Attitude's CompetitionPlus.com provides quick hit coverage of the ADRL Battle for the Belts competition hosted by the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas. Follow along for news and notes from the event.

PRELIMINARY ROUND

STOTT ADVANCES – Quain Stott ended two-time series champion Jason Scruggs’ hopes for a third title during the preliminary round for the Pro Extreme’s Battle for the Belts competition.

Scruggs was only .003 quicker out of the gate and as it turns out this was his only lead in the race. Stott quickly reeled him in and led to the stripe with a 3.794 elapsed time at 199.67 miles per hour.

Scruggs concluded his 2010 season with a 3.921 second pass.

ALTERNATIVE ENDING – Doug Reisterer made the most of his opportunity during the preliminary race in the Pro Nitrous Battle for the Belts.

Reisterer entered the event as an alternate for Charles Carpenter, who is back at home tending to a family emergency.

In as the No. 8 seed, Reisterer beat Steve Vick with a 3.930, 188.60. Vick appeared to hurt his engine with a losing 4.053.

THE IRONHORSE – Dan Millen continues to run through the Extreme 10.5 division like a runaway freight train. The driver of the turbocharged, Al-Anabi Mustang whose late start in the season, enabled him only the eighth-seed in the Battle for the Belts competition.

Doak fouled early and it was just as well considering Millen thundered to a 3.846, 199.49

ELIMINATED – Just one season after the Dingman Racing team won the ADRL Extreme Pro Stock championship, they were eliminated during preliminary ADRL Battle for the Belts competition.  Matt Hartford drove his way to the championship and turned over the reins of the Chevrolet Cobalt to Jeff Dobbins.

Dobbins entered as the seventh seeded entry. However, in the first round, he lost to Elijah Morton.

PHOPHIT TO THE SECOND ROUND - Charlie Prophit earned his way into the second round of the Battle for the Belts and from the No. 7 seed, ran a 4.198, 169.98 to beat alternate James Helton, who ran a 4.320. 162.61.

FIRST ROUND

INTO THE SEMIS – The championships in each division are now narrowed to at least four competitors, and in at least one class – three.

Those remaining in Pro Extreme include Josh Hernandez, KH Al-Thani, Quain Stott and Frankie Taylor.

The semi-finalists in the Pro Nitrous division include Rickie Smith, Burton Auxier, Jim Halsey and Stan Allen.

Gary White, Todd Moyer, Dan Millen and Chuck Ulsch comprise the balance of the Extreme 10.5 division.

The Extreme Pro Stock division semi-finalists include Cary Goforth, Pete Berner, John Montecalvo and Brian Gahm.

Only three bikes remain in Pro Extreme Motorcycle. Those racers include Ashley Owens, Kim Morrell and Travis Davis.

STRANGE MAN, REALLY STRANGE – Two of the first round battles in the opening round of the Battle for the Belts competition left even the most seasoned of race fans and racers scratching their heads.

The first of the odd occurrences happened when just 330 feet into the Extreme Pro Stock match between Pete Berner and Bob Bertsch when the timing system inexplicably failed to show a winner or elapsed time on the scoreboards. Race officials reviewed the video tape and declared Berner the winner as he crossed the finish line with a car and a half lead.

As strange as the run was, it paled in comparison to the first round match between Terry Schweigert and Charlie Prophit. As both bikes brought up the rpms, both left before the tree was activated. They were disqualified providing Kim Morrell with a free ride into the finals.

WASN’T ENOUGH – Billy Glidden did what he needed in the first round on the starting line with a .002 reaction and a personal best against the overwhelming Dan Millen but it was far short of what it took to score a round victory. Millen’s turbocharged Mustang thundered by for the victory by resetting the national record 3.848 elapsed time. Glidden, for his part, ran a 3.974, 183.52.

SHATTERED CHAMPIONSHIP DREAMS – After the first round of Battle for the Belts competition, none of the defending champions reached the second round.

Todd Tutterow experienced an apparent transmission breakage in the first round against Sheikh Khalid Al-Thani to ensure the Pro Extreme class would crown a new champion.  When Jason Scruggs fell in the preliminary round, he ensured the eliminator would crown a first-time champion.

Spiro Pappas also saw his Extreme Ten-Five championship defense hopes dashed on the starting line as last season’s Belts runner-up Chuck Ulsch strapped a .008 reaction time and .080 starting line advantage on last season’s champion.

The remaining three ADRL champions Khalid Al-Balooshi [Pro Nitrous], Scott Gray [Extreme Pro Stock] and Matt Hartford [Extreme Pro Stock] failed to qualify.

SEMI-FINALS

ENTOURAGE – A crowd of nearly 40 crew members and friends of both Sheikh KH Al-Thani and Josh Hernandez congregated on the starting line as the Pro Extreme heavyweights rolled to the starting line for their semi-final Battle for the Belts match.

Al Thani nearly pulled off an incredible starting line performance but jumped the gun with a -.008 foul.

Hernandez drove his way to the final round with a 3.721 elapsed time at 202.48 miles per hour.

