoy and Adam Knight were first up and it would be Savoy who stepped up his performance to a 5.34 to take the win. Keith Dickerson would have to battle it out with Randy Haywood who made the long trip from North Carolina. Haywood took the early lead but didn’t have enough to hold off Dickerson on the top end. Next up wit was the son of the founder of X275, Matt Sears in his fathers Malibu. In its last few appearances the Malibu has seen plenty of bumper draggin’ action but the younger Sears was looking for a round win. A win is exactly what he got as Daniel Whestine fouled away the round win as Sears run it out the back with a 5.73 @ 110mph. DeeDee Mahoney would also advance as his opponent red lighted as well.

In round two Tim Savoy would have to be on his game as Matt Sears line up against him. Sears red-lighted the victory away to Savoy and Tim would advance to the final. DeeDee Mahoney would use a stellar reaction time to take his round win as the finish line numbers were amazingly close. Mahoney’s 5.439 @ 130.96mph was just enough to take the win over Keith Dickerson’s 5.443 @ 130.99mph.

In the final round it was Tim Savoy and DeeDee Mahoney trying to steal the show. Savoy was all over the tree again with a great reaction time and another consistent 5.36 pass. It was good for the win as Mahoney slowed to a 7.11 @ 82mph.

Congratulations to the winners and a big thanks to Jason at MIR and John Sears for another great race.

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