Pro FWDSteven Thompson and John Brown continue to make waves in the Pro FWD category in their little-Civic-that-could. This duo is making it happen as many of the well-funded (and sometimes even factory-supported) efforts struggle. Thompson's 9.087 @ 155.70 mph wasn't blistering, but it was enough to qualify ahead of the only other car in the class, the CRX of Jerrold Rhodes. With the CRX suffering from mechanical woes, Steven cruised to an easy win in the APC Pro FWD final.
Pro Four CylinderThe Venom Pro Four-Cylinder class was tightly stacked with Kenny Tran, Mike Crawford, and Bruce Mortensen, which is just how they qualified with the Tran Man taking the pole with an 8.692 @ 161.55 mph. Soon after this the weirdness ensued.
In the first round, the Venom Civic suffered from engine problems and Bruce could only watch helplessly as Carey Bales hammered into the next round with his Civic while Tran and Crawford both advanced. In round two, Bales still had the mojo working as Mike's Phatridz/Mopar SRT-4 also got sick, sending the Civic into the finals. In the other semi, the gearbox in Kenny's Quaker State Civic fell on hard times, allowing Mike Laskey to move into the final round.
In the finals, it was all Laskey as his PWR CRX ran a 9.363 @ 153.37 to defeat Bales and give him the win.
Pro StockOn this weekend, the biggest news in the AEM Pro Stock All-Motor class was the nine-second barrier. While the debate rages on in this class between the FWD and RWD camps-as the front-drivers lament traction and transmission issues and the rear-drivers moan about severe weight penalties-no one can dispute the incredible challenge of making a normally aspirated car run into the nines.
In qualifying, Erick Aguilar came very close to blasting into single-digit e.t. territory with a 10.087 @ 130.62 in his STR Civic. This pass backed up an earlier blast allowing Erick to own the official NDRA record with a 10.18. Ken Scheepers took the second slot and Scott Mohler and his Mopar Neon gridded in third. This class was packed with big-timers in addition to these three. Do the names Norris Prayoonto and Larry Herring ring a bell? There were even some big names that didn't make the field such as Heather O'Connor's Girl Poison Venom Civic, Leslie Durst, and our boy-Signal Auto's Tsuneaki "El Chico" Mankumo, who struggled with an immense weight penalty saddled upon his NSX-powered Chop Top Civic.
In the first round, Scheepers and Aguilar both advanced while Herring and Prayoonto red-lighted, sending Mohler and Cloyse Holland into the semis. Ken and his RX7.com Mazda were firing on all cylinders, er, rotors when he laid down a 10.27 to dispense with Holland. In a desperate bid to beat Aguilar's STR Civic, Scott Mohler red-lighted, pitting the number-one and -two qualifiers against each other in the finals. Ken would need another 10.27 in the finals to run with Erick, which he got, and in conjunction with the Civic's slightly off-pace 10.33, this was enough to give the 7 a big win.