OTHER END OF THE SPECTRUM – Frankie Taylor was in a zone his competitors could only dream of entering. Unlike the high profile pair of Al-Thani and Hernandez, the semi-final battle of Taylor and Quain Stott didn’t attract nearly the same amount of onlookers.

It should have.

Taylor blasted out the low elapsed time of the event with a 3.649 second pass at 208.59 miles per hour.

CLASH OF THE TITANS – In a battle of two of the more seasoned nitrous racers on the property, Shannon Jenkins beat Jim Halsey in a battle decided by .001 of a second.

However, this .001 wasn’t decided at the finish line. It was the starting line.

Halsey rolled the beams with a -.001 foul putting Jenkins into the final round to challenge for his first career ADRL Pro Nitrous championship. If he wins, Jenkins will have captured titles in all three major Pro Modified series.

PLAYING WITH FIRE - The flames were dancing out of the turbocharged header pipes and in the end, it was the car which survived a fire that won big in the Extreme 10.5 semis.

As the crowd looked on, Todd Moyer ran a 3.990 in his Cobalt to beat the 6-cylinder Scion on a holeshot. Last Sunday, Moyer suffered a devastating fire which sent the crew into thrash mode just to make the car race ready.

White lost despite a quicker 3.957, 187.73.

THE MILLEN MAN MARCH – Dan Millen’s Mustang continued its domination of the Extreme 10.5 contingent by running within .01 of his newly established record from the previous round.

Millen’s 3.855 gave him lane choice in the final round over Moyer.

TRIO OF TWO-WHEELERS – The performance juggernaut of Ashley Owens will meet Kim Morrell in the finals to determine the Pro Extreme Motorcycle champion.

The top-seeded Owens ran a 4.021, 175.23 to beat Travis Davis.

Morrell, the No. 1 qualifier towards 2011’s first event of the season, soloed to the final round.

BERNER VERSUS MONTECALVO – In a match pitting the final two mountain motor Pro Stock world champions, Pete Berner and John Montecalvo will line up in the Extreme Pro Stock final round of the Battle for the Belts.

Berner took out the top seeded Cary Goforth in the semi-finals.

On the other side of the ladder, Montecalvo eliminated the final remaining Ford in Brian Gahm.

 

FINALS

A DREAM COME TRUE - Pro Extreme racer Frankie Taylor admitted his final round run was for everyone who has chased a dream and never gave up. The cash-strapped racer raced on championship day with performances which appeared to suggest a limitless budget. Taylor raced like a domineering giant all day long and in the finals, he continued the trend against Josh Hernandex.

Hernandez was quicker out of the gate but it was Taylor the first to the stripe with a 3.621 elapsed time at 209.98 miles per hour, his quickest run of the weekend and both low elapsed time and top speed of the meet.

AL-ANABI, ALL THE TIME - Burton Auxier admitted he looked over at Shannon Jenkins in the Pro Nitrous finals and experienced a flashback. It was nearly ten years ago when a struggling Auxier took Jenkins up on an offer to borrow a set of carburetors and later a complete engine.

Auxier, the 2009 NHRA Get Screened America Pro Modified champion, was able to drive around his friend and teammate to score his second consecutive championship, not to mention on a different series. He ran a winning 3.895, 193.13 as Jenkins pulled a massive wheelstand and eventually lifted.

Had Jenkins have won, he would have been the first Pro Modified racer to win three titles in the three major series.

IT'S NOT THE START THAT COUNTS - Dan Millen got off to a slow start this season. In fact, the former NMRA/NMCA regular earned the final available spot in Extreme 10.5 Battle for the Belts competition. He looked like anything but a No. 8 seed on championship day.

Millen scored low elapsed time of every elimination round, including a new class record.

Millen tied his earlier record with a 3.84, 201.16 to win his first championship at the expense of Gary White.

NOTHING LEFT - When Ashley Owens left the starting line, his Pro Extreme Motorcycle left an apparent puddle of oil on the starting line. His opponent Kim Morrell left oil at the finish line. It was that kind of final round for the ultra-quick riders.

The final round was an example of two racers who left nothing on the table in battling for a championship.

Morrell was declared the champion with a 4.494 at only 132.40 miles per hour. Owens didn't make it that far losing with a 7.514.

THAT KIND OF A RACE - John Montecalvo wanted to win a championship so bad last season he remained with IHRA series knowing they had no plans to continue his class. Therefore, he would never get a chance to defend his title.

The ADRL's Extreme Pro Stock class provided the new start he needed with the same old results.

Both Montecalvo and fellow finalist Pete Berner ran identical 4.071 elapsed times but it was a .036 starting line advantage that made all of the difference.

---

{source}
<div style="float:left; padding:5px;"><script type="text/javascript">
google_ad_client = "pub-8044869477733334";
/* 300x250, created 4/3/09 */
google_ad_slot = "2028912167";
google_ad_width = 300;
google_ad_height = 250;
</script>
<script src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</div><div style="padding:5px;">

<script type="text/javascript">
sr_adspace_id = 2000000613807;
sr_adspace_width = 300;
sr_adspace_height = 250;
sr_ad_new_window = true;
sr_adspace_type = "graphic";
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://ad.afy11.net/srad.js?azId=2000000613807">
</script></div>
{/source}