In what could only be described as the race that fans and racers had been waiting for for many years, Joey Severance and Clint Thompson took the Alcohol categories at the Lordco B.C. Nationals, the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event at Mission Raceway Park near Vancouver.

Usually, we begin our coverage with laments about the crummy weather, but this year, the event was smiled upon by Mother Nature, and there was not one drop of moisture all three days. In fact, it was sunny and warm Saturday and Sunday for the several thousand fans who attended. The track was in great shape; there were only a couple of oildowns, none on Sunday, and no other incidents. It was a perfect weekend, in other words, other than the entries being down about one-third from the high point several years ago.

With 13 entries in Top Alcohol Dragster, several of them in the top echelon of the class, it figured to be a dog fight, and in the end, it came down to who could maintain consistency of performance. In the cool cloud of Friday, Duane Shields set the pace in his nitro car at 5.23/272, just off his track record of 5.21, but when it got very warm (27C) the next day, he and the other nitro cars couldn't keep up with the blown alcohol runners.

Meanwhile, American Joey Severance ran 5.36 and 5.39 (plus one aborted run) and Richmond B.C.'s Shawn Cowie ran 5.39 three times in qualifying. Come race day, they were clearly the favourites to reach the final, and that they did, Severance running 5.36 and 5.35 and Cowie 5.35 twice. Their showdown was one of the most eagerly anticipated at Mission in years, and they didn't let the fans down, although most of them thought that the “wrong” guy won. Severance, known as one of the best leavers in the class, gated Cowie by .04, and took the win with a 5.37/265 to Cowie's 5.36/269. What a fantastic string of quick runs by both teams.

The story was pretty similar in Top Alcohol Funny Car, with Americans Clint Thompson and Sean O'Bannon clearly on a collision course for the finals. Thompson, the winner here the past two years, ran 5.62 and 5.66 in qualifying, and O'Bannon countered with 5.65 and 5.76 runs, each with a shut-off. The Californian threw down a shot in Round One with a 5.58/260 and followed with a 5.68, while the Oregonian countered with two 5.63s. The final was a close one, Thompson getting a slight .007 advantage off the line, and staying out front with a 5.68/257 to O'Bannon's 5.69/256.

In Competition Eliminator, eight long years of work developing the unique 341-cubic inch pushrod straight-six combination came to fruition for North Vancouver's Rob Harrison and Al Lougheed, as they dominated from start to finish in their J/A Cavalier. After setting the National Record in Boise, and running the farthest under an index ever for a naturally-aspirated car, according to NHRA, Harrison came into Mission on a roll, and played it perfectly for his first NHRA win with the combination. After qualifying number one with a .75-under 7.73, he played it cool with conservative reaction times and shut-off high-sevens, beat Maple Ridge's Bruce Perkin in the semis, and saved the best for last, “adjusting” his index of 8.48 by .08 with a 7.80 at 164. The team plans to run most of the remaining West Coast races, including in California, so it is not far-fetched to see them figuring in National points by the end of the year if they can keep it up.

It was an all-Alberta final in Super Stock, as Don Thomas took on Norm Lapointe. Each had some good luck making the finals, with opponents breaking out; Thomas was fortunate that his break-out in the semis was beside an even further-under run by his opponent. In the final, though, Lapointe beat himself, going .007 red, and Thomas took the Wally home to Spruce Grove.

Other Canadian finalists included the Kondolay family of Chilliwack, father Bill finishing runner-up in Top Sportsman in the family Cavalier, while son Stefan took Super Comp thanks to a telepathic .003 light and a solid 8.91. Local bracket veteran David Rastad almost made his first drive in Shawn Kvaas' '77 Firebird a winning one in Stock, but falling behind .04 at the line in the final to Division kingpin Jeff Lane ended that dream.

Mission LODRS Canadian Notebook

The Sitko family from Edmonton had a car in each of TAD and TAFC, and have stepped up to running a full PSI screw blower combo. Troy's dragster made but one run in qualifying, after valve train problems cropped up in warming up for the first two. His 6.17/227 didn't make the show. Nathan did get in in TAFC, with a 6.01/236, but being shut off after the burnout on his last qualifier with clutch problems hurt them, and his game 5.87/242 in Round One was no match for Thompson's 5.63.

Casey Plaizier debuted in Comp, and did a good job driving Ken Reich's new Cavalier, running .45-under to qualify number 12, but bowing out in Round One with a .47-under run and a better reaction time than his opponent.

John Evanchuk and Tim Nemeth both ran well in TAFC, the Albertan running 6.13 – 5.82 – 5.73 in qualifying and 5.73 – 5.74 on Sunday, losing a close one in the semis to O'Bannon. B.C.er Nemeth got in with a 5.82, and lost first round with a 6.09.

Ashley Bart made her big event debut in Ken Gilmour's TAD out of Calgary, and fought clutch problems in qualifying, not making the show. We'll have a little more on Ashley's weekend later in the week.

Additional Photos from this event can be viewed on the Gerry Frechette Photo Gallery: HERE

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