Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Thomas Takes Runner-up Spot in Dallas

By Robert Loar

After many years of hard work, Kenny Barnes and the folks at Dallas Raceway welcomed the Texas Outlaw Pro Mods for the first time on Saturday. The new surface would not disappoint as it held the fastest side-by-side runs and the first 200 mph run in TOPMA history.

The TMS gang started out with a BANG in the first round of qualifying. During the burnout a fuel line ruptured and started a fire in the engine compartment. Two fire bottles later, the Bird was in pretty bad shape. Ken and Crew thrashed hard to make the final session of qualifying and they were rewarded with a good 3.95 @ 190mph. This run put them in the #3 position behind LenMar teammate Gaylen Smith 3.90 and Frankie Taylor 3.91. Ken lined up against Jackie Deaver in the first round of eliminations. The Bird was able to pull away from Deaver with a great 3.897 and post low ET of round #1. Round two would be the familiar match-up of Ken Thomas vs Frankie “The Mad Man” Taylor. Ken left first with a great .037 reaction and lowered the very young track record to 3.860 as Frankie had problems and had to shut off.

In a repeat from Texas Raceway a week ago, the TMS squad would face their LenMar teammate Gaylen Smith in the final. Gaylen’s .041 reaction would grab the holeshot on Ken’s .090 light and Gaylen’s 3.88 was enough to hold off the hard running 3.85 of the Bad Bird. “Overall we had a great night, but I hate to loose on a holeshot”, said Thomas.

Ken continued, “We’ll put this one behind us and hopefully take these ETs with us to Memphis”. “It was a great night for LenMar Motorsports. The Bad Bird has the track record and the Hell Fish got the win.”

This race marked the 5th TOPMA final for the Bad Bird Crew in 5 TOPMA races this year. TMS would like to thank LenMar Motorsports, The House of Hotrods, Fat Daddy’s, and ABC Auto Parts for their continued support.

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