Event #1 won by Champion Rick Mortell

Event 1 Winner Richard Mortell	Event 1 left to right-Darrel Clark(sponsor) holding Gaby (trophy girl), Dino (coordinator), Georgia Dobbs(runner-up), Rick Mortell(winner), Mike Clark (coordinator), and Roger Preston (sponsor)	Event 1 Runnerup Georgia Dobbs
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To the line first was Neil Ramirez dialing a 13.10 against John Peters 13.40. John shot off the line with a .058 R/T, but Neil replied with a .043 R/T. The run ended with Neil taking the win with some skillful fender racing at the line. The next match-up was Robert Payton vs. Norman Goodman. Two beautiful yellow vettes, but two generations apart. Robert cut a .017 R/T to Norman's .112, but Norman was only 5/100ths over his dial at the end and took the win. Jeff Brohman lined up next against Louis Claps, but Jeff went red which made Louis the winner before he even had to hit the gas. The next pairing had Richard Mortell, defending champion, up against Steven Davis. These guys were both top 5 in points last season but it's tough to beat Mortell when he runs a 13.302 on a 13.30 dial. Talking about leaving crumbs on the table!! Next up was Charlie Bosco "Chuckster" vs. Jamie Jamison "Old Glory". They both left the line with similar R/T's but Bosco picked his numbers right and ran a 12.705 on a 12.70 dial. Good job Chuckster. Hmmm, would have been a great race between Bosco and Mortell!!! David Horn came to the line next and was paired up against 2 time champ of the challenge Dino Ramirez. After a very close finish, Dino would advance to round two. Keith Ramirez was next against Michael Theofel and Keith ended up being the third Ramirez of the night to advance after Theofel broke out. I think I might join the Ramirez school of drag racing soon!! The next race started with Mike Benhayon leaving the line with a .154 R/T and Talmadge Dobbs sleeping on the line with a .449 R/T. They both broke out at the end of the run, but Talmadge ran an 11.876 on an 11.88 dial to take the win. Talmadge, the challenge group has a prize for you at the next event that just might come in handy. Up next came Georgia Dobbs against Joe Gutierrez, "Joey_G". Georgia gave Joe a wink as she crossed the line with a 12.98 E.T. on a 12.96 dial. Joe had a better R/T but was 1/10th of a second off his dial. The final race of this round found me, Michael Clark lining up with a great friend and fierce competitor Doug Masters. I can think of many "drag racing stories" to explain why I did not advance to round two, but I was just plain beat!!!! Doug ran a 12.23 on a 12.18 dial and I broke out with an 11.95 on a 12.10 dial. I knew I was in trouble when he nailed me on the tree with a .035 light. Congrats Doug.

Doug Masters came back in round two to take on Goodman, but Goodman beat himself with a .037 red light sending Doug with an easy pass to round three. Richard Mortell lined up with Keith Ramirez, "The Kidd" in the second race of this round. Although they are both outstanding drivers, Richard sent Keith home to look up the meaning of "seat time" when he ran a 13.32 on a 13.28 dial to take the win. I think seat time is one of just a few things left for Keith to learn about Drag racing. He started his racing career just days after his 16th birthday last year!! Watch out Rick, he just might be the next Jeff Gordon in the sport of drag racing. Louis Claps was up next with Dino Ramirez. Dino left the line first but Louis cranked up that horsepower and took the win. The next race started out very strange!! Neil Ramirez dialed a 13.06 against Charlie Bosco's 12.70 dial. Neil leaves -.087 seconds early so Charlie tries to beat him with a -.043 red light. As we all know, he who goes red first loses first. This round wasn't a good one for team Ramirez, but they showed their class by staying to the end of the event to wish the remaining drivers good luck. The final race of round two was a race for who was going to do the dishes and laundry for the next week. Georgia and Talmadge Dobbs came to the line in two of the cleanest Corvettes you have ever seen. Talmadge had a love note reading "luv ya bye" to his wife but it was Georgia who cut the .084 light to Talmadge's .216 light. They both ran very close to their dial, but Georgia gave that wink again and took the win light. After these two rounds, can anyone say that the Corvette Challenge isn't a family sport? Between the Ramirez family and the Dobbs family, they cover 25% of the field!!!

Round three started out once again with Doug lining up first to race Charlie Bosco. They both left with great R/T's but Doug ran a 12.118 on a 12.10 dial and Bosco broke out by only 6/1000ths of a second. Now that's close racing!!! Georgia was up next against Louis Claps. Louis made up some ground on the track but, once again Georgia gave that wink at the end as she crossed with a 13.06 on a 12.96 dial advancing her to the semi-finals. Mortell had a bye run, which made it easy for him to head to the semi's.

The semi's started with you guessed it, Master starting the lineup running against Mortell. After a very close battle at the finish line, Mortell took the win sending Doug home with a runner-up award sponsored by Pride Auto Body. Georgia had the bye in this round so she didn't have to wink to win.

The final race of the evening found Richard and Georgia leaving the line for a ¼ mile race to the finish. Georgia did all she could to catch Richard but it's hard to win against the defending champ when he is so consistent and runs a 13.236 on a 13.23 dial. Congratulations Rick!!!

We then moved onto the winner's circle where we were joined by our sponsors, Roger Preston of Horsepower Sales of Pompano, Darrel Clark of Pride Auto Body in Pompano, and Beatriz Otero of Elite Cake Creations in Pembroke Pines. In the circle, trophies were handed to the winners by Beatriz's four year old daughter Gabriela. After the trophies sponsored by Horsepower Sales of Pompano were handed out, Richard as the overall winner had the job of picking the winner of our challenge raffle!! He reached into his trophy where the tickets were mixed and pulled out the winning ticket. Well, it must have been his lucky night. He pulled his own name and won $45.00 cash!!!!

Minutes after we wrapped things up the skies opened up and the rain began!! We all went back to the skid pad to talk about the night, thank our sponsors, and see Darrel's impressive drifting stunt with "the hooptie" golf cart sliding behind a huge F-350!! No, we are not adding drifting to the event!!!! If you want something new, come out and compete in the new GM Challenge Feb, 16th. Read below this article for more info. Thanks again to our sponsors, Moroso, Bob Mancuso, and all the drivers that made this a memorable night!! See you Feb. 16th!!!!!

Congratulate the drivers and discuss this race on www.corvetteforum.com.

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modified: January 22, 2008 - 9:31 pm