Sunday Report
At the stroke of noon, right on time, after the de rigeur national anthems, the sound of two blown fuel motors springing to life was the perfect way to start a midsummer afternoon. The sweet syncopation of idle was soon replaced with the blast of the burnouts as the first pair of nostalgia nitro funny cars blazed down the track trailing huge clouds of burning rubber smoke. Ah, nothing could be finer, except maybe the same cars last night under the lights. Herewith we present our results from the Canadian National Open Nitrofest!
We don't claim to be Drag Race Central or anything like it, so our efforts may be lacking in detail and the numbers presented here can't be taken as gospel. They were captured on a notepad, taken from the scoreboards (which seriously need some lights replaced guys) and scribbled quickly as the next pair of cars fired and rolled through the burnout box. We tried to be accurate, but we know it's not a perfect record.
Opening our trackside notebook revealed a few results from the first round of Comp Eliminator. Highlights were Langley's Bob Marshall advancing with a very good 7.06 - 193.32 pass, while Delta's Terry Spargo took a bye at 6.67 - 209.01. Rounding out the local flavour was Rob "No Redlights Today" Harrison on a low qualifier's bye of 7.89, shutting off early to just 145 mph.
A couple more notes before we get into the feature cars. The crowd is definitely smaller than last night, but that seems to be a pattern when races run late on Saturday night, then start up again Sunday morning. Only the truly dedicated fans show up for the next day, or new attendees who didn't come out Saturday. The weather looks similar to what's it been all week, with clear sunny skies, mid-80's F temps expected and as the clock strikes noon, we've got 80 F and 1000 ft. corrected altitude. Track temperatures have to be nearing the 120 F range by now too. Not the best conditions for racing, but it could be worse, where the corrected air in Denver right now is approaching 10,000 feet! Enough verbiage, let's fire the first pair!
Nitro Funny Car - Round 1
| Mark Hentges | 6.33 | 206.99 | |
| Todd Losenko | 6.00 | 237.90 | WIN |
We open the round with a Can-Am battle, as Mark Hentges in the Bucky Austin Arrow, takes on Edmonton's - okay, St. Albert's - Todd Losenko. While Hentges drove the wheels off the car on Friday, making three very good test passes, he really turned up the volume in last night's final qualifying session, with an excellent 5.88 lap to show the almost new car is ready to rock today. Talking to Bucky briefly this morning, he was pumped up about their performance yesterday, but disappointed that it came at the cost of a spun main bearing. I didn't look, but I'm sure he's still got a spare engine or two left in the trailer.
Losenko, on the other hand, went from good to bad, as his solid 6.0 test pass on Friday was followed by a 9-second and finally 6.7 second lap yesterday in qualifying. Advantage: Hentges, by a bunch, but when the lights turned green, the Canadian Camaro walked away from Hentges to nearly break into the 5's on his winning first round run. Losenko may not have lane choice for the semi-finals, but he's in the next round while Hentges and Austin are loading up and heading home.
| Mark Sanders | 5.89 | 244.03 | WIN |
| Tom Padilla | 8.15 | 171.49 |
This next pair is a match made in heaven for writers like myself. Mr. Explosive against Mr. Nasty in a no holds barred nitro fight. Even though he's not behind the wheel any longer, Dave "Nasty" Benjamin, the legendary photo-op flopper pilot, is pulling the strings on Tom Padilla's "Red Dragon" and they've got quite an uphill battle against fellow Washingtonian Mark Sanders. Even though he sacrificed an engine in laying down a career best 5.83 on Friday, an overnight trip back to the shop for more parts (bullets, Dean?) yielded another 5.83 in qualifying last night.
