Mark Carvalho Ready For Battle

It’s been a “brisk” October to say the least over here in New England. Of course, that isn’t always a bad thing when it comes to picking up a low E/T on raceday. Coming into the last of 3 X275 events at New England Dragway, the racers were not only looking to show the competition who’s the quickest, they were also showing all the ‘higher ups’ at NED that heads-up small tire racing is the next big thing. With a 15 car turnout, event organizer Marco thinks they were successful on that end.

With the 15 cars, Marco decided to form a quick 8 shootout with the top 8 qualifiers, and give the 9-15th place qualifiers their own shootout. Checkout Marco’s very own event recap on Yellowbullet.

Mark Carvalho took the throne early qualifying in the #1 spot, running a 5.35 at 131.9 mph in his Procharged ’79 Mustang – a solid 3 tenths above 2nd place qualifier Kevin Volk. Danny Reis, the eventual 9-15 shootout winner qualified 9th with a 6.27. Carvalho stuck close to his qualifying E/T through eliminations running a nearly identical 5.39 and 5.40, getting him a front row seat to the finals with #7 qualifier Jim Costa. Costa took the tree with a .097 reaction time to Carvalho’s .255, but it wasn’t enough to get to the 1/8 mile stripe before Carvalho, who ran a 5.35 at 131 to Costa’s 5.56.

Danny Reis' Super Clean Notchback

For the 9-15 finals, Danny Reis and his mean Fox body was able to get a close win over Jake Conant, running a personal best 5.96 over Conant’s 6.12 run. Not the fastest pair, but definitely one of the closest races all weekend.

Marco and all the X275 guys are definitely hoping that they’ll be back at NED come spring 2011, but the fine details are still being worked out as of now.  Of course, a big round of applause goes out to everyone at New England Dragway for giving us another X275 venue. Does anyone have what it takes to come out to NED and lay down the first 4 second pass on 275’s at this track? Be sure to follow NED’s website for future 275 race details.