KALITTA, HAGAN, LINE CLAIM TOPEKA TITLES
Doug Kalitta, Matt Hagan, and Jason Line all repeated their victories from one week ago in Atlanta, capturing the professional class titles at the NHRA Kansas Nationals in Topeka on Sunday.
NHRA Kansas Nationals
Doug Kalitta won his third race in a row in Top Fuel at the Heartland Park Topeka on Sunday, defeating Antron Brown in a wild, tire-smoking pedalfest. He was joined on the winners stage for the second race in a row by Matt Hagan, who downed teammate Jack Beckman in an equally-exciting, tire-smoking affair, 5.72 to 6.56, and Jason Line, who earned his fifth win of the season in a defeat of teammate Greg Anderson, 6.66 to 6.68.
Top Fuel: Doug Kalitta
Funny Car: Matt Hagan
Pro Stock: Jason Line
Top Alcohol Dragster: Joey Severance
Top Alcohol Funny Car: Jeff Jones
Super Stock: Justin Jenkins
Stock Eliminator: Trista Fenner
Super Comp: Austin Williams
Super Gas: Bruce Johnson
Top Sportsman: Scott Javers
PDRA Texas Nationals
In a battle of the heavyweights, Jason Scruggs ousted Frankie Taylor in the Pro Extreme final round at the Texas Nationals at the Texas Motorplex near Dallas Saturday night, his 3.589 defeating a quicker 3.583 on a holeshot. In Pro Nitrous, Jay Cox defeated Steve Jackson on both ends of the track, getting the advantage out of the gate and taking a 3.86 to 3.91 victory, while in Pro Boost, Kevin Rivenbark did the same in the final, besting John Strickland by a 3.83 to 3.84 count.
Pro Extreme: Jason Scruggs
Pro Nitrous: Jay Cox
Pro Boost: Kevin Rivenbark
Pro Extreme Motorcycle: Chuck Wilburn
Top Sportsman: Monte Weaver
Top Dragster: Chase Murray
Pro Junior Dragster: Ty Casey
Top Junior Dragster: Trent Augustyn
Bracket Bash: Laramie Reed
NHRA Division 3
Marty Thacker laid down his best run of the weekend, a 5.35 at 267 mph, in the final round of the NHRA Lucas Oil Series Cavalcade of Stars at the Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk to collect Top Alcohol Dragster honors over Gord Gingles. In Top Alcohol Funny Car, Scott McVey powered away from a slowing Tony Bogolo with a 5.80 to collect the event title, while Todd Frantz drove his F/SMA Pontiac to an 8.67-second defeat of Ray Skillman to win Competition Eliminator.
Top Alcohol Dragster: Marty Thacker
Top Alcohol Funny Car: Scott McVey
Competition Eliminator: Todd Frantz
Super Stock: Chad Taylor
Stock Eliminator: John Kunsak
Super Comp: Jason Lynch
Super Gas: Marcus Bush
Super Street: Michael Gramlich
Top Sportsman: Jeff Sexton
Top Dragster: Ashley Tidrick
Super Comp Shootout: Don Higgins
Super Gas Shootout: Dwight Nuest
Super Street Shootout: Jim Unum II
NHRA Division 6
Rain and cold temperatures brought an early end to the NHRA Northwest Division event at the Spokane Raceway in Washington state on Sunday. Brian Hyerstay (Competition Eliminator), Darrell Deitz (Super Stock), and Larry McLanahan (Stock) were the qualifying leaders in their categories when eliminations were set to begin. The remainder of the event will be completed in August at the Pacific Raceways near Seattle.
NHRA Division 7
The homestate racers dominated the NHRA Pacific Division Lucas Oil series event at the Auto Club Dragway in Fontana, California over the weekend, with Irvine’s Doug Lambeck leading the pack with his win in Competition Eliminator, driving his D/SMA Pontiac Sunfire past Ed Sigmon’s ’34 Chevy roadster. In Super Stock, heavy hitter Jimmy DeFrank from Thousand Oaks ousted Leo Glasbrenner in the finale, while Lancasters’ John Calvert won out in Stock, cranking out an 8.46 from his ’16 Mustang to defeat Chad Langdon.
Competition Eliminator: Doug Lambeck
Super Stock: Jimmy DeFrank
Stock Eliminator: John Calvert
Super Comp: Michael Proctor
Super Gas: Robert Naber
Super Street: Greg Ventura
Top Sportsman: Frank Gostyla
Top Dragster: Jesse Adams
Sportsman Motorcycle: Tom Medlin