Padilla? They made one early shutoff pass to secure a spot in the field and decided to save the parts by skipping the final under-the-lights session last night. In predictable fashion, Sanders motored away from Padilla to yet another 5.8 pass with another big mid-240 mph speed. Padilla's "Dragon" left more clutch on the track than was left in the bellhousing by the end of the run, as it laid down a heavy trail of clutch dust to half track, before finally locking up enough to stagger to the finish line.
| Tim Nemeth | 5.89 | 241.28 | WIN |
| Andy Beauchemin | 6.02 | 232.55 |
After laying down his first nitro five in qualifying yesterday (a 5.91 at 243 mph to take the #4 spot in the field), Nemeth is hungry for more in the first round as he goes up against a tough customer in Edmonton's Andy Beauchemin. At last month's IHRA Rocky Mountain Nationals in his hometown, Beauchemin laid down a pair of 5's in the rarified Prairie air to make the final on Sunday so he's capable of handing Nemeth a beating.
Nemeth prevails however, with his first 5.8 pass, leaving hard and pulling away from Beauchemin for the easy win. And in case you're wondering, Tim was very upset at having to give up on his second qualifying attempt last night when his visor fogged as he pulled into stage. His thick gloves and lack of time prevented him from opening the visor on his helmet before the lights came down as he shut off without making the pass.
| Tim Boychuk | 5.70 | 253.66 | WIN |
| Clint Thompson | 6.50 | 198.35 |
Absolutely no contest in this final pairing of the round, as low qualifier Tim Boychuk simply destroyed Clint Thompson's first effort in nitro competition, with a Canadian nostalgia record. He re-broke the e.t. record of 5.72 that he set during qualifying yesterday and carded a very big speed to boot. Looks like you can almost hand these guys the winner's cheque already. Of course, having the very deep pockets of Ron Hodgson and the almost as deep well of knowledge that tuner Roland Leong possesses is a formidable combination.
Northwest BB/Funny Cars - Round 1
| Greg Howland | 6.85 | 202.02 | WIN |
| Don Harter | 7.59 | 180.94 |
Moving quickly into the nostalgia alcohol cars after an incident-free first round of nitro, our American cousins take the stage with the blue "Zeus" 'Vette of Howland taking an easy win over a struggling Don Harter in his "Hart Braker" Corvette. Both Harter cars (father Don and son Shane) were stuck deep in the 7-second zone in qualifying and Don wasn't able to extricate himself from that predicament here as Howland ran away from him early.
| Randy Parker | 6.79 | 206.61 | WIN |
| Dave Driscoll | 6.88 | 195.43 |
The big noise from Graham, Washington, Randy Parker, lays down another almost-too-quick 6.7 pass to take a close win over Dave Driscoll's unpainted "Wild Side" Plymouth GTX. A close, side-by-side 6-second race was entertaining to the fans. Especially with the big burnouts these guys do.
| Ron Huegli | 6.89 | 199.91 | |
| Royce Taylor | 6.71 | 212.61 | WIN |
A pair of green cars next, with the brightly coloured "Tiki Warrior" Monza of Ron Huegli taking on the pea-green Mustang of Royce Taylor. Power before beauty though, as Taylor steps up big-time from his mid-7 second qualifier, and puts away Huegli's very good 6.89 with an almost-too-quick 6.71 pass at over 210 mph. Even though the Northwest BB/Funny Cars don't have an index per se, they are disqualified (lose all points and money) if they go quicker than 6.700. Close, but no grenade that time for Taylor and he advances to the semis.
| Shane Harter | 7.31 | 189.44 | |
| Kim Parker | 6.78 | 203.25 | WIN |
Closing out the first round, we've got the "Hart Braker Too" against a real live heartbreaker, as the lovely Kim Parker takes on and easily defeats the Shane Harter driven Omni. Just for the record, Kim gets family bragging rights for the first round as her 6.78 pass just nosed out husband Randy's 6.79. What's the penalty for that one, big guy?
Rocky Mountain Funny Cars - Round 1
| Joey Steckler | 6.95 | 196.67 | WIN |
| Ron Sekura | 6.79 | 203.48 | WIN |
Moving on in smart fashion - love this close, clean, no oildown racing - the Rocky Mountain flopper gang charges out with two of the hardest runners of the group facing off to start proceedings. Not knowing that two of the eight cars in attendance were broken (that's what happens when you show up an hour before first round) I was a bit perplexed to see the #1 and #3 qualifiers facing off, until I learned they were both on what amounted to bye runs.
