Best appearing awards were presented for the following: Car, Dragster, Truck and Junior Dragster.
The first Gamblers race took place at noon with Tom Strain representing Humboldt Dragway Team 1 winning the Box final over Kevin Bach from Thunder Valley Team 2. Strain had a .014 to .037 advantage at the start and then went 4.743 seconds at 142.72 mph against a dial-in. Bach broke out against his 6.60 dial-in with a 6.568-second run at 104.26 mph.
Sanders of TV Team 2 won the No Box final over Colton Bierle with TV Team 1. Sanders had a winning package of an 8.156-second pass at 80.09 mph against an 8.12 dial-in. Bierle, who was better at the tree .024 to .030, went down the track in 5.906 seconds against a 5.84 dial-in.
In a battle of TV Team 1 drivers, Tyler Honomichi was the Junior Dragster winner over Jack Beutler. Honomichi had a .024 reaction time and an 8.167-second elapsed time at 78.85 mph against an 8.16 dial-in. Beutler had a .046 start and broke out on his 8.01 dial with a 7.975-second pass at 80.95 mph.
Another Gamblers race took place Friday night with a pair of Humboldt drivers facing off in the Box final. Shawn Stougard, who was a runner-up in a Gamblers race in 2023, was near perfect at the start with a .001 reaction time. He added a 5.669-second pass at 112.19 mph on a 5.64 dial. Tony Henderson had a great start as well, .008 at the tree, but he broke out with a 4.998-second run at 123.25 mph against a 5.00 dial-in.
Sanders picked up his second No Box win of the day beating fellow TV2 racer Mike Casteel in the final. Sanders came through with an 8.131-second pass at 78.07 mph on an 8.12 dial with a .035 reaction time. Casteel posted a 5.847-second run at 117.52 mph on a 5.81 dial with a .051 reaction time.
Beutler was one spot better than earlier in the day with his 7.980-second run at 80.72 mph on a 7.98 dial. Kaden Crawford, also from Thunder Valley, finished in 8.024 seconds at 80.80 mph with a 7.99 dial-in time. Beutler was a little quicker .034 to .045 at the tree.
There were also a Tow Rig race with Thunder Valley racers Eric Heirigs and Paige Guthmiller in the final. Heririgs took the win as he got the holeshot .106 to .212 to go along with a 9.179-second run at 72.00 mph against a 9.06 dial-in. Guthmiller, facing an 11.23 dial-in, went 11.538 seconds at 62.69 mph on an 11.23 dial.
Cherrie Engbrecht, representing the home track, won the Team Captains race. She had an 8.975-second elapsed time at 81.67 mph on an 8.92 dial. Fred Hanke from Humboldt had the better reaction time, .135 to .209, but broke out on his 11.52 dial-in by going 11.467 seconds at 61.09 mph.
Congratulations to all the winners. Action continued throughout Saturday with the main event and another Gamblers race.
