Mother Nature held off long enough for a little bit of racing Saturday, but persistent rain eventually pushed the final three rounds of the 2009 Mopar® HEMI® Challenge Race Series Dutch Classic event at Maple Grove Raceway into Sunday.

Bristol, Pa., dentist Jim Daniels is still the driver to beat after qualifying at the top of the Dutch Classic field in his Ray Barton-built 1968 HEMI Dodge Dart with an NHRA Super Stock/A HEMI class record run of 8.331 seconds at 157.96 mph. Daniels had a bye run of 8.508 seconds at 155.65 mph in the first round Saturday when Chuck Comella of Sanibel, Fla. could not answer the call.

Ray Barton’s son, David, of Robesonia, Pa., also had an easy first round win of 8.56 seconds at 151.26 mph in his Plymouth Barracuda when Mark Howes of Rothesay, New Brunswick, Canada red-lighted the start. Barton will face Delaware, Ohio driver Jim Pancake and his Dodge Dart in the quarterfinals.

Mother Nature held off long enough for a little bit of racing Saturday, but persistent rain eventually pushed the final three rounds of the 2009 Mopar® HEMI® Challenge Race Series Dutch Classic event at Maple Grove Raceway into Sunday.

Bristol, Pa., dentist Jim Daniels is still the driver to beat after qualifying at the top of the Dutch Classic field in his Ray Barton-built 1968 HEMI Dodge Dart with an NHRA Super Stock/A HEMI class record run of 8.331 seconds at 157.96 mph. Daniels had a bye run of 8.508 seconds at 155.65 mph in the first round Saturday when Chuck Comella of Sanibel, Fla. could not answer the call.

Ray Barton’s son, David, of Robesonia, Pa., also had an easy first round win of 8.56 seconds at 151.26 mph in his Plymouth Barracuda when Mark Howes of Rothesay, New Brunswick, Canada red-lighted the start. Barton will face Delaware, Ohio driver Jim Pancake and his Dodge Dart in the quarterfinals.

The other quarterfinal match-ups include Bob Wolkwitz of Darien, CT in a Plymouth Barracuda vs. his brother Gary Wolkwitz of Annandale, NJ in a Dodge Dart; and an all-‘Cuda matchup of Wendell Howes vs. Stephen Herbert of Westlakes, La. HEMI Challenge quarterfinal eliminations are set to begin at 10:15 a.m. Sunday.

The Dutch Classic is the largest all-sportsman event on the east coast, with the Mopar HEMI Challenge taking Saturday’s center stage. Participants will vie for the $5,000 winner’s purse at the final Mopar HEMI Challenge event of the 2009 season.

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