ORSCA L/S World Champ: Eric Dillard
Eric Dillard, driver of Todd Berry's twin-turbo Mustang, has been known the last couple of years as one of the quickest and fastest cars on True-Ten-Five Tires in the country. Now he can add ORSCA Proline Race Engine Limited Street World Champion to his impressive resume.
Results:
Orangeburg SC - 2nd rd
Montgomery AL - 2nd rd
Carolina - Win
Atlanta GA - Win
Montgomery Al - Win
Steele AL - Q1
Eric Would like to thank:
His wife Emily & daughter Raegan
His parents Linda & David
Todd & Glenda Berry
Steve Petty
Hank Hill and his crew Andrew Lara & Adam Shelton
Sponsors
Berry Plumbing & Equipment
Proline Race Engines
TCI
Precison Turbo
Bell Chassisworks
Southern Truck Parts
Big Stuff 3
Mickey Thompson Tires
Diamond Racing
NLR Systems
Calico
Total Seal
Cometic
Jeff Paulk came into Carolina needing to advance two rounds further than Keith Szabo to win the Sheppard Race Cars / Berry Plumbing and Equipment Limited Street World Championship. Unfortunatley for him he suffered major engine damage on a first-round bye allowing Szabo to claim his first ORSCA world championship. Eric Dillard led all qualifiers with a 4.71 @ 171.58 mph. Defending series champ Darrin Hoyle qualified second with a 4.731, followed by Paulk's 4.745 and Szabo's 4.754.
The eliminations began Sunday with Kevin Fiscus beating Samuel Hood off the line and to the stripe with an outstanding 4.87. Joe Morgan sent drag radial standout John Kolivas back to Mississippi , 4.90 to 5.45. John Balinsky won a pedalfest with North Carolinian Huston Dial. Mike Mitchell ran a 5.08 his best run of the weekend to advance to round 2 when Kevin Scott broke. Alan Hobert ran a 5.09 to move on when Buck Walker didn't show and Mike Jones received a bye when Shane Stack could not make the call. Jerry Gunter and Brad Edwards both had scheduled byes but could not show. In the first round bye runs, Dillard scored low et of round 1 by running a 4.71 followed by Jeff Cooner's 4.74 and Szabo's 4.79. Tommy Rainer, Paulk, David Waits, Darrin Hoyle and Phil Hines also advanced on solo passes.
In round 2, Szabo raised the bar with a 4.70 to defeat Jacksonville FL's Fiscus's 4.82. Hoyle dodged a bullet when he spun the tires against Island Park NY's Balinsky. Balinsky had problems of his own and slowed to a 5.35 allowing Hoyle's 5.16 to take the win. Dillard defeated Morgan of Sharpsburg VA, 4.78 to 4.89. Resurgent Cooner squeaked by Holbert 5.13 to 5.38 and Alabama's Jones won over Lebanon OH's Hines. Due to breakage David Waits (4.78) and Tommy Rainer (4.80) had bye runs.
Newly crowned series champion Szabo suffered breakage and went outside the boundary line to advance Jeff Cooner to open round 4. Hoyle's good fortune continued when Rainer's transbrake didn't hold and picked up another win with an off pace 5.14. Dillard set a new et record with a 4.682 to defeat Waits. Mike Jones ran a 4.92 on his bye.
In the semis, Hoyle laid down a 4.72 to defeat red-lighting Mike Jones and Cooner ran his career best 4.729 to win on a holeshot over Dillard's 4.705. Hoyle, who had been battling wheelstands and tire spin in between his great runs, again had to fight a bucking bronco and slowed to a 5.10, allowing Cooner driving the Randy Sharpston owned Mustang to capture his first win in over a year with a solid 4.86.
Wade Mooney - 11/21/08
Jeff Paulk came into Montgomery Motorsports Park trailing three time winner Keith Szabo by 55 points. With his final round victory over Szabo he closed the margin to 33 points. In the final, Paulk had an .022 reaction and 4.801 ET to hold off Keith's .023 initated 4.808. The margin of victory was eight thousandths of a second.
