Records fall during 'Night of Fire' at Rocky Mountain Nationals
Lagana takes Saturday Top Fuel win, Nemeth tops Funny Car qualifying
EDMONTON, Alberta (July 6, 2013)
– Cooler temperatures and near-perfect air created flawless conditions
and led to several record runs all in front of a packed house at the
11th annual Mopar Rocky Mountain Nitro Jam Nationals presented by Good
Vibrations Motorsports Saturday at Castrol Raceway.
For
over a decade the Rocky Mountain Nationals has stood at the pinnacle of
the IHRA Nitro Jam season and the event again lived up to those
expectations on a night filled with incredible quarter-mile drag
racing. Top Fuel provided the most wow moments Saturday night as
Canadian Ike Maier came just a couple of miles per hour shy of setting
the all-time speed record at Castrol Raceway while Bobby Lagana Jr.
took home the win in the sports fastest class.
Bobby Lagana Jr. (near) versus Bruce Litton
Lagana
had back-to-back passes at or near the four second zone, saving the
best for last with a 4.987, 300.93 to defeat longtime rival Bruce Litton
on a very cool surface. Also taking home a win Saturday was Kyle
Hough in the "Super Nanook" who blasted by Randy Bradford in the
Nostalgia Fuel Altered final to take his fifth win of the season.
In
Nitro Jam's two other nitro classes Tim Nemeth's record-breaking pass
on Friday withstood Saturday's cooler conditions and will give him the
the top qualifying spot in Sunday's final eliminations, while Mike
Pelrine topped IHRA's Nitro Harley class. The Rocky Mountain Nostalgia
Funny Car class qualified and completed one round on Saturday with
upsets highlighting the evening session.
In
sportsman competition Day 1 of the Summit Racing Equipment Pro-Am Tour
presented by AMSOIL Division 6 race is in the books with Graham Foster
(Top Sportsman), Trevor Ritchie (Top Dragster), Mark Faul (Super
Stock), Casey Plaizier (Stock), Cody Scheu (Quick Rod), Tom Patterson
(Super Rod), Warren Neitsch (Hot Rod), Shawn Hagan (Junior Master),
Mackenna Ochitwa (Junior Advanced) and Shaylynne Smith (Junior
Beginner) taking home Ironman trophies.
Tim Nemeth (far) versus Nathan Sitko
It
was lap-after-lap of great racing in Top Fuel as Scarsdale, New York
native Bobby Lagana Jr. raced his way to the win in his first IHRA
action of the season. In the final Lagana faced longtime IHRA
competitor Bruce Litton and used a narrow fourth thousandths advantage
off the line and a great run to pick up the win.
In
the consolation pairing Ike Maier continued his strong weekend with an
evening-best 4.959, 281.95 to pick up the win. Maier also had a pass of
4.992 at 324.75 mph, just two miles per hour shy of the Castrol
Raceway track speed record.
Tim
Nemeth topped the AMSOIL Prostalgia Nitro Funny Car field with a
Castrol Raceway-record run of 5.752, 249.26 on Friday, still some two
tenths quicker than second place qualifier Cameron Ferre. Tim Boychuk,
Mike Halstead and Nathan Sitko round out the top five qualifiers
entering Sunday's eliminations.
Sixth
place qualifier Paul Romine produced Saturday's most spectacular pass,
putting his "Powers Steel" Camaro up on two wheels and into his
opponents lane before taming the car and getting back on track.
Mike Pelrine
In
Nitro Harley Mike Pelrine topped the class with a 6.570, 212.56
Saturday night, just holding off Nathan Gagnon whose 6.689, 212.06 will
place him second. Ben Ground, Damian Cownden and Andy Beauchemin round
out the top five.
Saturday's
other pro winner was Kyle Hough who survived two wobbly rounds to take
the win over Randy Bradford. Hough had the better light and a much
better pass with a 7.255, 163.39 putting him in the winner's circle.
In
the popular Rocky Mountain Nostalgia Funny Car class four rounds of
qualifying and a round of eliminations were completed on Saturday with
upset winners dominating the headlines. Three of the top four
qualifiers fell out in round one with Cory Kincaid being the highest
qualified car left standing at No. 3. Top qualifier Cal Tebb lost in
round one to Joey Steckler and No. 2 qualifier Jim Fersch went red
against Cody Anstead.
Greg Sereda (Top Alcohol Dragster) and Jason Rupert (Alcohol Funny Car) were Saturday's exhibition class winners.
