March 26 2010. Falling temperatures and clear skies greeted the competitors for the first Battle of the Boards in 2010 at Gateway International Raceway. Members fromSTLMustangs, STL-Speed, Southern Illinois King of the Street (SIKOTS), andLethal 1320 set to do battle in the first of 8 BOTB’s during Midnight Madness events this year. Run on the 1/8th mile due to the chilly conditions.

Despite an air temp of only 50 degrees, the starting line maintained a 51-52 degree range all night and a starting DA level of -474 in the first round produced some stellar performances.

Round One:
Daryl Jauernig representing Lethal 1320 led off with a single as his SIKOTS matchup Chad Moore suffered a drive line failure in his 98 Camaro during a test pass before the competition. Jauernig led off wheeling his nitroused 88 ‘Stang to an on and off the throttle 5.754 @ 121 mph to set the tone. The track was hooking and the DA was proving the horsepower was there. Jill O’Toole from STL-Speed ran her 03 Cobra to a 7.41 to 8.39 victory over Justin Petrovic in his 05 Mustang representing STLMustangs. The third pair out pitted Kevin Giblin of Lethal in the nitrous assisted 69 Yenko Nova against Clayton Renth of STLMustangs and his 92 vortec equipped ‘Stang. Proving that traction was to be found a-plenty at the line, Renth suffered a thunking driveline failure at the hit with Giblin streaking away for a 5.17 @ 137 mph win which also stood up as the second fastest MPH of the meet. Chad Barton’s 06 Z06 Vette for Speed faced Kerry Davis of SIKOTS next. Davis led from the hit running a wheelstanding, pedaling, flame-throwing pass for a 6.76 @ 99.72 mph. Unfortunately it was all for naught. Davis had gone red (-.038) sending Barton to the next round. Davis did bring back his 75 Nova later for another test pass and sprayed his way to a wheelstanding 5.29 @ 134 mph to the delight of the crowd. Bad luck struck again with the next pair as Eric Luig of Lethal suffered an electrical failure in his 83 Monte Carlo during his burnout sending Tony Orta and his 98 nitrous spraying Vette to the next round with a 6.91 @ 99 mph solo pass. Michael Rakas and Matt Martin were next. Martin representing SIKOTS chopped down the tree and led from the hit over Rakas colorful 96 Mystic Cobra and ran his 86 turbocharged Mustang to a 6.27 @ 120 mph and into the next round. Speed sent another into the next round as Jeremy Heizer powered his 91 Pontiac wire to wire over his opponent from STL Mustangs Bryan Mellberg in an 07 Stang. 6.36 against a slowing 8.70. The last pair out provided the fastest ET of the night. Mark Woodruff of Lethal faced off against Dan Pharris running an 89 Mustang for SIKOTS. Pharris got a good light .075 to .381, but Woodruff’s Twin Turbo 67 Vette blasted by a spinning Harris to win with the fastest ET and MPH of the night 5.131 @ 143.76 mph. Despite his traction issues just past the line Pharris ran a 6.17 @ 125 showing the potential was there for a better run, but he was out of this event.

Round Two:
With the DA down to an astounding -586 round two had some interesting moments.
Mark Woodruff powered to a 5.23 @130 mph win over Jill O’Toole who spun to an 8.84 in a losing cause to start the round.
Next up, Giblin of Lethal against Barton of Speed. Barton got the jump at the line with a .148 to a .539, but Giblin quickly pushed the Big Block sprayed Nova into the lead. Unfortunately for Giblin, the air was too good and the extra horses caused him to lose traction and make a hard move into his competitor’s lane. This crossover foul sent Barton into the next round and sent a pair of reflector cones at the 1/8 mile into oblivion.
Matt Martin took a holeshot win over Tony Orta. Martin’s turbo Stang ran a 6.82 to Orta’s faster 6.80. The tale of the tape was at the line. Martin tree’d Orta .183 to a .407, sending him into the Semi’s.
To round out the quarter-finals, Daryl Jauernig pushed his Mustang to a 5.48 @ 127 mph win over Jeremy Heizer’s 6.309.

Round Three:
In the Semi’s the saying “live by the bulb….die by the bulb” proved true again.
Chad Barton who advanced in round one on his opponents red light fouled by a mere 4 thousands (-.004) sending Mark Woodruff into finals with a coasting 6.63 @ 75 mph.
The other pair pitted Jauernig against Martin. Jauernig had been working on his chassis combo and was getting faster with every pass, while Martin had been killing his opponents at the tree including the holeshot win in the previous round. At the hit Martin went red -.008 sending Jauernig into the finals with a 5.49 @ 130 mph.

Final Stats:

Points- Lethal- 14 Speed- 10 SIKOTS- 4 STLMustangs- 0

Single Winner- Daryl Jauernig (Lethal 1320.com)

Board Winner- Lethal 1320.com

Best ET – Mark Woodruff 5.131

Best MPH- Mark Woodruff 143.76

The next MM BOTB will be April 23. Rules for the event will be posted soon.