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Rockingham Dragway
Awesome friends, awesome
weather, awesome racing!
80
bikes qualified for the ET field.
Impressive number, but it means a lot of rounds to go round-robin
on race day Sunday. And such
beautiful weather for both days!
In
ET Qualifying, Chip’s first round was a shaky one when he got squirrelly
off the line and went into the other lane!!! Maus’s heart stopped
as she continued filming, and Chip kept his wits about him and got back
into his lane without causing any harm to the other rider, his main
concern. The last round of SEP got
him strong into the field with an 11.542, qualifying him #12 in the field
and he’s ready for race day! And
what a day that turned out to be!!!
On
race day Sunday we didn’t make it into the afternoon show in ET. BUT WHAT A DAY WE WERE TO HAVE IN SEP!!
On race day Sunday, Chip raced some of
the very best in the Eastern Division as he worked his way to the finals
round after round. The 1st round win came with an 11.512 second pass on
the 11.50 index. The 2nd Round was won on a holeshot
with a reaction time of .055, on an 11.673 second run at 109.48 mph to Joey Talbott's .074 reaction time,
11.655 seconds at 99.14 mph.
The Round 3 win came with an 11.654 to Nate Carnahan's 11.702. The Semifinals brought
another tough and formidable competitor, Charlie Walker, and Chip came
out with the win in that round with a .046 reaction time, running 11.539
seconds at 114.02 mph to Walker's
.121 reaction time, 11.457 seconds at 99.20 mph.
In the Finals, Chip faced another
mentor and friend, #4 National plate holder JP Hendrzak. Chip ran an 11.533 on the 11.50 index at
108.95 mph and forced a break out for his opponent who ran 11.456 at
96.42 mph. JP – that was a close
race!
This is Chip's second appearance in the
finals this season and his first appearance in the Winner's Circle in
only his 2nd year competing in the SEP class.
We published a press release after
this race (our first, but it won’t be our last), and we even had a
write-up in Speed Magazine! It was
so rewarding to share this experience with our friends. We want to especially thank Jill
Riggle, Erik and Jane Nelson, and their kids for sharing our moment and
our sparkling cider and helping us celebrate this incredible
occasion. Jill Riggle also took
many of the photos you’re about to see – THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Your pictures ROCK!
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