Hawaii Beat
Hawaii Raceway Park wrapped up its 1999 drag racing season with the 35th annual NAPA South Pacific Championship meet last Friday and Saturday nights and it was the "Quarterflash 2" team from the Big Island that won the "Top Gun" title in the final shootout of the quickest four dragsters. Big Isle dragster
wins ‘Top Gun’ title
in season finaleNearly 2,500 fans saw some of the best racing of the year by a collection of top cars from most of the Hawaiian Islands. More than 100 entries from Oahu, Maui, Lanai and the Big Island shook the Raceway quarter-mile until early yesterday morning.
In the "Quick-Eight" eliminations that used a 7.50 cap to even the field for the competing dragsters, pro stockers and solo roadster, the open-wheel car title was taken by Pearl City's Tom Brown in his Snap-On Tools Chevy-engined rail and the top doorslammer was Al Amii in his Castrol Pontiac.
But most of the top racers wanted to run flat out, with no 7.50 limit, and the quickest four met to do just that. When the smoke cleared, there were only two left - the Snyder Machine Works/Good-year rail with Mark Tavares at the wheel and Hilo's record-setting Volkswagen-powered "Quarterflash 2" driven by Keoki DeSa.
Unfortunately for the Goliath Chevy-engined Tavares and Park team, the big-block V-8 rolled through the starting line staging beams too far and was instantly disqualified. The VW dragster took a wild, seven-second, sliding and tire-smoking victory blast down the track to claim "Top Gun" honors.
Hawaii Raceway Park will be closed over the holiday weekends and reopen to racing in January 2000.
The schedule for this week's the Ala Moana Hotel Paradise Classic listed in Saturday's Star-Bulletin was incorrect. CORRECTION
Wahine play tomorrow
The Wahine-hosted basketball tournament at the Stan Sheriff Center starts tomorrow, not today.
Princeton plays Vanderbilt at 1 p.m. and Hawaii takes on Fairfield, 3 p.m.
Wednesday's schedule has Fairfield meeting Vanderbilt at 1 p.m. followed by Hawaii and Princeton at 3 p.m.
Princeton meets Fairfield at 4 p.m. and Hawaii plays Vanderbilt at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Flanagan rough-water winner
John Flanagan won the 19th Possibly Annual Hawaiian Christmas Looong Distance Invitational Rough-H2O Swim yesterday off Kaimana Beach, completing the 4.33-miles race in 1 hour, 34 minutes and 47 seconds.Second and third overall were women's leaders Jodi Jackson in 1:36:07 and Rachel Johnson in 1:40:25.
Ice dancing team qualifies
Alyssa Takatsuki and Jonathan Ige finished fourth Friday in novice ice dancing at the Pacific Coast Sectionals to qualify for the U.S. Figure Skating National Championships next February in Cleveland.Takatsuki, an Iolani School student, and Ige, a freshman at the University of Hawaii, have been ice dancing partners for three years. The two members of the Hawaii Figure Skating Club are the first non-adult skaters from Hawaii to qualify for the national competition.
Junior golf intern program
The Hawaii State Junior Golf Association is offering an internship named after P.J. Boatwright Jr. and funded by the United States Golf Association.Anyone interested in applying for the internship should call the HSJGA office at 532-0559.
The intern will assist the association with tournament operations, perform office duties and help in planning and securing sites and dates for tournaments, rules workshops, junior golf clinics, college workshops and high school workshops. Other duties include computer data entry, mailings and liaison with other golf organizations.