Under very heated conditions — NHRA’s latest E3 Spark Plugs Pro Mod title was taken off shore….

It was South America’s Sidnei Frigo who claimed his first victory of the season during the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series (presented by J&A Service & RPM) portion of the 2nd annual Virginia NHRA Nationals. The event, held at Virginia Motorsports, was the fifth of 12 races scheduled for the 2019 season.

Frigo ran 5.796 secs at 256.55 mph racing his turbocharged Itatiba Sao Paulo Brazil Chevrolet Camaro to pick up the final round winlight. That was in fact a hole-shot victory over Stevie “Fast” Jackson’s quicker 5.768 secs at 251.16 mph.

It was the third career E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod victory for Frigo, who qualified second and also earned round wins over Chip King, Alex Laughlin and Canadian Eric Latino.

“My team really pulled through today,” Frigo stated. “For some reason, our turbo car runs really well in the heat and I wouldn’t be mad if it was this in Topeka at our next race. I saw Stevie over there at half track and I know that the turbo power really comes on at the top end. All I could think of was that we had him. It was really cool.”

Racing his powerful turbocharged Camaro – Brazil’s Sidnei Frigo is the latest winner within NHRA E3 Spark Plugs Pro Mod racing.

The event featured 22 cars entered and despite some extremely hot atmospheric and track surface temperatures prevalent all weekend — the 16 car bump spot was a quick 5.876 secs.

Kahlid alBalooshi paced the field, with the talented Middle Eastern based driver carding the quickest run in qualifying at 5.774 secs. That great effort in fact came during what was his second career start driving a turbocharged configuration car.

Kahlid alBalooshi continued his impressive transition to turbocharged cars – he qualified on the pole at VMP

Runner-up and points leader Steve “Fast” Jackson set low ET of the race when he recorded a 5.758 secs in the Bahrain 1 Racing supercharged Camaro in the semi final round. Puerto Rico’s Jose Gonzalez (as he often does) set top speed of the meet again — this time at 258.47 mph.

Points leader Steve “Fast” Jackson set low ET and finished R/UP.

Puerto Rico’s Jose “Speedy” Gonzalez was the fastest terminal speed car again in NHRA Pro Mod competition.

The VMP event featured an inspiring effort by Canada’s currently top rated Pro Mod driver – Eric Latino – from Whitby Ontario.

Latino’s ever improving GESI Racing team, continued major strides forward within the NHRA E3 Spark Plugs circuit, with their strongest event finish yet — a semifinal round placing.

Eric, after qualifying #14 – took out defending 2018 series champion Mike Janis in round one and beat Gonzalez in round two. In the semi final pairing – Latino ran his quickest run of the event (5.849 secs) however that strong effort fell to Frigo’s still superior 5.820 secs.

Canadian Eric Latino had his best finish yet in NHRA E3 Spark Plugs Pro Mod racing.

The E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by J&A Service continues June 7-9 with the Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals presented by Minties at Heartland Motorsports Park in Topeka, Kan.

To view additional Pro Mod images from this race visit the LMLCMedia event photo gallery :  HERE

Posted by Bruce Biegler
Photos by Bruce Biegler & Dave DeAngelis