Smart move on the racer's parts, as the fans get a bonus of a side-by-side "race" (with two winners) instead of a pair of bye runs. Good going guys. And Ron Sekura runs it all-out as he breaks out of the 6.90 index by a tonne, while Steckler tests the waters with a solid and close to the index, 6.95.
| Corey Sekura | 7.03 | 173.81 | WIN |
| Cal Tebb | 6.93 | 202.65 |
Punctuality is important, especially in drag racing. A tardy leave by Cal Tebb cost him this race as Corey "The Wallbanger" Sekura covered a tenth of a second deficit with a good light and punched his ticket into the semis and a matchup with his brother. Oh man, that spells trouble with a capital "S". Huh?
| Rod Elliott | 7.18 | 196.67 | |
| Brent Murray | 7.08 | 176.02 | WIN |
The third and final pair of the first round come up to the line and it appears that Alberta's Elliott has got a big advantage with a quarter second quicker time turned in qualifying over Nanaimo's Brent Murray. However, as you know all too well, drag races are run on asphalt and concrete, not paper, and the upset win goes to Murray with a quicker than qualifying pass that covers Elliott's game, but losing, effort. Rod was closing the gap big time as they neared the stripe, but just ran out of real estate.
As reported at the top of this round's results, only six of the eight cars were able to appear. Eddy Plazier broke the rearend on his usually very reliable '37 Chevy on his last qualifier last night and didn't have a spare to put in, while Cory Kincaid, who's had nothing but trouble for the past month, bent a valve in the morning warmup and ran out of time to change it or switch engines before the first round.
Top Fuel Harley - Round 1
I've got to admit that I didn't take many (or any) notes other than times for the nitro bikes. They run off in such rapid-fire fashion that it's very difficult to keep on top of the action. However, I've got a few details to pass on.
| Damian Cowden | 6.55 | 210.67 | WIN |
| Ken Kent | 6.89 | 201.43 |
In this first match, the most closely matched pair from qualifying (6.82 - 6.93) fought it out, with Cowden stepping up smartly with an excellent e.t. and big speed over Edmonton's Ken Kent, who improved only slightly on his qualifying numbers in a close, but losing, effort.
| Jason Arkinstall | 6.69 | 207.42 | WIN |
| Mike Scott | 7.54 | 182.67 |
In a tale of two racers going in completely opposite directions, Arkinstall picks up nearly two seconds to a solid 6-second pass, while #3 qualifier Mike Scott is gone as he smokes the tire early and can't chase down the vastly improved Arkinstall.
| Ron Houniet | 6.75 | 205.10 | WIN |
| Toni Froehling | 10.14 | 96.30 |
Still down on e.t. compared to previous events, Maple Ridge's Ron Houniet is at least consistent as he cranks out another upper six-second pass at 210 mph, to drop a troubled Toni Froehling, who never got on top of the tuneup all weekend.
| Nate Gagnon | 6.51 | 214.95 | WIN |
| John Schellenberg | No Show |
After banging the wall in his only qualifying attempt yesterday, thankfully with no major damage to himself or the bike, John Schellenberg can't appear and Nate Gagnon takes advantage of the bye run to post low e.t. and top speed of the round on an excellent pass. He's only a little slower than his 6.45 - 215.82 qualifying pass that putt him in second place in the field.
| Devin Pelrine | 8.43 | 131.45 | |
| Mike Pelrine | 6.74 | 207.61 | WIN |
The final pair of the round features two brothers doing battle and Mike runs away from sibling Devin, with an improved over qualifying 6.74 at well over 200 mph. Devin never quite got it going this weekend, with a best in qualifying of 7.29 at 196 mph.
| John Breckenridge | 6.41 | 218.12 | WIN |
| BYE |
Closing out the round with the single in the 11-bike all-run first round, low qualifier John Breckenridge serves notice that he's aiming for nothing less than the winners circle, with a very strong, and new low e.t. of the round, 6.41 at 218 mph. It's only a hair slower than his 6.40 - 217 mph top qualifier. Looks like trouble for the rest of the field.
