Defending Champs Target Repeat Performances
2011 Victoria Day winners hoping for repeat success at 2012 PMRA, Q32 and PBSS season opener coming next weekend at TMP’s Cayuga Dragway……..
The opening rounds in the Pro Modified Racing Association, the Quick 32 Sportsman Series, and the Pro Bike & Sled Series are only days away, and last year’s winners will once again be trying to get off to a winning start.
The Victoria Day Weekend Challenge at the Cayuga Dragway of Toronto Motorsports Park has been the traditional season start for the drag race series, and this tradition continues May 18-20.
The PMRA will kick off its eighth year at Cayuga. In last year’s event, three-time PMRA champion Bruce Boland of Hamilton, Ontario, got right into his winning ways with his 1941 Willys, defeating Gary Irving of Toronto in the Al Hinds Corvette. Boland, who placed second in the 2011 Pro Modified Racing Association Championship Point Award Series, qualified number one and took out Irving with a 6.087-second, 234.37-mph run against the 6.309, 222.33 of Irving, who qualified sixth.
Phil Sampson of Granton, Ontario got off to a fine start in 2011 with his Top Sportsman Cavalier entry, qualifying eighth and posting a 7.238 at 188.73 to win the Quick 32 Sportsman Series presented by NAPA Auto Parts final over the Top Dragster of Jamie Bridge of Napanee, Ontario, who qualified sixth and ran a 6.953, 179.25 in the final.
Sampson’s success continued during the season, winning the Quick 32 Sportsman Series Championship Point Award Series Standings for the series’ third season.
Winning the inaugural race in the Pro Bike & Sled Series presented by Wiseco Performance Products was Pro Sled racer Bill Anderson of Seaforth, Ontario. Anderson, who rides an Arctic Cat, qualified third on the Pro Sled side of the ladder, and eliminated Pro Bike Rider Randy Hope of London, Ontario in the final.
In the elimination final, Anderson ran a 9.725, 140. 63 over Hope’s 8.683, 145.05. Hope went on to have a successful season in the PBSS, winning Pro Bike & Sled Series 2011 Championship Point Award Series.
The upcoming The Victoria Day Weekend Challenge May 18-20 at Cayuga will be the first of six rounds of drag racing action in the Quick 32 Sportsman Series and the PBSS. It will also be the first round for the PMRA, which will race in the same six events at its companion series, plus an extra event this year.
Qualifying is scheduled to take place Saturday, May 19 starting at 2 pm in all three series, with elimination rounds to begin at 11:15 am Sunday May 20.
For information about Toronto Motorsports Park in Cayuga, Ontario call (905) 772-0303 or visit online at www.torontomotorsportspark.com
The PMRA gets underway this year with the season-opening Victoria Day Weekend Challenge at the Cayuga Dragway of Toronto Motorsports Park May 18-20.
The Pro Modified Racing Association, www.PMRA.ca competes with its two companion series, the Quick 32 Sportsman Series, www.Quick32.ca and the Pro Bike & Sled Series, www.PBSS.ca offering a solid and full package of drag racing action.
For more information contact Bruce F. Mehlenbacher at Bruce@PMRA.ca
Photo Credit: Mike Goodwin ~ www.MGdigital.ca and Dave Erauw Photography ~ www.erauw-photo.com