Thu, 10 Apr 2014, 14:52 PM Wayne surprises Davenport in A/FD; Whynaught and DeStaute repeat at Sacramento Raceway's

Courtesy of NHRA Field Marketing

SACREMENTO, Calif. -- Nostalgia Reunion Nostalgia Reunion Wayne Surprises Davenport in A/FD; Whynaught and DeStaute Repeat at Sacramento Raceway's Nostalgia Reunion It was race number two for groups 1 and 2 at Sacramento Raceway's Nostalgia Reunion April 5-6. Although not quite the shock of a California earthquake, Bill Wayne's win over Ryan Davenport was a shaker nonetheless. Kaplan-Davenport, coming off their dominating victory at the 2014 March Meet, looked as good at the Nostalgia Reunion as they did last month at Auto Club Famoso Raceway.

In Saturday's session, while most of the field struggled to hook up and attain elapsed time nirvana, Ryan Davenport took a magical carpet ride down the Sacramento Raceway asphalt with an ethereal 6.157 at 216.90; the next closest time to that was Shawn Corbari's 6.404. For #7777 Wayne, qualifying was a pure and unmitigated ordeal. Wayne's best effort was an 8.048, that was only good for first alternate. Then, the sevens started flowing. Kin Bates, the #6 qualifier, broke a crank in the second qualifying session, and Wayne, by rule, was inserted into Bates' position, giving the team from Arizona new life. In eliminations, Davenport had the better hand with a pair of 6.20s; Wayne showed 6.30s. In the run for the Wally, and with both drivers all in, Ryan inexplicably fouled, and Bill put down a winning 6.290-213.07.

In NE 1, 2013 Hot Rod Heritage series champion, Mark Whynaught, repeated his 2013 Nostalgia Reunion victory, as did Ed DeStaute in NE 3. Whynaught, very close to the precipice with his near perfect ..0006 RT in the final round, was luckier than opponent John Brewer who stepped into the abyss with a -.007 RT and the automatic DQ. Rosemead, Calif., Ed DeStaute, the #1 qualifier in NE 3, got to the winner's circle again in a nail biter over Ron Kolb. Both drivers left with identical .007 RTs, but Ron was just a hair too quick at 9.592 as Ed exhaled with a winning 9.619. Another number one qualifier was Ontario's Phil Sigmon (8.601) in NE 2. Sigmon, like DeStaute, won over a loaded field, downing the always tough Miguel Lomas in the final round.

So far, 2014 has been a good year for the 7.0 Pro team of Caldwell-High. They put an exclamation mark on their March Meet win with an impressive performance at the Nostalgia Reunion. In E1, they eliminated 2013 Hot Rod Heritage Series champion Bobby Cottrell with a 7.003, and then grabbed another Wally with a hole shot victory over Paul "Pete" Peterson in the final round. In Junior Fuel, it was Fred Notzka over Marc McCormick. Marc left first, but Fred had the differential covered by the 1/8 mile, winning a close race-7.189 to 7.252.

The gassers also provided plenty of action for the sun-drenched crowd on a beautiful spring weekend in the Sacramento Valley. Ken Ratzloff 's '53 Studebaker won A/G over a red-lighting Steve Faller, and Jesse Wooton (8.585) survived a tense double breakout final over Randy Armstrong (8.566) in B/G. Mike Mangano, a familiar figure in the Sacramento Raceway's winner circle, won C/G, and it was Mike Rabener over Sam Tucker in D/G. In Hot Rod, Greg Racicot's '63 Nova prevailed over Redondo Beach's Kurt Kaemerle.

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