Rockingham, N.C. - Rockingham Dragway opened up its 2010 IHRA Summit Super Series points chase on February 27-28 with its annual Rock Batteries Spring Blast Racer Appreciation Race, featuring two days of racing for Top ET, Modified ET, and Junior Dragster, all for the cost of just general admission.
Given the extremely affordable racing opportunties, 2007 Rockingham Dragway Modified ET Champion Michael Beard double-entered the Duck Tape Volare, to compete in both Modified and Top ET, a class which permits the use of delay boxes and other electronic driver aids not available to Modified racers.
The cold winter weather cut Saturday's activities short. Race officials had to call the race around 8 p.m. in the interest of safety, as the track was becoming too cold to maintain the traction afforded in the warmer daylight hours. The purse was split among drivers still remaining in the 4th round of competition, which included Beard in Modified.
On Sunday, Beard held his own in Top ET, where he footbraked the Duck Tape Volare into the 4th round, where he lost on a close -.003 second red light start. He remained in Modified, however, where a .007 reaction time earned him the quarterfinal bye run, where he backed it up with another .007 light. In the semifinals, Beard faced reigning track champion Richard Alford. Alford took the nod at the starting line by a few thousandths of a second, .012 to .015. At the finish line, Beard got to the stripe first by literally the thinnest of margins: .0000, but broke out by .001 seconds (6.879 on a 6.88 dial) against Alford's dead-on winning run (6.582 on a 6.58).
The weekend's performance puts Beard solidly in the Top 3 in Rockingham points to start the season, just one of numerous different tracks and series on the Duck Tape Racing team's busy schedule.
The track's race coverage and agate is available at http://www.rockinghamdragway.com/results/2010/springblast/index.htm
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