Rain shortens Elliot Lake drags (5 photos)

The rain started to come down during the Super Pro runs on Sunday putting a damper on the final day of the 7th Annual OK Tire North Shore Challenge.

There were only a few remaining races left and it was decided to split the purse amongst the remaining classes with no definitive winner in the Juniors, Bikes, Sleds, Street, Semi Pro and Super Pro divisions.

The North Shore Cruisers have done an excellent job at keeping drag racing alive in the north and along with Mike Mackwood from OK Tire, who has been a big supporter from the beginning, the Nor Dev group and the City of Elliot Lake, the Soo Crew will keep coming back to show that we're a tough bunch of competitors.

Ed Wellwood, coming off a quarter final appearance at the 4th Annual King of the Hill in North Bay two weeks ago double entered his big block Maverick did not have the repeated success in Elliot Lake falling short of the quarter finals on Saturday.

Doug Quinton did not have a chance to make a final round appearance for the third consecutive year on Sunday due to the rain, but was on the road to getting the job done.

There was an abundance of Sault cars left in the Semi Pro division which could have led to a repeat of the 1st Annual OK Tire North Shore Challenge with Ed Fantasia and Chris Manzo paired off for the final round on Sunday with Ed taking first and Chris the runner-up.

Bill Yourchuk broke his transmission in one car during Friday's test and tune and decided to come back to the Sault and get his other car and finish off the weekend using his replacement.

Peter Manzo, who moved up to the Semi Pro division last year, finished in the top 16 on Saturday and was in the running on Sunday before the rain came down.

Chris Manzo, who put in a new motor and transmission, decided to bring his 1964 Rambler Classic and only enter in the Super Pro division so that he would have a little more time to tweak the car between rounds of qualifying and elminations.

Overall, the Soo Crew did what they had to in Elliot Lake and will be back hopefully with more competitors and see if we can bring home the gold.

The next big outing for the Soo Crew is at Mid Michigan Motorplex located west of Stanton, Michigan for the Labour Day Fun Fest September 2nd for three days of racing.

You can find more pictures at www.saultracers.com.

(Story and photos submitted by Rod Aubertin of www.saultracers.com)