Silver State Wednesday’s $30,000 race resumed on Laris Motorsports Insurance Thursday at the Moser Engineering Spring Fling Million presented by OPTIMA Batteries at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after some delays due to weather. The morning greeted racers to sunny skies perfect for burning some rubber and turning on winlights.
The Laris Motorsports Insurance Pro category saw Craig Merrilees in his ‘78 Camaro and Kayslee Price in her ‘71 Chevelle in the final round. By way of Price’s .003 redlight, Merrilees cruised down the dragstrip to run dead-on five and would collect the $1,000 bonus and custom trophy before combining into the Super Pro field at six cars.
Gage Burch, Logan Shannon, Jiovanni Collecchi, Bradley Johnson, Paul Lorton, and Merrilees from the Pro side found themselves on the quarterfinals ladder. Burch was .008 total for the win over Shannon, while Merrilees had the starting line advantage with a .006 to move past Collecchi. Johnson was .002 to the .017 of Lorton to earn the bye to the final.
In the semifinals, Burch had an .011 advantage at the hit and took .008 to eliminate Merrilees, while Johnson backed up his .001 and .002 lights with a .006 on his solo strip down the track.
Both finalists came from nearly opposite ends of the country, with Johnson calling Morrison, CO home and Burch traveling from Palmetto, FL. Johnson fouled out by just two-thousandths, while Burch let go .008 for the $30,000 big check. It was his second win and third final round appearance at a Fling event.
The MrCool DIY King of the Fling Million drew 12 former Fling Million winners and runners-up, including Jeff Verdi, Michael Pennington, JR Lobner, Preston Pennington, Shane Carr, Kris Whitfield, Kevin Brannon, Spencer Massey, Andy Schmall, Jeff Serra, Kyle Cultera, and Randell Reid. By six cars, only runners-up remained.
Massey was perfect off the line and eight-thousandths under to knock out Michael Pennington, while Cultrera and Serra were .006 and .010 respectively, with Cultrera coming out on top after a double breakout. Lobner fouled out by .004 against Carr. At three cars Massey took a free trip to the final round, while Carr had the reaction time advantage with a .002 but got five-thousandths behind for the loss against Cultrera.
The title fight saw Cultrera in the Shane Thompson-owned Race Tech dragster and Massey in his 1971 Nova he took to the final back in 2022. Ten-thousandths separated them on the tree and Cultrera ultimately got to the stripe first by .0008 to run dead-on with a zero against the dead-on nine of Massey. Cultrera picked up the check for $10,000 and the special edition MrCool DIY Direct King of the Fling Million trophy.
Silver State Million Dollar Friday will begin at 8 a.m. with the Brodix Time Run Session where a perfect run will earn $50,000 on the spot. Spring Fling Million eliminations will follow where the 10th champion will be crowned.
Race fans will be able to catch all of the action live exclusively on the @RaceTheFlings YouTube all week long, courtesy of Hoosier Racing Tires and JEGS Performance. The Fling in-house production crew will be bringing three roaming cameras to provide more vantage points to viewers at home.
For more information, visit www.BracketRaces.com, the Spring Fling Bracket Races Facebook page, watch live @RaceTheFlings on YouTube, or text the word VEGAS to (347) 974-7007 for race updates.
This story was originally published on April 4, 2025. 
The post Gage Burch Secures Silver State $30,000 Purse at the Moser Spring Fling Million first appeared on Drag Illustrated.