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Dustin
Nesloney, Chris Marshall Double Up to Lead MWDRS Winners
at Fall Throwdown in T-Town
TULSA, Okla. (Oct. 11, 2022) — Points leaders Dustin
Nesloney (Stroud Safety Pro Mod) and Chris Marshall (J&A
Service Top Alcohol Funny Car) won two Summit Racing
Equipment Mid-West Drag Racing Series (MWDRS) presented by
J&A Service races in one weekend at the fall Throwdown in
T-Town over the weekend. The Osage Casino & Hotel Tulsa
Raceway Park event played host to the completion of the
MWDRS Great Bend Nationals in addition to the Throwdown.
Along with Nesloney and Marshall sweeping the two
headlining classes, Tulsa victories went to Bob Henry
(Race Star Wheels Top Dragster), Mark Griffin (Pat Musi
Racing Engines Top Sportsman), Dave Pierce (Jerry Bickel
Race Cars Pro Street), Aaron Wells (Pro Mod Slammers), Sam
Wills (Pingel Top Fuel Motorcycle), Jonathan McClain (B&C
Trailers Pro Jr. Dragster), and Kale Moberly (Zimmerman
Properties Sportsman Jr. Dragster).
The Throwdown was the final race of the season for the
series’ new Pingel Top Fuel Motorcycle class. Ten riders
joined the series across three races, but in the end it
was Sam Wills taking the final event win and the 2022
series championship. Wills was tuned by Pro Mod event
runner-up Todd Martin, a former motorcycle racer.
The Great Bend Nationals winners were Karl Jones in Top
Dragster, Mike Secrest in Top Sportsman, Alexis Kesterson
in Pro Jr. Dragster, and Tyler Wells in Sportsman Jr.
Dragster.
PRO MOD
Dustin Nesloney went into Tulsa looking for redemption
after going red in the final round of the last race at
U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan. The Pro Mod
points leader found redemption and more as he drove his
ProCharger-boosted ‘17 Camaro to the MWDRS Great Bend
Nationals win over Aaron Wells on Friday morning, then
notched another victory in the Throwdown portion of the
weekend on Saturday night. His only bye run of the weekend
came in the final round of the Tulsa race, as opponent
Todd Martin broke an oil pump and wasn’t able to make the
run.
“Rolling into Tulsa, we knew what we wanted to do, we just
didn't really think it was going to play out like it did,”
Nesloney said. “The cards fell in our favor. Aside from
that, the Proline team and Brandon [Stroud] and my crew,
Cody and the guys, it's pretty much like a machine. It's
repetition over and over. I heard them announcing 'they
make it look easy.' It's not as easy as people think it
is. It's all about the details. There's a lot that goes
into it. You don't get to where we're at and run the runs
like we do consistency without working at it. I'm still in
kind of a daze over the whole thing.”
While Nesloney’s third win of the season didn’t result
from a side-by-side final round like his first win at the
season opener, it did take a lot of effort to reach that
final round. Between testing, qualifying, and eliminations
for two races, Nesloney and his team made over 10 runs
down the Tulsa eighth mile.
He started the Tulsa race with a 3.698 at 205.07 over
Keith Goolsby’s 3.989, then second-round opponent Ed
Thornton went red on a 3.723 pass, so Nesloney lifted to a
4.383. He stepped up to a 3.662 at 213.43 to defeat Steven
Whiteley in the semifinals.
“I literally felt like we were in such a groove,” Nesloney
said. “You were gonna have to swing for it if you were
gonna come after us. It's kind of crazy how far we've come
since October [2021] when we debuted the car and brushed
the wall. The car was a handful when we first got it. Over
the season, we've lined it out and it's shown that we
steadily worked at it. It's not just me, it's Brandon and
the crew that maintains the car. There's a lot that goes
into running a successful program. It's not just, ‘hey,
you show up and things work.’ We work hard at what we do,
and it paid off.”
