All Breazeal, All The Time in Evadale
Ben Bruce Raceway - Evadale, Texas
Event #2 of 8 - April 25th, 2009
Race Report by Chris Graves
Photos by Lisa Thomas
Ben Bruce Raceway in Evadale, Texas welcomed the SWJFA series for their second event of the season on Saturday, April 25th. The ten car field included two new members to the group, Chad Daigre and Jay Briggs. Daigre and Briggs both hail from Lake Charles, Louisiana and made their SWJFA debut in two sharp looking racecars. Daigre in a 2006 Rooman Motorsports 200” car with a 400 Chevy and Briggs in a 200” Wizard’s Racecar with a 406 Chevy.
Hot off his comeback win, Richard Brady looked to hold his points lead after the season opener in Odessa by doing well here in Evadale. Rick Grindstaff in the “Quarterflash” and Steve Dunkin in “Foolish Pleasure” got the qualifying action started with Grindstaff clicking off a nice 7.90 at 167 mph to Dunkin’s 8.61 at 117 mph. Roy Rogers laid down a career best 7.75 at 169 mph right off the trailer, along side Richard Brady who went 8.08 at 162 mph. Chad Daigre rolled through next and put down a nice opening lap, 7.96 at 164 mph with Thomas Porter and the “Bone Peddler” in the other lane with an 8.85 at 148 mph. Your two time Champion Keith Breazeal lined up next with Ross Laird, who debut a new look paint scheme at this event. Breazeal took the top spot from Rogers with a strong 7.70 at 171 mph and Laird clicked off an 8.66 at 153 mph.
(Keith Breazeal)
Thomas Porter and Roy Rogers started off the final qualifying session. Rogers had troubles while Porter improved to an 8.29 at 150 mph to qualify number eight, while Rogers would make his best start from the number two spot. Breazeal laid down another strong run, 7.71 at 170 mph and Brady improved to a 7.99 at 159 mph, good for sixth with Breazeal still on top. Grindstaff repeated his nice 7.90 performance in second session and Laird improved to an 8.06 at 162 mph. Mike Millsap cruised down the strip in his first qualifier; a check out lap on a brand new car. In second session, Millsap put the throttle down and went 7.79 at 160 mph on his first full pass on the car, which qualified him third. Jay Briggs struggled a bit in qualifying but rounded out the ten car field with a 10.30 elapsed time. Here’s a stat you probably won’t believe, but this marked Keith Breazeal’s first number one qualifying effort and he would lead the field into eliminations for the first time in his career, despite his two championships including five event wins and seven final rounds.
(Roy Rogers)
(Ross Laird)
Final Qualifying Order:
1) Keith Breazeal (Cypress, Texas) – 7.708 @ 171.43
2) Roy Rogers (Corpus Christi, Texas) – 7.754 @ 169.68
3) Mike Millsap (Sachse, Texas) – 7.791 @ 160.20
4) Rick Grindstaff (Dickinson, Texas) – 7.901 @ 167.54
5) Chad Daigre (Lake Charles, Louisiana) – 7.965 @ 164.65
6) Richard Brady (Ft. Worth, Texas) – 7.994 @ 159.86
7) Ross Laird (Ardmore, Oklahoma) – 8.061 @ 162.28
8) Thomas Porter (Burleson, Texas) – 8.293 @ 150.91
9) Steve Dunkin (Aledo, Texas) – 8.614 @ 117.37
10) Jay Briggs (Lake Charles, Louisiana) – 10.304 @ 83
(Mike Millsap)
Steve Dunkin paired up with Mike Millsap in the first pair of round one. Dunkin got a freebie as Millsap suffered the “new car blues” and trans-brake issues backing up. Dunkin went 8.09 at 162 to advance. Thomas Porter and Ross Laird were out next and Laird jumped the gun on the tree with a .357 bulb which DQed a nice 7.96 at 162 mph, while Porter laid down an 8.24 at 156 to advance. Rick Grindstaff rolled out next along side Chad Daigre. Daigre’s car lost fire on the burnout and unfortunately that ended his SWJFA debut event, while Grindstaff ripped off a career best 7.84 at 169 mph to get the win. Keith Breazeal came out next in a big match-up with Roy Rogers. The number one and two qualifiers were doing battle here, as a result of the “luck of the draw” pairing procedures used in determining each round in the SWJFA series. Breazeal cut a close .402 reaction time and backed it up with a 7.70 at 171 mph to take out Rogers’ who also had first round mechanical issues. Jay Briggs and Richard Brady were the final pair of the opening round and Briggs got the win with a 9.93 at 77 mph after Brady encountered transmission issues at the drop of the green. For those in the right lane, this was a great round, but those in the left lane were all plagued by troubles of some sort.