Paulk, in his 762 Cubic Inch Nitrous-Assisted BBC powered S-10, qualified number one with an outstanding 4.79. The resurgent Jeff Cooner put his twin-turbo Mustang in the second spot with a 4.81. Szabo, winner of the last three ORSCA events was number three following his 4.82 best. EZ street transplant Shane Stack was next with a 4.90, followed by Mike Jones' 4.93. Tommy Rainer's 4.94, Josh Peel's 4.95 and Alan Halbert's 5.01 rounded out the top half of the field.
The bottom half of the field included Mike Collins (5.02), Jerry Gunter (5.07), Kevin Fisus (5.12), Bruce Johnson(5.17), Florida Real Street standout Ricky Shelby (5.21), Eddie Rogers (5.23), Chris Daniel(5.25) and David Reese-making his first ORSCA start this year-5.26.
First round action saw Rainer beat Fisus, Jones over Johnson, Cooner set low et of the round with a 4.82 win over a tire smoking Chris Daniel. Collins continued to impress with his 4.90 against Alan Halbert. Peel defeated Gunter and Shelby provided the most shocking run of the event when he used an .019 reaction and a 5.16 to defeat Shane Stack's 5.09. Paulk and Szabo started their day with victories over Reese and Mike Mitchell respectively. Mitchell was in as alternate for Rogers.
In the battle of turbos, Szabo defeated Rainer to open round two, 4.84 to 4.96. Peel won over a red-lighting Jeff Cooner. Jones got by upstart Shelby, who had traction issues and slowed. Paulk used a 4.92 to outdistance Collins' 4.94.
The semi-finals opened with Szabo putting away Peel 4.83 to a troubled 5.29 and then Paulk set up the final-round showdown with low et of the meet 4.78 to beat Jones' game 4.88.
Paulk's final round victory gives him 695 points after dropping his worst race while Szabo still leads with 728 including his drop race.
The ORSCA points finale is November 14-16, 2008 at the "House of Hook" Carolina Dragway.
Wade Mooney - 10/17/08
Barring an all out collapse by either Jeff Paulk or points leader Keith Szabo it appears that 1 of the 2 will win the ORSCA Limited Street Points Championship.
Szabo leads with 689 points and has a 75 point race to drop to equal a true614 points. Paulk is in second with 614 but has a 55 point race to drop which gives him a true score of 559. Both drivers are still eligible for the 50 point attendance bonus.
The difference amounts to almost three rounds of competition. Paulk has already earned 20 bonus points this year for resetting the et record at the last race. Record points are awarded after the completion of the event so there is a potential of 80 additional points if the record for et and mph were reset at each of the 2 remaining races. Considering the race surfaces at Montgomery Motorsports Park and Carolina Dragway that is a realistic possibility.
David Waits is in third with 513-43= 470 and Alan Halbert is fourth with 342 -42 = 300. They are the only remaining drivers eligible for the attendance bonus.
Don't miss the Outlaw Limited Street Class at Montgomery Oct 10-12.
Wade Mooney - 10/08/08
Gainesville GA's Keith Szabo and the Szabo Family Mustang made it three in a row this past weekend in Huntsville. In the continuation of March's rain suspended race he defeated Eric Dillard, who was back behind the wheel of the Berry Plumbing & Equipment Mustang. The all-turbo final was decided with a near even start and Szabo running a 4.83 to Dillard's 4.88.
Szabo started his run for the triple on Sunday from the #2 qualifying spot, trailing only Jeff "Carkilla" Paulk's record setting 4.7357 in his nitrous assisted big block S-10.
Round 1 saw Paulk defeat John Ianuzzi 4.87 to 5.69 while Szabo won over Alan Halbert. Dillard defeated Jeff Cooner's turbo-powered Mustang in the closest run of the round 4.91 to 4.93. Number 3 qualifier Shane Stack defeated David Waits. Other first round winners were Mike Jones, Josh Peel, Jerry Gunter and Tommy Rainer.
Dillard and Szabo started round 2 with a rematch of the previous night's final, unfortunately for Eric, the result was the same. Szabo left first and pulled away for a 4.87 to 4.92 win. Paulk beat a troubled Jerry Gunter and his Procharger powered 1969 Camaro, 4.89 to 5.44. Stack won over Chipley FL native Josh Peel with a 4.92 to a losing 5.04. Rainer and his '78 Camaro which had recently been transformed from nitrous-assisted power to twin turbo, beat Mike Jones, 4.96 to 5.38.