After seven of eight races, Nesloney now has three wins
and two runner-up finishes. Nesloney continued to heap on
the praise for tuner Brandon Stroud, Proline Racing, and
Nesloney’s crew members for their consistent success.
“These things are a handful, especially when you're
running in the 3.60s with one,” said Nesloney, who also
thanked his wife and kids for supporting his racing
program. “But when I get in that car, I worry about
nothing but doing what I need to do. Brandon's got the
tuneup, the guys have the car, I do what I've got to do.
That's it. I'm not second-guessing what they do. They do
their job, I do my job.”
Nesloney clinched the championship during the Tulsa race,
but the Texas native still plans on attending the Xtreme
Texas World Finals, Oct. 21-22, at Xtreme Raceway Park in
Ferris, Texas. Last time he was there, he and fellow
Proline driver Daniel Pharris ran side-by-side 3.57s in
the final round. He’s looking for a similar performance
this time around.
“When we go to Ferris, if the conditions are right, we're
going to let it hang out,” Nesloney said.
TOP ALCOHOL FUNNY CAR
Just a few weeks after winning the last MWDRS race at
Martin, Chris Marshall cleaned house in Top Alcohol Funny
Car at Tulsa, qualifying No. 1 and winning both the Great
Bend and Tulsa races in his Disturbed Racing Camaro. He
defeated championship challenger Annie Whiteley in the
Great Bend final round, then knocked out Texas driver
Bryan Brown in the Tulsa final. The clean sweep was a
much-needed boost for Marshall as he looks to finish out
the season strong.
“That was the way I dreamed it up,” Marshall said.
“Obviously for the points, but also for the big checks.
The money is really important right now, so that was the
best outcome possible. We got four checks since they pay
$1,000 for the No. 1 qualifiers. We held the No. 1 spot
for both races, so that was really cool. We definitely got
the maximum amount of money we could have.”
Marshall realized he hurt his engine in the final round at
Martin, and without spare parts due to supply chain
issues, Marshall had to dip into his “do not use except in
case of emergency” parts for the Great Bend race. The
parts held up, as he defeated Whiteley with a 3.614 at
212.90 in the final round. A connecting rod failed in the
final qualifier for Tulsa, though, so Marshall had to swap
in a spare motor that carried him through eliminations.
The spare motor showed out in the Tulsa final, helping
Marshall record a 3.553 at 214.79 to beat Brown’s 3.641 at
209.85. Not only was that the quickest pass in the brief
history of MWDRS Top Alcohol Funny Car, but it was also
the overall quickest eighth-mile pass for a Top Alcohol
Funny Car. Defending MWDRS champion Sean Bellemeur went
3.556 to the eighth mile when he set the quarter-mile NHRA
TAFC record.
“The conditions were killer and we really needed to win
and put a stamp on it,” Marshall said of the record run.
“It was a really fun pass. The car was wheels up the whole
way. I was driving it hard. It's night time and the shift
lights and cameras are flashing. It was just amazing. I
could feel that it was fast. It's a quarter-mile track and
we only run eighth-mile, so I get to see the scoreboard
when I go by it. I told my guys, ‘Man, if I wasn't
strapped in this car, I swear I would've jumped out before
I got stopped because I was so excited.’ I couldn't even
believe it.”
On top of the mechanical wear and tear, Marshall and his
team, which includes wife Briana, were pushed to the
limits as they made the maximum number of runs for the two
races. Prior to the Tulsa final, Marshall used a 3.671 at
211.36 to knock out Bill Bernard and his 3.70 in the first
round, then singled his way to a 3.597 at 213.50 in the
semis.
“We worked on the car almost every run,” Marshall said,
adding that it was beyond routine maintenance. “Something
went wrong here or there. We busted our butts. This was
the first race Briana was back for. She missed a few races
there and we won that one in Martin. She's back and she's
a big part of the crew. She was helping change motors.
She's right there in the middle of it all. It was
important that she was here. We didn't have enough crew
without her for the amount of work we had to go through.
Twelve runs in a couple days, that's a lot of runs for
us.”
