North VS South at MIR « DragRaceCanada.com

North VS South at MIR

by editor on Jun.02, 2019, under Smokies Garage - Pro Mod Portal

An eventful weekend of racing for the Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) went down at MIR….

The 2019 edition North-South Shootout presented by Line-X at Maryland International Raceway concluded early Sunday morning when Jay Cox defeated Lizzy Musi in a rerun of the Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous final round. The original final round had to be rerun after debris blew through the sensors, tripping the eighth-mile beams in Cox’s lane.

The North-South Shootout victories in the other professional classes went to Kris Thorne in Moroso Pro Boost, Todd Hoerner in Liberty’s Gears Extreme Pro Stock and Ronnie Smith in Drag 965 Pro Nitrous Motorcycle. Class veteran Paul Major picked up the win in Atomizer Racing Injectors Outlaw 10.5 presented by Drag 965. Dane Wood defeated Fredy Scriba in an all-nitrous Classic Graphix Pro Mod Challenge final round.

The sportsman winners are Scott Moore in MagnaFuel Elite Top Sportsman, Glen Teets III in Top Sportsman 32, Camrie Caruso in Lucas Oil Elite Top Dragster and Marty Martin in Top Dragster 32. Kendall Payne earned the win over Duane Allen in Edelbrock Bracket Bash.

PRO NITROUS — The final round in Pro Nitrous was one of two final rounds that had to be rerun due to debris blowing through the eighth-mile sensors. The win light came on in Jay Cox’s lane during the first running, though his scoreboard posted an invalid time next to Lizzy Musi’s 3.655 at 206.95. Around an hour later, Cox turned on the win light again, this time with a 3.677 at 206.48 in his Buck-powered Butner Construction ’69 Camaro. Musi was aggressive off the starting line, but slowed to a 5.878 at 79.52.

“It’s really rewarding any time you can win,” Cox said. “This is a max-effort racing class. It isn’t something you can take lightly. Pat (Musi) stood on his and I stood on mine. That’s all that motor had. My guys work hard, they deserve every chance to win. I hate that the deal ended up like that, but at the end of the day it is what it is.”

Jay Cox took “Pumpkin” to the P/N title

Cox and his Smithfield, North Carolina-based “Pumpkin” Camaro stepped up in each round leading to the final, beginning with a 3.759 at 204.23 over Mike Gondziola and a 3.698 at 206.39 to defeat Billy Albert and his 3.817 at 201.94. In a tight semifinal battle, Cox unloaded a 3.674 at 206.80 to take down Chris Rini’s game 3.685 at 205.57 and earn his way to his second final round of the season.

Musi in Frank Brandao’s Edelbrock/Lucas Oil “King Kong 7” ’19 Dodge Dart started eliminations with a 3.747 at 206.23 over Chris Patrick before pedaling to a 4.049 at 160.96 over Ed Burnley. She recorded low ET and top speed of the event, a 3.651 at 207.88, to defeat Todd Fontana and his 3.713 at 204.05 in the semifinals.

PRO BOOST — After qualifying No. 1 for the second consecutive race, Florida’s Kris Thorne earned his first Pro Boost event win in his twin-turbocharged ’17 Corvette, defeating defending world champion Tommy D’Aprile in the final round. Thorne used a .007 reaction time and a 3.703 at 216.38 in the Mikey Rees-tuned ‘Vette to take down D’Aprile’s low-of-the-event 3.683 at 202.30 in his Al Billes-owned-and-tuned ’69 Camaro.

“It felt really good – I’ve been wanting to get one of these wins for two years,” Thorne said. “We’re finally starting to get the bugs worked out of this thing and finally put all our ducks in a row and got our first win in PDRA. I’m basically just in the car holding on. I’ve got to give it all to the crew and all the Proline guys out here helping us. I just hope we can keep it up.”

Florida’s Kris Thorne earned his first Pro Boost title.

Thorne moved past the first round with a 3.736 at 217.00 over Tom Blincoe, then pedaled to a 3.909 209.69 over Tylor Miller. The Proline-powered entry rocketed to a 3.689 at 216.55 over Kevin Rivenbark and his 3.715 at 201.46 in the semifinals.

D’Aprile, who defeated Jerico Balduf in the rain-delayed Mid-Atlantic Showdown final round earlier in the day, was the quickest driver in the opening round with his 3.72 at 200.32 over Balduf in a rematch of the Virginia final. The roots-blown Camaro which is owned by Canadian Al Billes, improved to a 3.71 at 200.83 to beat Anthony DiSomma, then stepped up yet again to 3.692 at 201.16 over Terry Leggett to advance to his third consecutive final round.