First Round Results:
(W) Steve Dunkin (.435 rt) 8.09 at 162 mph vs. (L) Mike Millsap (No Time)
(W) Thomas Porter (.505 rt) 8.24 at 156 mph vs. (L) Ross Laird (.357 rt) 7.96 at 162 mph
(W) Rick Grindstaff (.392 rt) 7.84 at 169 mph vs. (L) Chad Daigre (No Time)
(W) Keith Breazeal (.402 rt) 7.70 at 171 mph vs. (L) Roy Rogers (No Time)
(W) Jay Briggs (.553 rt) 9.93 at 77 mph vs. (L) Richard Brady (3.11 rt) 25.24 at 45 mph
(Richard Brady)
The semi-final brought five winners into the field with Thomas Porter drawing the bye run. In a carbon copy of his first round performance, Keith Breazeal put down another stout 7.70 at 171 mph pass to take out Jay Briggs. Rick Grindstaff got caught sleeping at the tree but drove around Steve Dunkin with another strong run, 7.86 at 168 mph, to take out Steve Dunkin’s 8.29 at 142 mph. Porter lined up with Chad Daigre who jumped in the bye run spot to give the fans another side by side pair to cheer on. Porter clicked off an 8.27 at 153 mph to advance to the semi-final, while Daigre went 7.88 at 167 mph on his pass.
(Chad Daigre)
“I had a blast in my first outing with the group. I wish I could have done a little better but we still had a lot of fun. We are excited about Denton in a few weeks (May 30th at North Star Dragway) and really enjoy racing with this group of people. I appreciate all the advice I have received from them,” said Daigre.
Second Round Results:
(W) Keith Breazeal (.508 rt) 7.70 at 171 mph vs. (L) Jay Briggs (.888 rt) 10.96 at 61 mph
(W) Rick Grindstaff (.604 rt) 7.86 at 168 mph vs. (L) Steve Dunkin (.460 rt) 8.29 at 142 mph
(W) Thomas Porter (.491 rt) 8.27 at 153 mph vs. (Bye)
(Jay Briggs)
With three cars advancing to the semi-final, the lucky bye round card was drawn by Keith Breazeal. Guess what he ran? 7.70 at 171 mph! So needless to say Breazeal would advance to the final round and face the winner from the Grindstaff vs. Porter match-up. Porter over anticipated the tree and went red by .015, handing the win to Grindstaff who went 9.83 at 92 mph to advance to his second straight final round.
Semi-Final Round Results:
(W) Rick Grindstaff (.504 rt) 9.83 at 92 mph vs. (L) Thomas Porter (.385 rt) 8.26 at 146 mph
(W) Keith Breazeal (.390 rt) 7.70 at 171 mph vs. (L) (Bye)
Porter ran consistently in the 8.20 zone all day and posted his best SWJFA event finish, congrats to the “Bone Peddler” team on their good showing in Evadale. Breazeal looked to repeat from his win at this event last year, while Grindstaff hoped he could eliminate the goose egg under the win column after posting two career runner-up finishes, most recently at the last event at Penwell Knights Raceway. Breazeal definitely had the performance advantage on paper although Grindstaff had been running career numbers in the “Quarterflash” ride. The call went out to fire the final pair of the evening and it was time to declare a winner.
Breazeal was out first and blasted to low elapsed time and top speed of the event, 7.655 at 172.22 mph to knock out Grindstaff who has his hands full as the car shot towards the Christmas tree at the hit of the throttle.
Final Round Results:
(W) Keith Breazeal (.503 rt) 7.65 at 172 mph vs. (L) Rick Grindstaff (.809 rt) 12.80 at 101 mph
“It’s great to win again here in Evadale. I want to make sure and thank my crew, my family and friends who came out in support, the Southwest Junior Fuel Association and the track crew for all their hard work,” said Breazeal.
(Keith Breazeal Winner's Circle)
With his series high sixth career event win, Breazeal found himself in his usual seat atop the Smiley’s Racing Products / Champion Spark Plugs points standings with final round bound Rick Grindstaff in a strong second. Grindstaff may not have eliminated that goose egg in his 0-3 final round record, but posting two final round finishes and career best numbers isn’t too shabby for the team out of Dickinson, Texas.
(Rick Grindstaff and team "Quarterflash")
By winning the season opener, Richard Brady led the points briefly before the conclusion of the Evadale event, this is the only time period that Keith Breazeal’s name has not been at the top of the standings since the SWJFA’s first event in 2007. Brady’s first round exit dropped him to third in the standings with Steve Dunkin and Ross Laird rounding out the top five after two of eight events completed on the 2009 tour, the next being Saturday May 30th at North Star Dragway in Denton, Texas.
Click here to see photos from this event.
