British Columbia’s Justin Bond shines during return for his home track’s premier annual event attraction…

Doorwarz V.11.0  — the premier event for the racing season — took place this past weekend at Mission Raceway Park.  The weather was perfect for racing and the car count this year was exceptional as Pandemic restrictions made way for some our American friends to travel northward.  This weekend’s event was absolutely relentless as it lasted close to 30 hours from the Friday to Sunday.

John DeJongue prevailed over a huge 43-car field to win the “Door Slammers” title.

Much to the delight of race fans, Bahrain 1 Racing, one of the most successful NHRA Pro Mod teams has made its return back to Doorwarz all the way from Calhoon, Georgia. Justin Bond who is a resident of Mission BC is making a homecoming appearance along with his teammate Khalid Al Balooshi,   Justin Bond currently sits in 1st place in the NHRA Promod standings along with Khalid who is sitting in 13th place.  Khalid was back to Door Warz to try to avenge his 2nd place finish — as he came up short to Dean Bettenson who took the Door Warz 10 event last year.

West Coast Pro Mods race 1/8 mile rather than ¼ as racers see the savings on their racing budgets and turn around times. WCP Organizer Keith Peterson stated, “If I had 16 cars in the Pro Mod class that wanted to run ¼ mile we probably would, and that could run evenly, but we just don’t unfortunately have that, it’s going out that way in the east and its heading that way everywhere”.  He mentions that  “We know there are alot of ¼ mile enthusiasts here and we’d love to give you that big 250 mile an hour action” but  “the carnage in the last 600 feet is where all the damage happens”.   He also says that “to tell you the truth all the teams are re-evaluating 1/8 racing and realizing the money they are saving doing 1/8 mile.”

Last year Khalid Al Balooshi of Bahrain 1 came up short against  Dean Bettenson  and Justin Bond did not make it out of the semi finals.  This year, Bahrain came better prepared for 1/8 racing as we saw some high speeds happening in the Tuning sessions as Khalid would’ve broken a West Coast Pro Mod record at Mission well into the early 3.60 ranges.  Both Khalid and Justin were ready to rampage through the field this time around.

Jordan Lazic drives this incredible ’57 Chevy (owned by Dean Bettenson) – the car went to the Pro Mod championship round at Mission.

The car count was impressive with 16 Promods on the premises, one of the largest car counts we have seen in years at Mission.  On Friday Qualifying,  Justin Bond ran a 3.68 to lead the pack with his partner Khalid in 2nd with 3.71, so we were already predicting a Bahrain domination in the finals.  But was that to be?

Khalid Al Balooshi – one of NHRA’s most famous driver names – bolts off the starting line at Mission Raceway.

Sunday semi finals we saw an upset with Jordan Lazic’s  “Junker Bunker” Chevy vs Khlaid’s  Camaro, which both have screw blown super charged engine combinations.   Lazic is not an easy competitor by any means, as he has recently won the Pro Mod “Full Blown Frenzy” race at Pacific Raceways. Khalid went slightly sideways and Lazic had some wheel shake short of the finish but the Junker Bunker prevailed with at 4.02 over Khalid’s 4.43.

The other semi final had Justin Bond’s screw blown super charged Camaro vs Ryan Hayward nitrous setup Camaro (959ci) .   Hayward ends up shutting it down with a 5.23 and Justin Bond heads to the final with another in the 3.70’s – a 3.75 secs.

This made for an interesting final, as both Bond and Lazic have never won at Door Warz.  Justin Bond has been shooting down the track consistently in the 3.70’s the entire weekend.  Lazic had a best run of the weekend during eliminations at 3.78 @ 208mph, could he challenge Bond?   But it was not to be for Lazic, as Justin Bond out horse powered with a win at time of 3.73 over Lazic’s 4.41 in the final to take the $10000 payout.

Racing a supercharged version Camaro – Justin Bond collected the top prize for Doorwarz 11 at Mission Raceway Park.

Outlaw X275 continues to entertain fans at Door Warz with their enormous speeds as Door Warz 10 winner Jordan Brandon of Sherwood Park put on another dominating display speed within the 4.40’s all weekend.  The finals were Saturday night with Jordan Brandon’s Camaro vs Jason Gagnon’ Chevy Nova.   This race did NOT disappoint as Jordan Brandon eeked out the win with a 4.42 (172 mph) vs Gagnon’s 4.47 (175.92).

Jordan Brandon of Sherwood Park AB collected the X275 event title.

Door slammers was the talk of Door Warz 11 with a humongous car count of 43 cars!  The final saw John De Jongue vs. Scott Robinson as De Jongue would remain consistent all the way through that huge bracket to make it for the winning result.

Unlimited Street, we saw in the final with another previous Door Warz winner with Vanessa Richards (Kelowna BC) nitrous Mustang vs Max Neilson (Sturgeon Alberta) turbo charged Mustang .  Vanessa would again prevail with a 5.19 and win that class.

Unlimited Street winner Vanessa Richards (Kelowna BC) — with her nitrous injected Mustang.

The Top Fuel Harley Racing Series presented by RAD Torque had round 2 at Door Warz with 5 bikes on the property.   Pete Waugh was winner in Round 1 earlier this month as he squared off with Nate Gagnon for the finals on Sunday.  It would be Gagnon that takes round 2 however, with a 6.54 (214 mph) over Waugh’s 7.02 this time for the win.  The Top Fuel Harley Series moves to Edmonton the next weekend.

Nate Gagnon won the RAD Torque Systems Nitro Harley feature over 4 other entries.

Jr Dragsters had another full turnout with 27 cars, and had 2 races this weekend, with Saturday being a shootout and Sunday for the belt.  Saturday we saw a Jr Dragster shootout with Adam Katinic over Nate Green in the Jr Lightning and Abigail White taking the win over MacKenna Thomson. On Sunday, Jr Thunder had Adam Katinic continued dominance over Team Green for the win over Jack Green. Jr Lightning would have Bahrain team racer Saeed Al Balooshi (son of Khalid) vs Ciel Gagnon (Daughter of Nate Gagnon) and it would be Balooshi taking that win on Sunday.  Jr Street also saw Tyler Smith’s win streak continue to 8 now winning both Saturday and Sunday contests.

On Saturday, Outlaw Street we witnessed Corey Craig on his Suzuki bike (photo below) beating Tim Tourand on his bike for the final.  On Real Street Class it was Rob Monro Jr with a .01 reaction time (10.73 @ 121mph) beating out his dad Rob Munro Sr. with a .05 reaction time (8.80 @ 149 mph) for the victory.

On Saturday Kevin McNicol overtook George LeBlanc for the Electronics belt, and John Tabak wins as Chris Stone red lighted in the Non Electronic class.   On Sunday, Electronic class had Dustin Hunter with a 9.09 over George Leblanc to win the final in that class.  Non Electronic on Sunday had Richard Love (S10 pickup) and Geoff Bell (76 Dodge Dart).   It was Geoff Bell with a perfect reaction time of “triple zero”.

Dustin Hunter won in Electronic Class driving his cool Ford Falcon.

John Tabak was a winner in the Non Electronic class.

Justin Bond guides Saeed Al Balooshi (son of Khalid) to the starting line. Saeed was a Junior Dragster class winner at Mission.

Post and photos by Les Puchala 

Link to the LMLCMedia “Doorwarz” event photo gallery: HERE