Reilly and crew notch emotional win

By Wendy Curling

Modified points leader “One Eyed Dave” Reilly drove his wheel standing 1983 “Blind Faith” Chevy Camaro to an emotional win Saturday night at Northeast Dragway just one day after the passing of a long-time family friend. Reilly’s crewman, Ralph “Bummy” Wellman lost his father-in-law, Chuck Graves Friday after an extended illness. “Chuck always wanted to come out and watch us race but he never quite made it”, said Reilly and with a nod to the sky he added, “This one’s for Chuck”.

Reilly faced Joe Higginbotham in the final where he posted a .027 reaction time and ran 6.31 on his 6.27 dial while Higginbotham broke out on top end by .008, giving Reilly his third win of the year.

Kent Sessoms of Ahoskie picked up Top Eliminator win number three in his deadly consistent 1984 Chevy Camaro in a side by side race to the stripe against Brian Maine of Gates. Maine ran dead on his 4.99 dial but Sessoms hammered the tree with a .008 reaction time and ran 5.58 on his 5.57 dial to take the win by a margin of .017.

Sessoms, who will turn 55 on Father’s Day, has raced for as long as he can remember. “Me and my brother used to race mules on my daddy’s farm when I was nine years-old”, he reminisced. These days instead of one mule he reins in about eight hundred horses under the hood.

Nathan Lilley of Camden took over the Top Eliminator points chase in yet another borrowed car. Lilley, whose natural driving talents have caught the attention of many car owners, never seems to be with out a ride.

After an early week plea to borrow a car for Saturday’s upcoming race, Lilley received several offers and accepted that of first responder, Mark Travelpiece, who offered his 1989 dragster.

Lilley, on his first time in the car, made it to the semi-finals and even posted a perfect reaction time in an earlier round solidifying his abilities as a driver and beefing up his racing resume.

Tony Boone of Tyner won first place in the Street Class but after an early round loss, gave up the points lead to runner up, Rich Walker who won all rounds except the final.

In the final, Boone was best off the line and ran 7.48 on his 7.40 to take the win while Walker ran under his dial resulting in a break out foul.

Fred Cole of Chesapeake found victory lane for the first time this year in the Pro Bike class with his final round win over Bubba Driscoll. Cole, who ran dead on his 7.50 dial for the win said, “The bike was perfect all night and ran the number each round”. Cole then added, “I’ve been able to win every where else except here and it feels good to finally win”.

Sierra Eure of Suffolk celebrated her first career win in her third season as a Junior Dragster competitor. Eure, who relies on her own judgment to dial in her Half-scale dragster, ran dead on her 9.17 dial in the final round against points leader, Erin Arledge of Chesapeake who fouled with a red light start.

The Performance Fabricators 10.5 Class will headline Saturday’s action with heads-up, wheels-up, racing excitement along with Bracket racing in all five regular classes. Gates will open at 1, time runs begin at 3, followed by eliminations at 5 p.m.

Friday night Test and Tune will be held from 7 to 10 p.m.

Log onto www.northeastdragway.net for more details on these and other upcoming events.