And again, we've gone through another full round of eliminations with nary a hiccup. It's a little more than 45 minutes since the first nitro funny car fired up and we're already into Outlaw Street, with Pro Street to follow, before the sportsman cars take over for a while.
Outlaw Street - Round 1
| Dale Moznik | 8.45 | 73.26 | WIN |
| Dean Branham | No Show |
Starting with a very short field, totalling just three cars, the class got even shorter as Dean Branham couldn't show with his "off-the-hook" 'Cuda, leaving Surrey's Dale Moznik to take a bye run in his Street Car Super Nationals winning El Camino. Then it got ugly quickly, with a capital UGH, as Moznik starting skating around at half track, with the car swinging in ever-increasing arcs, taking out the 1000 ft timing cone, then finally hitting the right guard wall very hard just past the finish line.
But the disaster wasn't over yet, as the car spun off the wall, shedding body parts as it went, spinning around and hitting the wall a second time for bad measure. The wrecked car finally came to a stop in a cloud of dust and was very, very quickly attended to by the safety crews and paramedics who found him bruised, but mostly unhurt, except in the pride and wallet department. The car is fixable and the Moznik's have probably got it stripped down and on the way to rehabilitation as this is being written.
It was a very scary incident that fortunately didn't have a bad outcome, but the track was down for an extended period of time to clean up the wreckage, move the guardwall back into place, replace the timing cone and check everything over before resuming action exactly an hour later with another bye run to finish the first (and obviously last) round of Outlaw Street.
| Mike Hawkins | NTR | NSR | WIN |
| Bye |
After a very long cleanup, action resumed just before 2pm with Mike Hawkins taking an easy single run to claim the victory in an Outlaw field that saw him as the only racer still standing after Moznik's crash.
Pro Street - Round 1
| Darryl Stone | 6.84 | 203.89 | WIN |
| Roy Moznik | 17.68 | 49.27 |
Darryl Stone leads off the round by stomping Roy Moznik (definitely not a good day for that team) with his beautiful and hard running '67 Nova. A 6-second, 200 mph pass does the trick as Moznik gets loose immediately and shuts off.
| Ken Sihota | 6.79 | 207.94 | |
| Kerry Stone | 6.82 | 209.23 | WIN |
Our first side-by-side 6-second match of the day and it's decided by a holeshot. Kerry Stone's sinister looking black Camaro takes out Sihota's Firebird by less than half a car length to move on as the turboed Chev makes a big top-end speed of nearly 210 mph.
| Dale Pedersen | 7.17 | 146.91 | WIN |
| Jay Syvertsen | No Show |
We're not sure why Syvertsen isn't here, but he's been sick as a dog all weekend and his qualifying performances certainly didn't help him feel any better, so Pedersen gets the freebie and whips it hard to half track, then coasts home with the green winlight glowing in his lane.
| Trevor Lowe | 6.24 | 225.28 | WIN |
| Dave Magee | 13.72 | 72,64 |
A couple of vintage bodies here (the cars, definitely not the drivers) and it's over almost before it starts. Magee ignites the rubber on the launch and Trevor Lowe absolutely bombs the scoreboards with low e.t. of the season for the Pro Street gang. Look at the numbers and ask yourself: why aren't these guys running Pro Mod any more? Looks like Lowe is going to have lane choice for the next round too.
| Keith Korecki | 10.63 | 69.35 | |
| Mark Wolfe | 6.52 | 219.72 | WIN |
This is too obvious, so just shoot me: Who's afraid of the big bad Wolfe? Keith Korecki for one, as he shakes and smokes early and coasts home watching Mark Wolfe blast out a huge mid-6 pass at almost 220 mph. Whew! No wonder he's running here and in Comp. With power like that, why not?
