ALEX STEEN CLAIMS JR. DRAGSTER TITLE AT THIRD STOP IN MEADOW GOLD SERIES

It’s almost hard to believe that temperatures climbed into the upper-80’s by mid-afternoon on the third Test Day of the 2012 Season, but it did. In fact, a record was set for the greater Treasure Valley as the thermostat topped out at 90 degrees! Considering previous highs have basically been in the low 60’s, this was an over-the-top heat-wave that had just about everyone chugging bottles of water and Gatorade throughout the day to stay hydrated.

In addition to a full day of testing, the third stop in the Meadow Gold Jr. Dragster Series took place following three qualifying heats. Alex Steen swept the overall title by running 7.92 (7.94 dial)-82.02 mph to defeat a redlighting (-.016) by Jacob Geier who finished at 9.01 (8.94 dial)-78.19. Semi-final positions were collected by Chandler Steen and Casey Compton, while Wes Morris, Kaylessa Alwine, and Justin Hof earned quarter-final appearances.

Several racers either upped their speed in the 100 mph club or established new marks throughout the jam-packed day of testing. The quickest full-bodied run of the day belonged to Tom Franks who nailed a couple of mid-8.50 laps with his injected Opel GT. Amongst a sea of Street Bike riders, Chris Batten was king of the speed burners, dipping into the high 8’s at nearly 160 miles per hour.

An assortment of racers were on hand setting up their combination for the fast approaching Ignitor-Lucas Oil Drag Race Series meet on May 3-6. Terry Anderson (SS), Rob Youngblood (SS), Dave Goff (SG) and Mike Hering (Stk) all look very strong in the hotter than normal conditions.

Others who made a number of solid laps included: Larry Lamberson, Wayne Ryder, Carl Youngstrom, Jeffrey Langan, and quite a cross-section of other Super Pro, Pro and Sportsman Gold Cup racers (in addition to all those who were there just to test). It was “oh so nice” to see Melissa Jarboe finish up her day with a perfect .000 reaction time (even though it’s not a Perfect Light Club Qualifying day) after continuing to get her combination dialed in.

It was even good to see several racers making their first trip out to the raceway this season. We really enjoyed seeing Eric Flowers, Jim Tattersall, Andres Chavez, Brian Ross (running the Bill Muchow Mustang), Rich Pedraza Jr. (who was debuting his all-white Nova with limited success), Larry Troudt, Eldon Twitty (who was making his first runs of the year with a much more potent `63 Ranchero), and a number of others we may have overlooked.

Thanks to everyone who came out in droves to enjoy the beautiful sun-filled day. We all look forward to the next two events on schedule, both the Fairly Reliable Bob’s Club Challenge Series on Friday, April 27th, and the United Dairymen of Idaho Spring High School & Alumni Championships presented by the College of Western Idaho on Sunday, April 29th.