OWH's "Almost Live" USRA Div 1 Nats Coverage

[Bobhardt]

Paul, is Chicky there yet? I didnt see his name in the group 7 warmup and I thought for sure he would be in that.

[Paul Ciccarello]

I get there Saturday morning.

Paul

[oldweirdherald]

Check out the 2002 USRA Div 1 Nats Photo Gallery!
Even MORE Nats photos uploaded!!!
(hey - doesn't that Old Weird Dude EVER sleep?)
NATS PHOTO GALLERY - CLICK HERE

[cheater]

Paul, great pictures! I am especially impressed with the quality of the indoor shots.

What kind of digicam are you using?

Please tell Les, Gugu, and Benny hello for me.

[Bobhardt]

Keep up the good work Paul. I really enjoy the race reports and the pictures are fantastic.

[Larry LS]

Hey what's with the kiddies stools some guys are using. I wondered how Tore got that tall since last time I saw him.

[oldweirdherald]

Friday - August 2, 2002

Expert Group 27

D Quarter Final

1 - Larry Blanton - 383
2 - Jeremy Kranes - 382
3 - Mike Swiss - 379
4 - Mickey Johnston - 377
5 - Marcello Serra - 371 (Brazil)
6 - Bill Skinner - 353 (loose gear)

C Quarter Final

1 - "Beuf" Pederson - 410
2 - Benny Justice - 400
3 - Scott Fisher - 396
4 - Spove - 395
5 - Richard Curnutte - 391
6 - Gugu - 0 (Brazil) (dropped out to build gp 7 motors)

B Quarter Final

1 - Vlado Okali - 403
2 - Connie Aloise - 397
3 - Pat Ularte - 395
4 - Erkle - 389
5 - Gary Puetz - 376
6 - Jim Swofford - 314

A Quarter Final

1 - Marty Meltabarger - 403
2 - Greg Mills - 402
3 - Roman K - 395
4 - Ted Backo - 387
5 - Mike Krebs - 373
6 - Carlos Aloise - (didn't race - building motors)

Expert Group 27 B Semi

red - Scott Fisher
white - Larry Blanton
green - Spove
orange - Jeremy Kranes
blue - Mike Swiss
yellow - Mickey Johnston
purple - Beuf Pederson
black - Benny Justice

Starting at about 4:45 PM...

Expert Group 27 B Semi

1 - Mickey Johnston - 406
2 - Mike Swiss - 403
3 - Scott Fisher - 392
4 - Larry Blanton - 391
5 - Beuf Pederson - 388
6 - Jeremy Kranes - 380
7 - Benny Justice - 357
8 - Spove - 353

I delayed posting this a couple minutes so that the oddsmakers and bookies could get all their bets in (after they got the real results). If anyone had placed any bets on this race - they would have lost their shirt or made a killing.

(Ciccarello was already on the phone teasing me about not having it posted yet, minutes after the race ended... hence the title "Almost Live" )

Expert Group 27 A Semi

red - Connie Aloise
white - Marty Meltabarger
green - Erkle
orange - Vlado Okali
blue - Pat Ularte
yellow - Ted Backo
purple - Greg Mills
black - Roman K

After 2nd heat - Marty & Erkle out front... Vlado smoked a motor near end of heat. Everyone else very close...

After heat 3 - Marty, Ted, Erkle & Connie....

After heat 4 - Marty, Connie, Ted, Erkle...

After heat 5 - Marty, Ted, Connie, Greg, Erkle - all very close (Erkle dropped back a bit with problems...)

After heat 6 - Ted, Connie, Marty, Greg, Pat (Marty & Erkle with problems)

After heat 7 - Connie, Ted, Marty, Greg...


Expert Group 27 A Semi - Final Results

1 - Connie Aloise - 394
2 - Marty Meltabarger - 392
3 - Ted Backo - 388
4 - Pat Ularte - 384
5 - Greg Mills - 383
6 - Vlado Okali - 374
7 - Erkle - 358
8 - Roman K - 269

Very exciting finish as Pat & Greg swapped places throughout the final heat for the final move-up spot. Pat snuck by in the final seconds when Greg came off.

Be sure to tune in for OWH's "Almost Live" updates during the Expert Group 27 main event! The main should be starting at around ??? PMish Pacific Time

[weedracer]

I'm home......I'm whipped, but I was bummed to leave.

This is always one of the most exciting races of the Nats as far as I'm concerned.

Let me know if you need a hand with the captions.



P.S. Go Erkle!!

[oldweirdherald]

Good to see you made it back ok - but it's too bad you couldn't stay longer.

