Top Fuel “Double Header” Winner!

Top Fuel “Double Header” Winner!

by editor on Jun.15, 2023, under Mopar Canada - National News

Justin Ashley completes a convincing “doubleheader sweep” NHRA weekend at Bristol Dragway…..

Just one day after winning the weather deferred New England Nationals, Justin Ashley powered to the Top Fuel title win for the 22nd annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.

Ron Capps (Funny Car), Erica Enders (Pro Stock) and Steve Johnson (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won at the eighth of 21 races during the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season.

Ashley defended his Bristol event win on Sunday with a thrilling performance in the final round, going 3.718-seconds at a track record speed of 336.49 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Phillips Connect/Toyota dragster to defeat Antron Brown. It handed Ashley his second event win in two days – as well as the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge victory – his fourth victory of the year and the ninth in his career, as well the points lead.

Ashley reached the final round with wins against Doug Foley, Josh Hart and Austin Prock before delivering another standout performance against Brown in the final round, capping off an unbelievable weekend – and even established a new track speed record in the final (336.49 mph).

Justin Ashely won his 3rd & 4th races of the season at Bristol and has assumed the NHRA Top Fuel championship point lead.

“It’s been a fantastic weekend, certainly, the best weekend of my racing career,” Ashley said. “The key word for this weekend is team. It was a team effort to be able to throw out eight win lights in a row like that, and to leave one weekend with three victories is amazing, it’s something I didn’t know was possible.

Brown reached the final round for the second time this season and the 132nd time in his career with round wins against defending world champion Brittany Force, Tony Schumacher and Doug Kalitta.

It was a monumental day for Capps in the Funny Car ranks as well, as the defending back-to-back world champion became the all-time wins leader at Bristol, picking up his seventh win at the track after going 3.998 at 325.45 in his 11,000-horsepower NAPA Auto Parts Toyota GR Supra in the final round against Alexis DeJoria. After three visits to the final round this season, it’s the first victory of the season for Capps, who also moved into the points lead with the win.

To reach the final round, Capps knocked off Dave Richards, John Force and Chad Green before coming up with his 74th career victory in impressive fashion.

2X defending World Champion Ron Capps collected his 7th event win at Bristol Dragway in Funny Car,

“We kept at, we’ve been close – three final rounds – should have been a win already but this is probably the most demanding racetrack there is to drive a Funny Car and I think anybody will tell you that that drives one,” Capps said. “I probably cost us a couple qualifying runs, I just couldn’t hold onto it and keep it in the middle and thankfully I got my act together on Sunday. It’s such a relief to see that Wally again. I honestly can tell people, you never know if you’re going to see it again. That’s how tough it is.

“I think any driver who has success somewhere will tell you, you just feel the mojo. It’s hard to explain it, but I’ve won here with different crew chiefs, different sponsors, different owners. I can’t really pinpoint it, I just know the very first year we ever came here, from the get-go it’s been a love affair with this area. This feels like a second home.”

It’s the second final round this year for DeJoria and the 14th in her career after she knocked off Cruz Pedregon, Bobby Bode and No. 1 qualifier Robert Hight.

Enders put to rest her early-season struggles in Pro Stock in a major way this weekend in Bristol, capping off a stellar weekend with her first win of the season, which was clinched with a run of 6.680 at 204.08 in her Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage/Melling Performance Chevrolet Camaro. Poised for a big turnaround, Enders and her team made a massive move in Thunder Valley, qualifying No. 1 and then earning her 44th career win and third at Bristol Dragway.

After stumbling somewhat so far in 2023 – Pro Stock’s leading lady racer Erica Enders prevailed at Bristol

She advanced to the final round with victories against Mason McGaha, Kyle Koretsky and Greg Anderson. With the win, Enders moved up six places to eighth in points, signaling she may be back to her winning ways of 2022, when she picked up 10 victories and cruised to her fifth championship.

“This is super gratifying, and I don’t know if people truly understand what it means,” Enders said. “Yes, we’ve won a lot of races, but to finish the year we had last year in the fashion that we did and then to start the year as horribly as we did is a real gut-check. It’s one of those things you have to battle through. Even though we go through these valleys, you just have to put your head down and go to work.”

