GIRA’s last race

TGI Staff Report –

Garden Isle Racing Association’s last race of the 2001 season was held at Kauai Raceway Park Saturday November 4th.

Darren Sanekane won first place in the competition car bracket, followed in second place by Wayne Costa driving his 68 Camaro sponsored by D&W Services. Chris Loew finished third.

Jason Alfiler, driving a Toyota MR2, finished first in the class for street cars. Jason Nakata ran second, followed by Allan Duldulao in third.

In Jr. Dragster competition Calvin Costa, age 12, placed first running 74 MPH. Sheldon Costa, age 10, placed second with a 62 MPH run followed by Wayne Parraga, jr., age 10.

For best reaction time during qualifying, Jason Alfiler with a .505 light, was awarded a Big Save gift certificate sponsored by the Ron Kouchi for Mayor campaign. Another gift certificate was awarded for the best reaction time during eliminations to Riley Takayama for his .527 reaction time.

For the 2001 racing season, Riley Takayama drove the TST Performance Chevrolet Z28 to an overall win in the street bracket with an unbeatable 690 points. Rupert Nation driving Doug Gould’s 1967 big block Camaro took second place with 545 points, followed by Rocky Ferraro in third place with 530 points and Walt Barnes with 490 points piloting the Real-Net AdvertisingFord Ranchero to forth place. In the overall season race for competition cars, Jed Kaiakapu drove the Western Motors dragster to the victory with 235 points, ahead of Tyler Taba’s 195 points in the Matsuda Bros. & Taba Chevy-powered Fiat Topolino and Manny Lawrence with 155 points driving Gary Long’s 600 cubic inch 1957 Ford Thunderbird, Tropical Thunder, sponsored by Manny’s Repair.

NHRA drag racing will return to Kauai next year at Kauai Raceway Park in Mana. The Garden Isle Racing Association’s annual Awards Banquet will be held December 1st at 6PM. Contact Walt Barnes at 823-6246 for more information.