Virginia Motorsports Park hosted the first of three Triple Threat Bracket Series events this past weekend, June 9-12, under a less than favorable forecast and an opening race format of 10-20-10, with the great help of companies like FuelTech USA, McCarty Auto Parts and O’Reilly Auto Parts. As the weekend began with a pre-race test session and a Super 64 Shootout, the obvious was stated, the competition was going to be extremely tough all weekend long from start to finish.
Andy Lloyd was the first to wheel into the winner’s circle in his ’21 Racetech on Thursday evening as the Virginia based driver took down Jerry Brewer’s North Carolina based ’22 Powerchassis in a side-by-side matchup. Lloyd was .003 RT, 4.508 (4.50 dial-in) to be .011 total, while Brewer was .011 RT, 4.503 (4.50 dial-in) to be .014 total for a .003 margin of victory in the opening final of the weekend. Nick McGowan and Troy Williams were the semi-finalists kicking off their weekends with a nice semi-final finish.
Andy Lloyd, Super64 Winner
McCarty Auto Parts Friday kicked off with a time trial session and directly into eliminations as the day moved on. $10,000 on the line brought out some of the best runs of the weekend on the opening day of the event. As the cards fell, Eliot, Maine’s Kyle Cultrera parked Kelly Fenton-Taylor’s ’06 Miller on the dance floor. Cultrera was .005, 4.750 (4.74 dial-in) in the final round to be .015 total alongside Cameron Manuel’s .004, 4.705 (4.69 dial-in) to take the win by .004 margin of victory on McCarty Auto Parts Friday. Jim Ryan was the lone semi-finalist while Rick Hustwayte and Brandon Lane were the quarterfinalists on Friday’s race.
McCarty Auto Parts Friday Winner – Kyle Cultrera
FuelTech Saturday brought the main event payday of $20,000 to the front of everyone’s minds and the thought of hoisting the big check at the event of the day was obviously the top goal of the day. Numerous tight packages, narrow red lights and just all out moves on the racetrack brought many highs and lows throughout FuelTech Saturday but it left Virginia’s Michael “Otis” Adams and Georgia’s Bailey Ferraro standing as the final round came to the staging lanes one last time. Adams took a reaction time advantage and never looked back, .015 RT, 4.687 (4.68 dial in) to be .022 total, locking out Ferraro’s .027 bulb, dead on 4 efforts. Severn Johnson was the lone semi-finalist while Craig Marable and Duane Allen were the quarterfinalists in main event Saturday. The first of two Footbrake48 shootouts was held on Saturday and brought a first-time winner when all the cards were laid on the table, Luke Miller of Sandston, Virginia took home his first win over Sean Sparkman. Miller was .019 total in the final round, locking out Sparkman’s .031, two above efforts. Devin Dudley and Joshua Bess were the semi-finalists on Saturday’s bottom bulb shootout.
FuelTech Saturday Winner – Michael “Otis” Adams
O’Reilly Auto Parts Sunday caps the weekend with another $10,000 to win pay day, a perfect run by Saturday runner-up Bailey Ferraro and some added thrashes and drama in the late rounds. Hazlehurst, Georgia’s Tripp McCarty was having himself one fine Sunday with numerous run after run with electricity coming on in his lane. McCarty ran into Matt Edwards in the final round, who had a day of his own with a transmission cooler breaking and his team getting creative to make each round following the breakage, including towing the car to the lanes, just breaking the beams on his bye run at 7 cars and more. As both drivers did burnouts in the finals, Edwards had a fuel leak in which McCarty cut his car off and awaited on Edwards to make the necessary repairs to be able to run the final, which was well worth the wait. McCarty, .004 RT, 4.657 (4.64 dial-in) stacks up .021 total while Edwards, .007 RT, 4.926 (4.91 dial-in) to be .023 total, giving Tripp McCarty a big win by only two thousandths of a second (.002 MOV). Tom Pistole and Marty Dabney were the semi-finalists while Brian Martin, Lee Dixon and TJ Harper ended their Sunday in the quarter finals. The second Footbrake48 shootout concluded on Sunday with Ethan Watson taking his Fredericksburg, Virginia based ’86 Cougar to the winner’s circle over Richmond’s Keith Dunkum. Watson grabbed the win in a double breakout affair in the final round over Dunkum. Daniel Anspach and Robbie Darnell stopped their quest for victory in the semi-finals.
O’Reilly Auto Parts Sunday Winner – Tripp McCarty
New for 2022, the Triple Threat Bracket Series is collecting points across all three events, crowning a series champion at the end of the season along with a number of prizes and giveaways for the top earners. After our first three races (one event), Kyle Cultrera leads the way over Michael Adams, Bailey Ferraro, Cory Gulitti and Cameron Manuel rounding out the top five, with only 36 points separating the five drivers above. The next race on schedule is the Triple Threat Bracket Series: Mega Bucks event on July 20-24, a pre-entry event with only 400 entries, more information and purchasing entries can be done by clicking HERE.
Round-By-Round Results
Thursday’s Super 64 Shootout: CLICK HERE
McCarty Auto Parts Friday: CLICK HERE
FuelTech Saturday: CLICK HERE
O’Reilly Auto Parts Sunday: CLICK HERE
Saturday’s Footbrake48: CLICK HERE
Sunday’s Footbrake48: CLICK HERE
Triple Threat Bracket Series: Points Standings – CLICK HERE