Kramer, who won in Charlotte, reached the final round for the fourth straight race and 11th time overall, beating Troy Coughlin Jr., No. 1 qualifier Aaron Stanfield, who won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge on Saturday, and Cristian Cuadra. Dallas Glenn maintained the points lead in the class, with Kramer moving up to second.

In a major upset in the Pro Stock Motorcycle ranks, Johnson won in the final when points leader Gaige Herrera went red and suffered his first loss of the season. Johnson went 7.174 at 158.63 on his to earn his 12th career win, denying Herrera his fourth straight victory to open the season. Herrera entered the championship round 14-0 in 2023, but he left too soon by .011, handing Johnson his first victory of the season and his first win at Bristol Dragway.

Riding his Suzuki Hayabusa – Steve Johnson won in Pro Stock Motorcycle.

Johnson reached his first final round this season with victories against Joey Gladstone, Eddie Krawiec and Hector Arana Jr., setting up the win against a rider who had dominated in the class up until that point.

“The Suzuki Hayabusa Gen 3 body is the newest coolest thing in Pro Stock Motorcycle racing,” Johnson said. “We got it, it’s the 25th anniversary of Suzuki next year and we’re really into trying to promote it. It’s totally different. It looks the same, but the feel and how the motorcycle rides down the track it’s totally different.

“In the finals racing Gaige, he’s got a really, really fast Suzuki and I was like, okay, what do you want to do? We talked about timing, jetting, all these things, but it was like, we just have to throw the kitchen sink at it. But we didn’t have one. So, we said we’ll just do what we can. We did some stuff that probably wasn’t right, but I looked up and saw our win light, and I let off to save the parts. I was pretty happy with it, but it’s pretty shocking.”

Herrera, who was the No. 1 qualifier, easily maintained the points lead, advancing to his fourth straight final round with wins against Ron Tornow, rookie Chase Van Sant and Angie Smith.

Defending world champion Kris Thorne drove to the win in the FuelTech NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by Type A Motorsports, knocking off Mike Castellana in the final round on Sunday at Bristol Dragway as part of this weekend’s NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.

Kris Thorne – the defending NHRA Fuel Tech Pro Mod world champion – picked up his first win of 2023.

Thorne picked up his first win this season and the fifth in his career when Castellana went red in the final round. Thorne would have been tough to beat regardless, going 5.816 at 245.32 mph in his Bahrain 1 Racing team Camaro in the championship round.

“I’ve just got to keep digging and not stop,” Thorne said. “I’ve hit some roadblocks, but I’m so thankful nobody has given up on me and given me all the opportunities to be here. I really appreciate everyone. Not much makes me emotional, but this stuff is tough, and I really dig it (when we can win).”

Thorne knocked off Eric Dillard, points leader Justin Bond and Dmitry Samorukov to reach the championship round, where Thorne made his quickest run on Sunday. Bond maintained the points lead, but Thorne, who is second in points, pulled to within 88 points of him.

Castellana advanced to the final round for the first time this season and the 24th time in his career thanks to victories against Sidnei Frigo, Marcus Birt and Tony Wilson.

The FuelTech NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by Type A Motorsports returns to action June 22-25 with the 17th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Racing Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.

The event did also include the 2nd round of the season for the Legends Nitro Funny Car circuit which presented an 8-car eliminator. That race was won by Bobby Cottrell – driver of the Bardhal-sponsored Austin & O’Brien Camaro.

After defeating Canada’s Tim Boyhuck and low qualifier Kamaka Pocock in rounds one and two, Cottrell (from Hemet CA) defeated Geoff Monise in the final round with a time of 4.813 secs at 234.33 mph.

Bobby Cottrell prevailed in the event’s added attraction Legends Nitro Funny Car circuit event.

The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series returns to action June 22-25 with the 17th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Racing Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.

Lucas Oil Lowdown
(Sportsman Racing Final Round Summary)