XENIA – A busy Saturday at Kil-Kare Dragway brought out 39 young drivers for the Junior Dragster Challenge, which included a King of Hill competition that wound up crowning a Queen. This along side of a sizable turnout for regular bracket racing led to an exciting day of great racing.

The super pro car count hit 122 for the first round, with the eight quarterfinalists staged up by round five. In that round, Matthew Barrett of Beavercreek broke out with a .503 light but picked up the win after Mark Liddy of Kettering redlighted. Andy Montgomery of South Charleston picked up the double break win over Billy Back of New Carlisle and Brian Gifford of Creston, who was competing for the first time at Kil-Kare, picked up the win after Jason Ford of Kettering hung up on a red light. Dean Howard of New Carlisle moved on to the semis after Terry Terrell of New Carlisle broke out.

The semi final round put Howard in the final after Barrett’s Daytona broke on the launch; Gifford nailed his 6.70 dial in and picked up the win against Montgomery, who ran a 6.14 on his 6.15 dial in. 

In the final, Gifford’s streak was stopped short by a red light as Howard ran dead on his 6.30 dial in for the win.

In the pro quarterfinal John Engle of Xenia won his round against Doug Honstead of Dayton and Shawn Stacy of Beavercreek picked a win over James Sanders of Riverside. Mike Davis of Moraine won over Paul Argeroplos of Riverside and Jason Neargarder ran right on his 10.35 dial in as Larry Tharp of Dayton redlighted.

In the semi final, Neargarder got the double breakout win over Engle; Davis also broke out of his run against Stacy, enough to send Stacy to the final.

The final round Stacy went to the winners circle, beating Neargarder by the reaction time.

In the sportsman quarterfinal, Doug Caplinger of Xenia won his round against Phil Borton of Urbana and Dennis Young of Kettering picked up a .508 light and the win over Danny Oiler Jr. of Springfield. Harold Young of Riverside got the bye run.

The semi final put Harold Young and Caplinger together for the round, Caplinger got the win with a 12.94 on a 12.98 dial in. Dennis Young got the bye run.

In the final, the close win was picked up by Caplinger, who ran a 12.94 on his 12.95 dial in with a .515 reaction; Young ran 12.21 on his 12.22 dial in with a .533 reaction.

There were 29 pro motorcycle competitors staged up for the first round, in quarterfinal action Nathan Thatcher of Dayton won his round over Steve Glover of Springfield, Russell Stewart of North Hampton had a break out run but moved on after Brad Shellhaas of Springfield redlighted. Russ Withem of Fairborn also had a redlight, sending on Todd Deiner of Xenia and Danny Oiler sr. of Springfield won his round against David Sawyer, also of Springfield.  

In the semi final, Stewart ran a 8.99 on his 9.02 dial in – good enough for the win over Olier, who ran dead on his dial in of 8.78, just didn’t have the best light. Thatcher moved on to the final running a 9.19 on his 9.09 dial in with a .536 reaction; Diener ran 9.91 on a 9.70 dial in, reaction of .566.

In the final, Thatcher picked up the double break out win over Stewart.

The high school bracket quarterfinal had Sam Bunch of Beavercreek picking up a double break out win over Aaron Sprauer of Kettering; Nick Barrett of Beavercreek broke out but won after Joe Hoskins of Fairborn redlighted. Jason Parriman of Dayton got the bye run.

Parriman picked a semifinal win after Bunch redlighted; Barrett got a bye run to the final, which he won with a 13.94 on a 13.85 dial in and a .556 reaction.

The junior dragster challenge was broken down into age groups for the day, then a King of the Hill final.

The 8-9-year-old final was won by Shayla Babb of Xenia. She ran a 12.97 on her 12.95 dial in, runner up James Smith of Beavercreek broke out.

In the 10, 11 and 12-year-old age group semi final, Ben Browder of Fairborn won his round after Andrew Casanova of Tipp City broke out; Megan Hughes of Jamestown won her round against Tyler Vance of New Carlisle. In the final, Hughes ran a 10.67 on her 10.66 dial in for the win, Browder ran 8.95 on his dial in of 8.91.

The 13 and up age group had 20 cars staged for round one, with the semi final moving up Brian Emory of Beavercreek after he ran a 7.91 on his 7.90 dial in; opponent Ron Baisden Jr. of Columbus broke out and Michael Bloomfield of Fairfield got the bye run. In that final, Bloomfield got the win and Emory the runner up spot.

The King of the Hill semis were fit for a queen, with two out of three of days winners being female. Babb got the bye run; Hughes redlighted her run sending Bloomfield to the final. In that final round of competition, Bloomfield broke out and Babb ran 13.05 on her 13.00 dial thus crowning her Queen of the Hill.

This Saturday don’t miss Super Saturday NHRA drags, adults $10 kids are free. Gates open at noon.