Byron Dragway - We Got It In - Big Bucks Bracket w/ High Stakes Gamblers Race

Looking at the weather report Friday night for Saturday in the Byron area, it did not look good to be able to race Saturday. The report showed rain starting at 7:00 am and ending sometime around 5:00 pm. I prepared my gear as if there was going to be racing, however I thought if that forecast held there was no way. I woke early and looked at the weather report on my phone and it was totally different. There was some rain forecast for late afternoon, but there was a chance that could miss the track. I got to the track a little earlier than I had in the recent past and the racing started on time with Super Pro No Box leading off. Bob Disch, Verona, Wi., in his 71 Chevy Vega had a triple .000  reaction time to claim a bye into the second round, if necessary.

Bob Disch

Unfortunately for Bob, he lost to Mark Nettesheim in the second round. Mark marched through the field, but it wasn't easy. He won his first round when Jim Ilosvay redlighted. In the third round, he was up against Troy Boeke. Troy had a bad 1.00 reaction time to Mark's 0.26. That was the race. In the fourth round, it was a battle of Camaros when Mark won a double breakout against Chad Cannon. Mark was 0.006 closer to his dial-in than Troy. Mark raced through another round and then a bye into the Final against Mark Rosenbaum in the 1964 Corvette.  Even though the Corvette ran closer to his dial-in, Mark Nettesheim cut down the tree  with a 0.003 reaction time to take the "Holeshot" Super Pro No Box win!

Mark Nettesheim

In Super Pro Box, Scott LaBudde just mowed down the tree all day. Through seven rounds of eliminations, his reaction times were as followed: .012, .008, .004, .007, .011, .014 (w/Bye), and .028 to get to the final. His opponent in "Box" Final was Greg Antonioni, who took a slightly different route by redlighting in the first round and taking a "buy back" option. In the Final, Scott had the better reaction time (.022/.036) running a 4.745 on a 4.74 while Greg broke out by .007.

IIn the runoff Super Pro runoff of Box vs No Box for the big check it was Scott LaBudde vs Mark Nettesheim. Mark, in the slower car, left first with a .034 reaction time to Scott's .064. With Scott closing fast, Mark pushed it just a little to hard and broke out .007. Scott was going to be hard to beat with a 4.736 on a 4.73 dial-in.

In the High Stakes Gamblers Race, there was four rounds of competition before Nick Mistrata and Blake Vangsness faced off. Nick had the best reaction (.027/.043). Blake, with the slower car, pushed hard to stay ahead and broke out by .012. Nick ran a 4.797 on a 4.78 to take the win.

Track Bites

Earlier we talked about the weather. Mother Nature did give us a hit of rain in the late afternoon. It was a brief downpour that measured at .41 inches of rain. BJ and the staff fought a lot of standing water with high humidity for nearly 2 1/2 hours to get the track back into racing condition. It was a lot of hard work but the racing was completed.

Blake Vangsness usually drives a Chevy Nova. I took this picture last year and at the request of his Dad, Jeremy, I did a little work on it.

Last week, Blake licensed in a dragster. It seems, the Nova has a transmission problem that is going to take some time to repair. In his first time in competition in the dragster he took it the High Stakes Gamblers Final. Dana Highland asked me to find a picture to commemorate this day for Blake that she could give him. I could think of nothing better than final race against Nick Mistrata.

Don Schomer from Oswego driving his Ford Maverick was double entered in No Box and went seven straight races before losing in the Third and fourth rounds. Not to bad a day.

Here is more of Saturday's action.

Saturday, Mother Nature did try to play games, but but was defeated by the hard working Byron staff. All should be congratulated on a great effort to complete this day's racing. Sunday will be another full day of racing with no bad weather in the forecast.

To see all the day's action please click here.

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