BTE Labor Day $250K kicks off with Thursday $5K Gamblers Race
Anthony Blackburn and Jake Milstead face off in the first final of the weekend during the Thursday $5K Gamblers Race.
BRISTOL, TN – The Coalburg Racing Promotions team returned to Bristol Dragway with cooler temperatures and increased payouts on tap for the BTE Labor Day $250K.
Racers began rolling through the water box on Thursday for a Test & Tune session from 2-6pm to get dialed in for a weekend of tough footbrake competition. The stakes were already raised on Day 1 when co-promoters Jared Pennington and Steve Stites increased Thursday’s Gamblers Race purse from $3,000 to $5,000 to win.
Pennington explained, “We know we couldn’t do this without the support of our racers and this is just one way to show our appreciation.”
Thursday $5K Gamblers Race
Tire smoke began to roll through Thunder Valley as 244 entries made their way down the eighth-mile during first round of the Gamblers Race.
By round six, only eight drivers were still fighting for $5K: Gary Williams, Gage Burch, Ricky Pennington, Devin Dudley, Brandon Michaels, Anthony Blackburn, Jake Milstead, and Kaleb Greene.
Quarterfinal
Pennington packaged up Williams while Blackburn took the double breakout win over Burch. Milstead runs dead on his dial in to advance over Dudley and Michaels eliminates Greene to earn the last semifinal spot.
Semifinal
That left Pennington versus Milstead and Blackburn versus Michaels to see who would stage up in the first final round of the weekend. Pennington runs .011 under his dial while Milstead only breaks out 6 thousandths to illuminate the win light. Nearly identical reaction times forced a tight finish line where Blackburn runs dead on with a six to advance over Michaels who runs too quick.
Final
All the final round suspense is over at the starting line when Milstead goes .008 red while Blackburn is .013 green to become Thursday’s $5K Gamblers Race winner.
More from the BTE Labor Day $250K
We are just getting started at the BTE Labor Day $250K! Gates open at 8AM Friday with one time trial at 8:30AM followed by first round of eliminations for the Friday $10,000 main event. Afterward, if time permits, another Gamblers Race is on the schedule boasting a $3K purse.
MotorManiaTV will be on site beginning tomorrow to live stream the action thanks to JEGS Performance and Environmental Oil Recovery, Inc. For more information from Coalburg Racing Promotions, visit www.worldfootbrakechallenge.com.
For more bracket racing news from DragChamp, click here.
Jessica was born into a family of drag racers and fell in love with the sport at a young age. She began competing at 13 and has been hooked ever since! She even met her husband at the World Footbrake Challenge VII. Jessica works full time as an Ultrasound Technologist but spends almost every weekend chasing win lights at IHRA and NHRA bracket races.
You can contact her at Jessica@dragchamp.com or on her Facebook page.
Click