Saturday Update – NHRA New England Nationals

Lucas Oil Sportsman Saturday update from the NHRA New England Nationals.

EPPING, NH – Lucas Oil sportsman racers took to the track Saturday morning for final eliminations. Over 280 competitors were on hand competing in seven classes.

Racing was cut short on Saturday after rain showers moved in. This pushed the three round of Super Stock, Stock, Super Comp, Super Gas, and Super Street to Sunday morning.

Sunday’s schedule includes three to four rounds of competition for the sportsman racer before crowning champions. DragChamp will have final results later this evening.

See class by class recaps below from the 2019 NHRA New England Nationals.

2019 NHRA New England Nationals Sportsman Preview

Super Stock

DragChamp pre-race pick Bryan Worner finds success at New England. After qualifying in the top spot with a -1.061 under 9.939, Worner drove his SS/JA Camaro past red-hot Joe Santangelo in round one.

Worner used a clutch .004 light to secure the win. With a bye run in round two, Worner rolls into the third round on Sunday. Joining Bryan in round three on Sunday is his brother Byron.

Michael Iacono, another pre-race pick to win, is still alive going into round three on Sunday. Iacono used .013 and .021 lights to run back Bruce Riley and Tom Boucher in the first two rounds.

Other notables moving into Sunday’s final eliminations include Herbie Null Jr. and Marty Rinehart.

Stock Eliminator

Two of our three pre-race picks faced off in a heads up B/SA automatic battle. Gary Richard outran Allison Doll 10.23 to 10.36 to advance to round two. There he would fall to Kenneth Richard after running well off his dial.

Our final pre-race pick, Dan Fletcher, is moving into round three on Sunday, Fletcher defeated a red-lighting Billy Pires in round one and took a close .006-second win over John Gray in round two.

Joe Santangelo is chasing his first Stock win on the national level in 2019 after winning twice in Super Stock this season. He’ll have plenty of talented racers to outlast such as Eugene Monahan, Michael Iacono, Lenny Williams, and more.

Super Comp

Defending event champ Mike Robilotto’s chance at a repeat disappeared with his round two loss to Miranda Marsters. Robilotto took a slight lead at the tree but grabbed too much stripe in the 8.87 to 8.94 breakout loss.

Two of our three pre-race picks are still alive heading into round three on Sunday. Division 1 champ Kyle Bigley and Jason Kenny raced their way into the third round.

Richard Stroud, our third pre-race pick, fell in round one to Rob Hyatt. Hyatt joins a group of talented 8.90 racers heading into Sunday including Jack Sepanek, Doug Doll, Rich Dorr, and others.

Super Gas

Our pre-race picks took a beating in the first couple of rounds on Saturday at the New England Nationals. Charlie Kenopic lost a close race to Darren Wood in round one. After leaving within .001 of each other, Wood’s 9.901 was .003 better than Kenopic’s 9.905.

The win earned Wood the top qualifying spot and a second round bye run. Mike Sawyer fell in round two after his 9.948 was not enough to take down the 9.920 of Larry Antonellis.

That leaves Iggie Boicesco carry the DragChamp flag into Sunday. Boicesco used a .001 light to win a double-breakout round two race with Joseph Gallucci.

2019 national event winners Tom Goldman and Ray Sawyer both fell in round two action.

Jason Kenny’s hopes for a double are still alive as he moves into Sunday in both Super Comp and Super Gas. Other notables moving into round three include Chuck Rothermel and Rich Price among others.

Super Street

Like Super Gas, our Super Street picks took a beating early. Shawn Fricke turned it -.014 red and Chris DePascale ran a tenth off the dial in round one. That left Brian Sawyer as our only pick to make it to round three in New England.

Sawyer made his way through the first two rounds after opponents Bill Krug and Martin Ganjoin both turned it red.

Darren Wood is dreaming of a double as he heads into round three in both Super Street and Super Gas.

Top Sportsman

Thunder Valley Nationals champ Johnny Brooks rides a hot hand into round three at New England. Brooks defeated Michel Bastien in round one and Don Preece in round two. With lights of .015 and .002 in the first two rounds, Brooks looks poised to make another run at the Wally in Epping.

Our second Top Sportsman pick, Nick Willard, fell in round two to Dave Miller. Miller’s great .006 light was the difference after both racers ran .026 above their dial-in’s.

Top Dragster

In Top Dragster, both of our pre-race picks are heading to round three. Dan Fletcher moves into Sunday with chances in Stock and Top Dragster after winning a double-breakout race with Paul Neal in round two.

Fletch is joined by fellow pre-race pick Kyle Cultrera in round three. Cultrera, the SFG 500 Wednesday $20K winner last week, used .008 and .021 lights to advance past the first two rounds.

Former world champ Alan Kenny joins his son Jason on Sunday after his double-breakout victory over Ken LeBlanc in round two.

Stay tuned to DragChamp for final race results from the NHRA New England Nationals on Sunday. DragChamp is your source for NHRA Lucas Oil sportsman drag racing.