Leach and Cotton are Top Dodge Finishers
Dodge and Mopar® had a stellar day in the Sportsman ranks at Bristol Dragway during the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, with Baltimore’s John Leach taking his C/SA 1969 Plymouth Road Runner to the final round of Stock Eliminator. There, Leach went red, giving the win to opponent Jimmy Hidalgo Jr. Leach, however, still turned in a very solid pass of 10.790 seconds at 122.19 mph on a 10.88 dial-in. He defeated fellow Mopar competitor Larry Hill of Hickory, Kentucky, and his A/SA 1970 Plymouth Barracuda to advance to the final, while also being named the Dodge Top Finisher of the event.
In the Super Stock ranks, Mike Cotten of Cave Creek, Arizona, powered his GT/JA ’70 Plymouth Barracuda to the third round, where he broke out with a pass of 10.157 seconds at 127.81 mph on a 10.17 dial-in. Although his day ended on Saturday, Cotten still claimed his third Dodge Top Finisher award of 2017 as the top-performing Mopar Super Stock pilot.
The Dodge Top Finisher is in place at all 24 NHRA national events and goes to the Dodge or Plymouth driver advancing the farthest in both Stock and Super Stock.
For the second week in a row, Stock Eliminator competitors also battled for class wins, with four cars featuring Mopar power driving to victory. Travis Hess of Martinsburg, West Virginia, won A/SA in his ’64 Dodge; Jack Zimmerman from Clemmons, North Carolina, claimed B/SA with a ’71 Challenger; David Collette of Perryville, Maryland, took the FS/C Wally in an ’11 Challenger; and Leach won C/SA in his ’69 Road Runner.