Cayuga Dragway “Double Header” Report

Two Eastern Canadian Sportsman drag racing series’ attempted “double header” events recently at Cayuga Dragway.  Both the TNT Super Series and Can-Am Stock/Super Stock circuits attracted impressive car counts….

The first stop on the Canadian side of the 2012 schedule saw 27 Joe’s Transmission TNT Super Series competitors at Cayuga — Jon Jablonski and Andrew Stirk came out on top.

Both events were completed on Sunday after rain washed out Saturday’s scheduled on track activities.

Sunday – TNT Race #4  

Qualifying in the fourth position, J.J. sat near the top of the chart heading into eliminations, which gave him lane choice over most of the field. 

Round one saw him overcome a .009 light by Steve McCarrick as he pushed Steve under the 10.90 index for the win.  Then Gary Kerl went .005 red so J.J. ran it out to a 10.899 to move into round three.  There he faced the current points leader David Surmatchewski and won by .005 in a double breakout.  

In the semi’s, he bested Scott Jahren with a slight advantage at the tree and closer to the index ET setting him up for the final against Wellandport Ontario’s Chris VanBaalen.  Chris had some stout competition on his side of the ladder with Gary Saska, Tom Coonly, Kirk Parry and Bill Elekes all putting up a good fight.  

In the final, it was J.J. with an .013 to Chris’ .033 and that was enough for the hard-charging Chevy to push Chris under the index and take the event win.  

The beautiful 1967 Chevy gets support from Jason Vitez Race Cars, TC Printing, Phil’s Auto, Jan-Cen Racing Engines and Joe’s Transmission.  

This weekend’s performance moves J.J. to the top of the Joe’s Transmission TNT Super Series points standings and improves his qualifying position for the 2012 TNTSS Performance Improvements Race of Champions.

TNT Super Series winners Jon Jablonski and Andrew Stirk

Sunday – TNT Race #5

Andrew Stirk came from the 19th qualifying spot to take the second race of the weekend over Jon Jablonski – who was in his second final of the day.  Round one saw Andrew use an .011 package to load Dave Surmatchewski on the trailer.  Then in round two, he forced Rob Holden further under the index in a double breakout. 

Paul Young was next to fall in a close race with similar reaction times and a .014 margin at the stripe.  In the semi’s, Steve McCarrick went too fast handing the final round to Andrew where he would face off against J.J. who had to get through the likes of Nick Mayer, Matt Devries and Gary Saska as he continued his march through the field with nine straight round wins that day.

Dead even on the tree with a pair of .020 lights, the final saw Andrew ran dead on 9 to take the win over J.J.’s 10.939 ET.  “This win is dedicated to my grandma Jean Stirk,” said Andrew following the event. 

Andrew normally runs the Corvette in 9.90 competition so it took a few runs to get the car dialed in.  By the time the second race rolled around, he had the car running between 10.89 and 10.91 for almost 10 rounds between Hot Rod and Super Pro.  The 1963 Corvette roadster is prepared by DSE Automotive with a 454 for power and is capable of 8.90 runs at 151 mph. 

(Posted by:  Lewis Robinson)

Can-Am Series Race – Sunday

With the pits full of racecars and trailers, the Sportsman series Combo of the DSE bracket series, the TNT Super Series and our Can-Am Stock/Super Stock series looked to be two days of non-stop Sportsman racing.

After Saturday’s rain out – Sunday emerged as a different day with hot, humid summer-like conditions.

As usual, Mike Kolne and son had the track in good shape despite all the water from Saturday and the sunny, hot track conditions of the day.

Can-Am Stock/SS Winner Brian Clayton

With Sunday’s race under way, 41 Can-Am Stock/Super Stock cars were in attendance and ready to race.  After 6 rounds of some very close racing, Brian Clayton’s Port Perry based GT/EA Camaro bested the ‘68 Crate motored Camaro of Tony Valerio in the finals.

Pat Hoekstra was the winner of the Dilts Piston Hydraulics $100 entry award.

Our series also wants to congratulate Andrew Stirk , Ted Barnes and the Can-Am committee for their work in organizing the series together into a great day of Sportsman Racing. 

(Posted by:  Fred Smith)