TOPEKA, KS (July 3, 2009) - With bad weather once more approaching, the National Guard American Drag Racing League (ADRL) was in hurry-up mode this evening at Heartland Park Topeka with final-round eliminations for the Ford Drive One Summer Drags V, already postponed by rain three weeks ago at Martin, Michigan.
With little time to spare, Joshua Hernandez secured a National Guard ADRL-leading sixth Pro Extreme win, while Shannon Jenkins matched that total in Pro Nitrous and Ashley Owens won his second Pro Extreme Motorcycle race in a row. The Flowmaster Extreme 10.5 class and Extreme Pro Stock both delivered first-time event winners, however, in Jeff Naiser and John Montecalvo, respectively.
Hernandez ran 3.90 seconds at 191.84 miles per hour over the National Guard ADRL's eighth-mile course in the final round, with opponent Bubba Stanton left stranded on the starting line with a broken supercharger on his 1963 Corvette.
"It's been almost a year since I won one of these, but what a great way to celebrate the Fourth of July weekend and honor our National Guard soldiers," said Hernandez, driver of the National Guard-backed '57 Chevy. "It must be true that absence makes the heart grow fonder because I sure am fond of this!"
The Pro Nitrous final featured a battle of Alabama-based veterans, with Jenkins and his Speedtech '68 Camaro coming out on top with a 3.92/190.03 lap against Johnny Pilcher, who had to shut off early with tire shake.
"The car worked perfect all day, but especially those last two rounds where it ran almost identical (times)," Jenkins said, adding the win gives him extra confidence for tomorrow's qualifying and eliminations for the Hardee's Independence Drags III. "We're in good shape; now we'll see if we can do this again."
Doing it again came naturally for Owens, who won his career-first race under similar conditions in a rain-postponed final from Memphis at the Michigan event. In Topeka, he overcame a starting-line advantage by Scott Gray by posting a 4.26-seconds pass at 169.81 mph astride the 2005 Suzuki owned by fellow rider T.T. Jones.
Naiser said his Extreme 10.5 win was welcome relief after coming up short in the previous event in the final round against reigning class champ Billy Glidden, who bowed out in round two, breaking a five race winning streak that dated back to last fall.
"That's what we're here to do, is win," Naiser said after going 4.11 at 177.02 to edge out Jeff Paulk by just six-thousandths of a second. "It doesn't matter who's in the other lane, all I want to do is beat them to the finish and today it finally all worked out."
Montecalvo was equally thrilled with his first National Guard ADRL Extreme Pro Stock win after leading Jason Collins stripe-to-stripe with a 4.19 at 164.87-mph trip down the Topeka strip.
"I've been in a couple of these finals before and I would always hear the winners say, 'That was a damn good drag race,' and I would always think it was pretty good, but not damn good. Well, today it's damn good!"
Saturday's on-track action at Heartland Park Topeka will begin at 10 a.m. with the remainder of the opening round of Pro Extreme qualifying for the Hardee's Independence Drags III, cut short by rain with several pairs of cars waiting in the staging lanes, followed by two scheduled rounds of qualifying for all five professional National Guard ADRL classes and eliminations to determine champions for the Independence Drags.
A major July 4th fireworks show will cap off the weekend, which marks the halfway point of the 2009 National Guard ADRL tour.
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