| Garrett Richards | No Show | ||
| Trevor Willms | 8.99 | 101.82 | WIN |
Garrett Richards was loaded up and gone home when we arrived this morning, so Trevor Willms gets the single and still has problems getting down the track, fortunately with a winlight showing the way. He's going to have to get his big-block nitrous 'Vette sorted out quickly or he'll soon be heading south too.
| Yvonne Lucas | Broke | ||
| Steve Horn | No Show |
The round ends with a bang, literally, as Yvonne Lucas breaks her beautiful Pro Mod Camaro right off the starting line and coasts to a stop at the 300 foot mark. The other lane was vacant, as Steve Horn didn't show with his turboed small-block Chevy (engine) Acadian (Pontiac body).
Pit Notes: 2:10 PM
With the first rounds of the feature cars done, we're into a lot of sportsman eliminations while the fast guys and gals cool down before their next rounds. In what could possibly be an omen of the sort of afternoon we're going to have (or more properly, continue to have) the first PRO E.T. car down the track loses a driveshaft and that means more downtime while he's towed off the racing surface. Looks like it could be another long day.
Reflecting on the first round of nitro funny car, I've got to say that there really is nothing like nitromethane. It attacks all your senses: hearing, taste, smell, and eyesight. It's just plain nasty stuff, especially when it's expelled, half-burnt, from exhaust headers with explosive force and gets in your hair, eyes and all over you and around you. There's just nothing like it. Evil, wicked, mean and nasty: they all describe that magical yellow fuel. Better than drugs too... or so I've been told.
The other major attraction that drag racing has for me is the people, because that's what really makes the sport happen. Not just friends I've made at the track or through the sport, but all racers. Drag racing tends to attract positive, successful people. People who are intelligent, friendly, successful in their personal and professional lives and it carries over into their racing activities. That's what makes this sport so special. People.
And speaking of people, they don't come any better as a group than the Rocky Mountain Funny Car group, who are finishing their season off with a banquet of major proportions at the River Cree Casino and Resort (near Edmonton) in late September. According to member Cory Kincaid, they're hoping to have 400 to 500 people in attendance. Man, that's some serious party in the making. Hey Dean, up for another road trip to Alberta before the snow flies?
Competition Eliminator - Round 2
Sorry, but we missed the first round of Comp, as they ran before the feature action got underway at noon, and frankly, they run them through so fast that it's nearly impossible to record the details and still have time to take any pictures. It's pretty hard to to focus and press the shutter button while holding a pen between your teeth and a notebook in one hand. Anyways, here's the second round numbers - with some gaps in the info. Sorry, but we did our best.
| Bob Marshall | 7.12 | NSR | WIN |
| Terry Spargo | 7.17 | NSR |
We lead off with a bit of a local grudge match, as Langley's Bob Marshall squares off against Delta's Terry Spargo in a real battle royal. Marshall gets the nearly half second headstart and never looks back as he cruises in .50 second under his index, while Spargo slows and barely matches his.
| Mark Wolfe | 7.52 | NSR | |
| Jim Warter | 8.91 | NSR | WIN |
Who's afraid - Part Two? Not this time, as Jim Warter's ageless "Joint Venture" Camaro easily slays the big bad fire-breathing dragon of Mark Wolfe. Warter runs only .33 under his index, while Wolfe overpowers the track and slows to a losing mid-7 second time.
| Rob Harrison | 7.85 | 160.97 | WIN |
| Aaron Strong | NTR | NSR |
Keeping the performance beat going, North Vancouver's Harrison easily defeats Aaron Strong to move into the semi-finals against Jim Warter. I can't remember what Aaron Strong ran, but the scoreboard controllers were so intent on resetting them quickly after each pair that I was unable to capture his numbers before they disappeared.
