FuelTech Thursday at the JEGS Performance Summer Fling presented by Optima Batteries at National Trail Raceway raised the purse and the stakes with a $30,000 payday with 270 entries staging up in pursuit of hoisting up a big check at the end of the night.
The morning kicked off with a Run for the Money open to all racers on property for a $20 buy-in. Kenny Underwood put down the best overall package of .001 total, earning himself $2,000. The second best package was that of Tim Markoglu, who was .003 total with a .001 reaction time to win $1,000. $500 was awarded to Cameron Manuel, who also had a .003 package but was .002 on the tree.
Sunny skies and great track conditions made for close laps throughout the day. Three drivers carried two entries to the round of 12 including Chris Bear, Chase Meade, and Cameron Manuel accompanied by Jessica Cameron, Pete D’Agnolo, Courtney Grisez, Eric Peterka, and Jeff Serra.
Six returned for Round 7 with no doubles carrying over. Cameron turned it .006 red to Peterka, and Manuel fouled by .006 as well against Meade. D’Agnolo laid down a .007 package after a perfect light against Bear to earn the bye in the semifinals.
At the round of three, Meade let go .006 too early to Peterka, who met the ‘79 Malibu of D’Agnolo in the final round of FuelTech $30,000 Thursday. Nine thousandths separated them on the tree with the advantage going to D’Agnolo, and D’Agnolo crossed the stripe first by .006 to have the lesser of the two breakouts against Peterka. After a Super Stock win at the U.S. Nationals just days prior, D’Agnolo repeated his 2021 Summer Fling $25,000 Thursday win with the $30,000 FuelTech Thursday victory.
An impromptu shootout was added in conjunction with the main event eliminations, limited to a 16 car field and a $5,000 purse. The final four remaining included Skyler Bee, Josh Baker, Shane Blackburn, and Makenna Brown. Baker was .016 on the tree and ran it down to be dead-on five over Blackburn for the win, following a 2021 Summer Fling $25,000 Saturday.
ATI Performance $100,000 Main Event Friday will begin with the Summer Fling Reaction Time Challenge at 8:15 a.m. followed by a time trial for all new arrivals.
Everything will be streamed live as it happens on the MotorManiaTV YouTube channel free to the viewer courtesy of Strange Engineering with new exclusive content produced by the Fling Team.
For more information, visit www.BracketRaces.com, the Spring Fling Bracket Races Facebook page, or text the word “COLUMBUS” to 74121 for race updates.
This story was originally published on September 8, 2022. 