I'll upload the pictures and could use any help I can get with captions, weed (you can log in to the Nats gallery same as the Barnburner).

Yesterday was the first day of only 1 race and was done early. I was really hoping to finally get out somewhere, but now there was nobody left to go out with - but Keith helped me get all the photos uploaded and captioned, and I'm all caught up now!

Chris Radisich is here today, and after the race he'll help me download all the race data and convert it to permenant HTML pages - with complete race charts!

[Paul Ciccarello]

Paul,

Did you forget about the semis?

Paul

[oldweirdherald]

Well...

THAT's embarrassing.... the joys of live coverage!

Even John Ford (sitting next to me) knew it was the B Semi!

I guess I get a break for a little bit after all!

I corrected my post above... Um... I was just seeing if anyone was paying attention - yeah that's the ticket....

OK.... so hang in there for updates of the Semis...

[oldweirdherald]

Expert Group 27 Main

red - Connie Aloise
white - Scott Fisher
green - Pat Ularte
orange - Marty Meltabarger
blue - Mike Swiss
yellow - Mickey Johnston
purple - Ted Backo
black - Larry Blanton

Expert Group 27 Main to start at 7:10 PM Pacific Time.

Be sure to hit "refresh" every 5 - 10 minutes for OWH's "Almost Live" coverage updates - heat-by-heat, beginning at around 7:15 Pacific Time.

After heat 1:

1 - Mike Swiss - 105
2 - Pat Ularte - 104
3 - Marty Meltabarger - 103
4 - Mickey Johnston - 100
5 - Scott Fisher - 100
6 - Ted Backo - 97
7 - Connie Aloise - 96
8 - Larry Blanton - 62(smoked a motor)

------------------------------------------

After heat 2:

1 - Mike Swiss - 207
2 - Marty Meltabarger - 207
3 - Pat Ularte - 205
4 - Mickey Johnston - 203
5 - Connie Aloise - 201
6 - Scott Fisher - 199
7 - Ted Backo - 185
8 - Larry Blanton - 165

------------------------------------------

After heat 3:

1 - Marty Meltabarger - 308
2 - Mickey Johnston - 307
3 - Mike Swiss - 305
4 - Connie Aloise - 304
5 - Pat Ularte - 303
6 - Scott Fisher - 302
7 - Ted Backo - 283
8 - Larry Blanton - 268

------------------------------------------

After heat 4:

1 - Marty Meltabarger - 412
2 - Mickey Johnston - 410
3 - Mike Swiss - 406
4 - Connie Aloise - 406
5 - Scott Fisher - 401
6 - Pat Ularte - 397
7 - Ted Backo - 377
8 - Larry Blanton - 370

------------------------------------------

After heat 5:

1 - Marty Meltabarger - 514
2 - Mickey Johnston - 509
3 - Mike Swiss - 507 (not making the move)
4 - Connie Aloise - 503
5 - Scott Fisher - 500
6 - Pat Ularte - 498
7 - Ted Backo - 473
8 - Larry Blanton - 460

------------------------------------------

After heat 6:

1 - Mickey Johnston - 615 (106 laps on blue!!!)
2 - Marty Meltabarger - 614
3 - Mike Swiss - 607
4 - Connie Aloise - 597
5 - Pat Ularte - 596 (Attack of the killer slot car!!!)
6 - Scott Fisher - 595
7 - Ted Backo - 567
8 - Larry Blanton -560

------------------------------------------

After heat 7:

1 - Mickey Johnston - 713
2 - Marty Meltabarger - 711
3 - Mike Swiss - 707
4 - Connie Aloise - 694
5 - Pat Ularte - 694
6 - Larry Blanton - 664
7 - Ted Backo - 668
8 - Scott Fisher - 640 (In the pits)

------------------------------------------

After heat 8:

Expert Group 27 Main Official Results


1 - Mike Swiss - 806
2 - Mickey Johnston - 800 (Created wrecks on black)
3 - Connie Aloise - 791
4 - Pat Ularte - 786
5 - Marty Meltabarger - 784 (Hit wrecks on yellow, braid problems)
6 - Ted Backo - 753
7 - Larry Blanton - 752
8 - Scott Fisher - 739



Marty Meltabarger had started the 8th heat in 2nd, caught Mickey for first and hit a few wrecks, holding 1st for the first minute. He then had bad braid problems as Mike Swiss passed by Mickey and Marty from behind to win the race in the last minute. Connie Aloise snuck into the podium and Pat Ularte took 4th. Marty finished 5th.

[glueside]

Come on Mike - make the move!!!

[Electric Dreams]

Beat them geezers!

(I had to say that, he paid me to do so.)

[Foamy]

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