By the way, Harrison shut off a little early as he's been doing the CIC (competition index control) dance all day and kept it under the magic -.50 mark. Explanation: in qualifying, Comp cars can run as quick as they want. In eliminations, when they run more than .50 under their index, the index is lowered by the amount they went quicker than -.50 for the following round. And if they go more than -.60 second under the index, they wrap them up in a cardboard box and don't let them out until Christmas.... or something like that.
| Dale Giroux | 7.60 | 137.19 | WIN |
| Bye |
The round ends with a bye run, as Alberta's Dale Giroux runs hard to half track, then eases off and coasts through the lights as he moves into the semis and a heads-up match with local Bob Marshall. That should be quite a race.
Top Fuel Harley - Round 2
| John Breckenridge | 8.28 | 119.65 | |
| Damian Cowden | 6.49 | 213.52 | WIN |
Showing that no one is invincible, Breckenridge drops the ball with an 8-second pass, while Cowden improves a little more with a half-tenth quicker and three mph faster pass than his first round effort to move into the semi-finals.
| Jason Arkinstall | 15.25 | 55.86 | |
| Ron Houniet | 7.40 | 153.42 | WIN |
With lane choice but only a slight performance advantage over Houniet, it looks like almost a heads-up race in this pair. Arkinstall runs into trouble right away, and Houniet grumbles down the track with a so-so mid-7 second pass to move into the semis and face Cowden, without lane choice.
| Nate Gagnon | 8.05 | 116.49 | |
| Mike Pelrine | 6.76 | 217.44 | WIN |
The final pair of the round has more at stake than just a second round win. The winner here will automatically go into the final in the odd-sized 11-bike field. Based on numbers up to this point, Gagnon has the advantage, but Pelrine lays down a solid 6-second pass with a big speed of over 217 mph to move into the final.
Nitro Funny Car - Semi-Finals
| Tim Boychuk | 5.74 | 249.02 | WIN |
| Tim Nemeth | 5.96 | 238.85 |
Upping the ante - a bunch - the nitro floppers come out for the second time today, with a battle of the Tim's leading off. Alberta vs. B.C., Tim against Tim, it should be a win for the Boychuk car, but Nemeth is very focused this weekend and is getting better each lap. He keeps the beat going as another 5-second number comes up on the scoreboard, but it just isn't enough as Boychuk has him covered by several car lengths at the finish line, with a slightly slower time than his first round 5.70. His 5.74 pass does back up that earlier record run, though. And the odds are that he will have lane choice in the final.
| Mark Sanders | 5.95 | 240.67 | WIN |
| Todd Losenko | 6.07 | 230.29 |
Still looking for his first "five" of the weekend, Losenko goes in the opposite direction as he slows slightly on the top end and drops a fairly close decision to "Mr. Explosive" Sanders. Mark cranks out yet another 5-second, 240 mph pass to move into the final where he will try to match wheels with Boychuk for the nitro funny car title.
Northwest BB/Funny Cars - Semi-Finals
| Kim Parker | 6.82 | 203.25 | |
| Randy Parker | 6.74 | 207.75 | WIN |
Oh boy. Just stand back outta da way for dis one. It's an all-in-the-family match that's got disaster written all over it for Randy. Win or lose, he's still going to be on the short end at the end of the track. Heads he loses, tails she wins. And they both give it their all, with a very fast, very close race that sees both cars well into the 6-second zone and well over 200 mph. The fans come out the biggest winners too. Randy's got some serious 'splainin' to do on the way home tonight though.
| Royce Taylor | 6.77 | 211.66 | WIN |
| Greg Howland | 6.94 | 200.57 |
In the second pair of the semis, Royce Taylor lays down another bracket-like 6.7-second, 211 mph pass to move into the final round matchup with defending series champion Randy Parker. Not holding lane choice doesn't seem to be a problem for Taylor as both lanes appear to be as close to equal as possible on a hot, sunny day.