TOP DRAGSTER
Two Oklahoma drivers, Owasso’s Bob Henry and Broken
Arrow’s Jeremy Maples, met up in the Tulsa Top Dragster
final round. With a .002 reaction time and a 4.327 on a
4.32 dial-in, Henry had a package that couldn’t be beat by
Maples and his .008 light and 4.431 on a 4.42 dial-in.
It was a Kansas vs. Colorado final round in Top Dragster
to decide the Great Bend race winner. Mulvane,
Kansas-based Karl Jones used a .010 light and a 4.67 on a
4.65 dial-in to hold off Delaina Whiteley’s .016 light and
4.314 on a 4.30 dial-in in her Grand Junction,
Colorado-based dragster.
TOP SPORTSMAN
Texan Mark Griffin qualified in the middle of the pack in
Top Sportsman, but he used consistent passes throughout
eliminations in his ’68 Camaro to race his way to meet up
with No. 2 qualifier Jimmy Lewis and his ’08 GXP in the
Tulsa final round. Griffin took a slight starting line
advantage and was ahead again at the finish line, winning
with a 4.485 on a 4.47 dial-in over Lewis’ 4.063 on a 4.04
dial-in. It was Griffin’s first-ever race win in his
unique Compressed Air Supercharging-boosted Camaro.
Mike Secrest and Kyle Baker faced off in the Great Bend
final round. Baker left first in his ’08 Cobalt, but
slowed to a 4.214 on a 4.10 dial-in. Meanwhile, Secrest
posted a 4.579 on a 4.55 dial-in in his ’03 Grand Am to
get the win.
PRO STREET
In its second race with the series, Pro Street saw Dave
Pierce pick up another victory in his ’03 GTO after
winning the spring Throwdown. He was set to face John
Gentry and his ’84 Cutlass in the final round, but Gentry
wasn’t able to make the call. Still, Pierce raced on to a
4.251 at 165.78 to take the win.
JR. DRAGSTER
In Pro Jr. Dragster, veteran driver Jonathan McClain
picked up the win over Casidy Terry, who was making her
season debut. McClain won with a 7.993 on a 7.97 dial-in,
while Terry posted an 8.037 on a 7.98 dial-in.
Points leader Alexis Kesterson took the Great Bend Pro Jr.
Dragster win, padding her lead over Brody Zimmerman, who
she beat in the final round.
Kale Moberly scored a major Sportsman Jr. Dragster win,
defeating Jovee Brundidge in the final round of the Tulsa
race. Moberly was better at both ends of the track,
leaving first and running a 9.017 on an 8.99 dial-in over
Brundidge’s 9.104 on an 8.90 dial-in.
The Wells family had three cars in the final rounds of the
Great Bend race. Along with Aaron Wells taking runner-up
honors in Pro Mod, the brother-sister duo Tyler and Kenzie
Wells faced off in the Sportsman Jr. Dragster final round.
Tyler turned on the win light, picking up his second win
of the season.
The 2022 MWDRS season will conclude Oct. 21-22 at the
Xtreme Texas World Finals at Xtreme Raceway Park in
Ferris, Texas.
ABOUT MWDRS
The Summit Racing Equipment Mid-West Drag Racing Series is
an all-eighth-mile drag racing organization with
headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The series is headlined
by Pro Modified and Top Alcohol Funny Car, with additional
classes including Top Sportsman, Top Dragster, and two Jr.
Dragster categories. The 2022 MWDRS schedule consists of
eight national events. For more information on the MWDRS,
visit
www.MidWestDragRacingSeries.com.
Pro Mod winner Dustin Nesloney
Top Alcohol Funny Car winner Chris Marshall
Top Fuel Motorcycle winner and series champion Sam Wills
Pro Street winner Dave Pierce
Top Dragster winner Bob Henry
Top Sportsman winner Mark Griffin
Pro Jr. Dragster winner Jonathan McClain
Sportsman Jr. Dragster winner Kale Moberly
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