MIR Brings Home Team Championship in 2024

September 18th, 2024

   Story courtesy of:  MIR

MECHANICSVILLE, MARYLAND MARYLAND (September 18th, 2024) – The WDRA Summit Racing Equipment Team Finals returned to familiar territory this year as Team Maryland International Raceway (MIR) made the return to Keystone Raceway in New Alexandria, PA. The energy was felt first thing Thursday morning as racers from MIR, Sumerduck Dragway, US13 Dragway, Keystone Raceway, Empire Dragway, Lancaster Motorplex, and Beaver Springs Dragway would be ready to duel it out all weekend long.

Thursday would start with a Test & Tune from 1pm to 6pm giving a chance to all racers to make the needed adjustments to the cars for the weekend. After testing, a Pit Bike race would be held. The pit bike race would be an all Keystone final.

Friday’s activities would start with the Track Operators race. Christopher Higgins, Director of Marketing and PR at MIR, would enter a 2013 Ford F150 into the category. However, the race for Higgins would be cut short going -.002 on the R/T and be out first round. Team photos would be taken after the track operators’ race and the Race of Champions would be called to the lanes. Current MIR points leaders Jeffrey Jones (Top ET), Bobby Mattera (Mod ET), Austin Keys (Junior Dragster), and leading motorcycle points earner Louis “Kip” Green Jr, would represent in Box, No Box, Junior Dragster, and Motorcycle. Jones, Keys, and Green Jr would be eliminated early, but Mattera would start to build momentum for Team MIR with his win. US13’s Mike Dilorenzo would win Box, Empire’s Tyler Spialek would win Sportsman, and Sumerduck’s Mike Schulz and Brooklyn Bunch would win in Motorcycle and Junior Dragster.

Time trials for Friday’s Gamblers Race would start after the Race of Champions is completed followed by eliminations. Keystone’s Jesse Azzato would win Box, Emipre’s Kevin Fuller would win No Box, MIR’s Calvin Weaver would win Junior Dragster, Sumerduck’s Mike Schulz would win Motorcycle, and Beaver Springs Kyle Rhoads would win Sportsman.

Saturday would kick off with 1st round of Sunday’s Gamblers race at 930am for all racers. Once the Gamblers first round was completed, first round of the Main event would start. Things looked bleak early as half the MIR Team would be eliminated in first round, but the remaining racers were determined to fight all the way to the end. As things would happen to play out, we would see an all-Team MIR final in Box and No Box and 4 of the final 5 cars in Juniors would be from MIR. In Box, Buddy McGowan would meet Blocker and teammate Ben Calhoun with McGowan taking the win. In No Box, Blocker Bobby Mattera would meet teammate Keven Yates in the final where they would have a tight race with Mattera taking the win. Calvin Weaver, who may be the hottest Junior Dragster racer in the country currently, took the win over US13’s Maddison Gordy. Sumerduck’s Mike Schulz would take the win in Motorcycle and Keytone’s Bradley Knauff would win Sportsman.

This year, Team MIR came in with a major chip on their shoulders after missing the championship by half a point in 2023. This year, Team MIR and Team Beaver Springs would be able to pull away from the rest of the pack and Team Beaver kept the points close until the closing rounds of the main event. Team MIR would be announced as the 2024 Champions with a 17.5 point lead over Team Beaver. Final points totals would be Team MIR with 73.5, Team Beaver with 56, Keystone with 44, Empire with 39, Lancaster with 37, US13 with 35, and Sumerduck with 18.

The Gamblers race would be picked back up starting with Re-Entry starting Sunday morning. MIR racer Joe Martin would win Box. US13’s Jimmie Miller III and MIR’s Louis Kip Greene JR would meet in the Motorcycle final and decide to not run the final and split everything down the middle. Keytstone’s Nick Bowman would win No Box, Lancaster’s Austin Able would win Junior Dragsters, and Beavers Dale Rhoads would win Sportsman.



 

Congratulations again to Team MIR for bringing Team Finals Championship back to MIR!