Rocky Mountain Funny Cars - Semi-Finals
| Brent Murray | 7.12 | 183.93 | WIN |
| Joey Steckler | 6.89 | 200.04 |
Even though he crosses the finish line first by a bunch, Joey Steckler breaks out of the 6.90 index by six thousands of a second to hand the final round berth to Brent Murray. Without a 6-second lap to his name this weekend, the "Damn Yankee" team has progressed this far with a series of 7-teen passes, good lights and consistent performances. Whether that will be enough to turn on the winlight one more time remains to be seen.
| Ron Sekura | 6.93 | 196.63 | WIN |
| Corey Sekura | 6.90 | 204.31 |
This one will be a classic. An all-Alberta, all-Drayton Valley, all-brother battle. Older and wiser Ron against younger and handsomer Corey in a fight to the finish. And it goes right to the finish line as an almost perfect on the index pass by Ron takes the less than a car length win against Corey. That result will certainly be the fodder to start more than a few bench racing sessions later in the year. No matter what, it's another Sekura in the final for what seems like the umpteenth time this season.
Pro Street - Round 2
| Yvonne Lucas | No Show | ||
| Bye |
Oh, oh, looks like a no-show as Yvonne Lucas' damage in the first round must have been terminal and she forfeits the automatic bye into the semi-finals. Tough break for the low qualifier.
| Dale Pedersen | 7.11 | 186.06 | |
| Darryl Stone | 6.88 | 204.77 | WIN |
With the Pro Street format of heads-up, nearly no limits racing, this looks like a mismatch with a turbo big-block car against... another turbo big-inch engine. Stone's Nova pulls an early lead over Pedersen's new Monte Carlo and pulls away for an easy win.
| Mark Wolfe | 7.58 | 189.67 | |
| Kerry Stone | 6.90 | 207.37 | WIN |
It's a "Tale of Two Turbos" as the Ford of Mark Wolfe simply overpowers the track early, forcing him to pedal and give chase to Kerry Stone's hooked and truckin' Camaro. But the gap never closes as Stone is on his game and whips the force-fed big-block to a sub 7-second winning pass at more than 207 mph.
| Trevor Willms | 7.75 | 173.67 | WIN |
| Trevor Lowe | 7.65 | 209.69 |
Pedalfest! Actually just in Trevor Lowe's lane as he lights them up before the 60 foot mark and has to play catchup to Trevor Willms' down-on-power nitrous 'Vette. Besides the tire smoke, Lowe was late on the tree and simply runs out of real estate on the top end to lose by less than half a car length in one of the most interesting bouts of the day. It's not too often you can run a high 7-second time at 210 mph, is it?
Competition Eliminator - Semi-Finals
| Dale Giroux | 7.05 | 193.00 | Redlight |
| Bob Marshall | 7.08 | 193.36 | WIN |
A match made in announcer's heaven: two Canadian cars (one B.C., one Alberta), both in the same class in a true heads-up battle. Looking at the numers alone indicates a very close race, but the redlight on Giroux's side of the tree tells the tale. Both cars ran very well, but only Marshall moves on to the final.
| Rob Harrison | 8.38 | 122.95 | WIN |
| Jim Warter | 9.73 | 103.34 |
Only one more roadblock between him and the final round, as Rob Harrison has to face the wily veteran from Washington State. Jim Warter and the "Joint Venture" have been around almost as long as the Northwest Division has existed and he's won everything more than once. This one, however, was over early as Warter started slowing just past half track and let the fast-closing Harrison ease up and coast across the line for the win.
Top Fuel Harley - Semi-Finals
| Damian Cowden | 7.31 | 160.25 | |
| Ron Houniet | 6.83 | 210.77 | WIN |
Going into this round as a decided underdog, Ron Houniet wasn't prepared to just roll over and let Victoria's Damian Cowden walk into the finals against Pelrine. He left first and carded another consistent high-6 second pass to cover Cowden's on and off troubled run and end his day.
| Mike Pelrine | 8.11 | 113.60 | WIN |
| Bye |
With a free pass into the final, Pelrine decided to save the equipment and ran hard to half track before rolling off the throttle and cruising through the top end for the automatic winlight.
