Demke Races to Fourth Consecutive Woodburn Final Round

Courtesy of NVW Motorsports Promotion
 Photos courtesy of NVW M.P.

WOODBURN, Ore. (September 18) – Racing at Woodburn Dragstrip’s Fall Classic NHRA regional event, Top Alcohol Dragster pilot Chris Demke reached his fourth regional final round, where he fell short to first-time winner Garrett Bateman. The runner-up finish also moved him within striking distance of the West Region championship going into the Las Vegas event next month.

Demke qualified his Peen Rite/OSI/Boost Performance Products dragster in the second spot during shortened two-shot qualifying. Local driver Gregg Lawrence would be his first round opponent.

“Going into first round, we were the last pair. We watched every other top-half car lose ahead of us. Joey Severance blew it up, No. 1 qualifier Shawn Cowie couldn’t get his car backed up, and Ray Martin’s car had a bad crank trigger. So I’m thinking, ‘what’s going to go wrong here?’ All of this was happened in our lane, so Adam (Rhoades, tuner) was even considering swapping lanes because of bad juju in the right lane,” Chris laughed. The team stuck with their lane and easily won with a 5.38.

Another easy win came in the finals when opponent Megan McKernan’s car began leaking fuel and was shut off on the starting line. Demke ran 5.34 at 266 MPH on a single to give him lane choice over Garrett Bateman in the finals.

“I knew we had the performance advantage going into the final. Our car was running mid-thirties all weekend and Garrett was in the forties and fifties. We stayed aggressive and on the offensive. Unfortunately the motor dropped a valve so the car only ran a 5.63 to Garrett’s winning 5.45. It wasn’t anyone’s fault; the driver’s, the crew’s, or our maintenance program,” Chris said.

The final round appearance, his fourth regionally and ninth overall this season, put him just ten points behind West Region points leader Jim Whiteley. It also gives him an eleven point lead over Ray Martin in the regional Jegs Allstars standings.

“I really needed the win to take first place in regional points. Now it’ll come down to Vegas at the last regional event of the season. Hopefully we can do well there and earn enough points to pass Whiteley for the regional championship,”

Chris was quick to pass on congratulations to Bateman, the latest in a line of several first-time winners Demke has lost to in final round competition.  

“I want to say congratulations to Garrett Bateman on his first win. He’s also sponsored by Boost Performance Products. If I’m going to lose to anyone, losing to my Boost Performance Products teammate kind of takes the edge off.”

Maddern Racing, celebrating 20 years of competition in 2013, is a family-owned and operated NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster team based in Southern California. The Chris Demke-driven Peen Rite/OSI/Boost Performance Products dragster is owned by Jerry Maddern and crewed by Adam Rhoades, Kevin Watson, Mike Demke, and Ron Mann. For more information on Maddern Racing, please visit www.MaddernRacing.com.

Maddern Racing receives support from the following companies: Peen Rite Inc., Operational Solutions Inc., Boost Performance Products, A1 Technologies, Boninfante Friction Inc., and Hoosier Racing Tire.