Szabo and Paulk set up their final-round match up with Szabo defeating Stack's Monte Carlo 4.93 to a 5.03 and Paulk ending Rainer's good weekend with his 4.89 covering Tommy's 5.05.
Paulk had lane choice going into the final and desperately needed a win to close the gap in the points chase. Szabo, with dad Roger, wife Tracy and son Kyle cheering him on, was not to be denied as he took a .03 reaction time advantage and held on to win 4.89 to a very good 4.94 from Paulk. Including his win at SGMP earlier this month, Szabo has now won 11 rounds in a row.
Congratulations to all of the Limited Street teams that stepped up and provided some of the most exciting races of the entire weekend. The next race for the Outlaw Limited Street racers will be Oct. 10-12 at Montgomery Motorsports Park in Montgomery AL.
Wade Mooney - 9/24/08
While the Berry Plumbing & Equipment/Sheppard Race Cars Limited Street Class had no new records set it was a still a thrilling race from start to finish. On Friday Jeff Paulk and Keith Szabo traded 4.8's before Paulk laid down a 4.79 for the quickest L/S pass of the night. During Saturday's qualifying rounds however, Carlton Thompson of Tallahasee FL led the field with his own 4.79. Event winner Keith Szabo qualified #4 with a 4.87. Points leader Paulk went out in the first round at the hands of Buck Walker, 5.26 to a tire smoking 5.50. Walker's dream weekend ended in the semis against Shane Stack. Usually one of the heavy hitters in the EZ Street class, Stack bolted on a bigger turbo and bigger drag radials to take his shot at Limited Street.
Szabo meanwhile defeated Alan Halbert in the first round and then Carolina winner David Waits on a holeshot. In his semi-final match-up with Mike Collins took a 4.95 to a 5.02 win. The final round match-up was decided by thousandths of a second as Szabo ran a 4.891 to defeat Stack's 4.894.
Outlaw Limited Street Cars Return To Action
Ninteen of the baddest Limited Street cars on the east coast converged on South Georgia Motorsports Park for the first ORSCA race in nearly two months. The time off, while difficult for the die hard racers, proved beneficial for several teams. The top ten qualifiers all ran sub-five second runs.Carlton Thompson made the tow from Tallahassee FL and qualified #1 with a great 4.798 during the final round of qualifying. Closely following Thompson was ORSCA points leader Jeff Paulk with a 4.827 and Shane Stack - running on drag radials- with a stout 4.834. Rounding out the top ten were Keith Szabo( 4.876) , David Waits (4.886) Ryan Rakestraw (4.910), Tim Kincaid (4.931), Corey Bright (4.932), Mike Collins (4.961) and Jerry Gunter (4.993).
Thompson defeated an out of shape Chris Daniel in round 1 with a 5.10 then Collins survived a pedaling contest with Bright and his Purple Pig Camaro. Szabo set low et of the first-round, 4.883,defeating Alan Halbert's 5.24. David Waits got a broke bye to close out their side of the ladder.
Buck Walker in his brand new Camaro suprised a tire spinning Jeff Paulk to set up a second- round match-up with Jerry Gunter who had defeated Tim Kincaid with a strong 4.96. Stack continued his amazing run with a 4.99 victory over Josh Peel's 5.11. Rakestraw driving the resurgent Todd Berry owned Mustang defeated a troubled Mike Jones with a stout 4.89.
Round two saw Mike Collins out of Enterprise AL, drive his Nitrous assisted Camaro past Thompson's turbo Mustang 5.04 to a slowing 5.81. Szabo won his match with David Waits via a holeshot 4.906 to 4.903. Walker's dream debut continued when Jerry Gunter's Procharger powered 1969 couldn't fire in staging lanes giving him a bye into the semis. Stack laid down a 4.90 to defeat Rakestraw's 5.14.
In the semi-finals Collins left slightly in Szabo, .013 to .018, but could not hold off the turbo Mustang's 4.95 despite his 5.021. Stack set the final stage with a 4.91 victory over Walker's 5.64.
The final round was a classic with Szabo leaving first .013 to .036 and holding off the big turbo Monte Carlo of Stack 4.891 to a right there 4.894.
Wade Mooney - 9/10/08