Pro Street - Semi-Finals
| Darryl Stone | 19.09 | 61.12 | WIN |
| Bye |
With only three cars left in eliminations, Darryl Stone gets the single into the finals, possibly to face his brother who's in the other semi-final. Stone takes it easy and just idles down the track after a short burnout.
| Kerry Stone | 16.67 | 84.42 | WIN |
| Trevor Willms | NTR | NSR | Broke |
In almost a repeat of his brother's single a minute ago, Kerry Stone gets the free ride to the final when opponent Trevor Willms has trouble firing his car, then loses fire and can't restart. Willms has had a very troubled weekend but managed to get this far through a bit of luck and a lot more luck. Stone, however, is full value with his final-round-bound Camaro.
Rocky Mountain Funny Cars - Final
| Brent Murray | NTR | NSR | Timed Out |
| Ron Sekura | 6.88 | 194.98 | WIN |
In the final round of the Rocky Mountain cars, we've got a West Coast (Nanaimo, BC) car against a Flatlander for the bragging rights and the all-important Wally. Both cars are slow to stage, and Brent Murray is just too slow as he's timed out (seven seconds after the first car stages, the second car must have the second stage light on) and Ron Sekura takes the win on a redlight. He runs just under his index, but with the automatic win it doesn't matter, and poor Mr. Murray blasts down the track a few seconds after Sekura in a vain effort.
Northwest BB/Funny Cars - Final
| Randy Parker | 6.79 | 206.94 | |
| Royce Taylor | 6.73 | 211.90 | WIN |
The other nostalgia blown alky funny group, the Northwest BB/FC association, provides a pair of very quick cars in the final, and defending series champion Randy Parker looks like the favourite. He's got lots of experience in blown alky cars, especially compared to opponent Royce Taylor, but Taylor's got the power and holds him off with his 526 inch KB running quicker and faster (but not too quick) against Parker's smaller 465 inch Brad Anderson engine. Maybe it's time to put the stroker motor in, Randy.
Nitro Funny Cars - Final
| Mark Sanders | 5.92 | 241.87 | |
| Tim Boychuk | 5.71 | 249.65 | WIN |
We've got a most anticipated matchup here with the cubic-money bunch from Alberta against the nostalgia crowd's one-man "Force" in a battle for nostalgia nitro supremacy this weekend. If they run according to form, it'll be a realtively easy win for Boychuk, but this is drag racing, on nitro, and literally anything can happen.
Not slowing more than a hundredth of a second and a few mph from his previous bests, Boychuk dispatches the game effort from Washington's Sanders, as the Nitro Nova proves its "Mr. Explosive" moniker is well earned, and grenades the transmission just before the finish line. Sanders gets the car stopped in a very short distance and gets out, mostly uninjured, but disappointed to lose to the Edmonton team... again.
Top Fuel Harley - Final
| Mike Pelrine | 6.80 | 200.00 | WIN |
| Ron Houniet | 8.00 | NSR |
It's been a long tough weekend for Maple Ridge's Ron Houniet as he's never been the quickest bike in any round of qualifying or eliminations, but he's made it to the final against Mike Pelrine. The Alberta bike is never headed though as his solid 6-second 200 mph pass puts away a slowing Houniet by several train lengths.
Pro Street - Final
| Kerry Stone | 6.99 | NSR | |
| Darryl Stone | 6.89 | NSR | WIN |
It's not often that two brothers meet in the final round of a national open, but the Stone boys from Winfield (Kelowna) B.C. are matched up with their similarly motivated (turbo big-block Chev) early model Chevies. And in a fitting finale, both cars run in the 6-second zone with Darryl's beautiful copper-coloured Nova taking the two car length win over Kerry's bad black Camaro.
Competition Eliminator - Final
| Rob Harrison | 7.70 | 174.00 | WIN |
| Bob Marshall | 7.16 | 188.00 |
Now it's down to the final pair of the day, with North Vancouver's Harrison holding almost all the cards in his battle for the Wally against Langley's Bob Marshall. The only thing that can derail his victory train is a too late or too early light. Harrison gets the 7-tenths of a second headstart with a clean green and runs away from Marshall's game, but slowing effort for a two car length win. Congratulations to both finalists for a great race between two very competitive local cars.