BRAINERD, Minn.
This past weekend kicked off the start of the 2023 (10 race) ET Bracket Racing Series here at BIR. Friday’s Test and Tune session saw more than 120 cars hit the dragstrip for their first passes of the season. With Jim Bongard on site to perform chassis certifications for 22 racers and preparing them for 2023; we would like to say “Thank You Jim.” The jackpot race saw a record number of cars entered with 50 (no gizmo) cars and 29 (gizmo) cars, battling it out with Tony Vogel taking the win in no gizmo and Brain Johnson winning the gizmo class. Congrats to both.
Saturday was to be points race #1, but another battle ensued as Man Vs Weather went into a staging duel. After enough time passed, the race was washed out with only a handful of cars getting a time trial before the rain settled in. Since we were not able to race on Saturday, we still celebrated by being a part of a very special day for Mike Casteel & Kim Huot… they became Mr. & Mrs. Casteel by getting married on the BIR starting line surrounded by family and friends! Congratulations to the newlyweds from all of us at BIR.
Sunday was a beautiful day with racers competing in 11 classes. In the “Res Tech Systems” Super Pro: Joe Schmall used a .016 light while running 6.885 on a 6.85 dial to defeat Wally Higby who was .037 and ran 7.048 on his 7.03 dial by 4 ten thousandths of a second (.004). In the “Pure Exhale” Pro ET: Jason “Mclovin” Charlton used a significant reaction time advantage to defeat Dave Engler who ran 6.758 on a 6.75 dial all for not. Luke Schneider was our winner in Sportsman with a .003 light and 7.411 on a 7.41 dial to defeat last year's Rookie of the Year - Dylan Dancer who red lit.
“D.O.A Dragsleds” & Bike winner was Bob Talberg defeating Tom Killian who had the reaction time advantage, but “broke out” by running faster than his 6.72 dial. In the “Feist Automotive & Towing” Stock/Super Stock combo: Clay Mattson turned on the red light by .002 giving the win to Brian Zenzen. Shawn Holmquist had the reaction time advantage and ran a 8.013 on a 8.01 dial to defeat Megan Cielinski to win Comp Trophy. The win in Street Trophy went to K.C. Brager, when Kurt Laforge ran faster than his dial-in and broke out.
Jr. Dragster Novice was won by Hayden Hjelle when Brynn Reynolds red lit in the final round. Our Jr. Dragster Intermediate class winner was Evan Songas who defeated Bodie Carlson. Daniel Dancer used a better reaction time and a 7.912 run on a 7.91 dial to defeat Hailey Jahr in the Jr. Dragster Advanced class. In Jr. Street Carter Lubeurda came out on top of the double breakout final against Gabe Killian to be the winner. Congratulations to all of our winners & runners up. Our next Bracket Series Races will be coming up May 19th – 21st.