Two-time Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous world champion Tommy Franklin earned his first No. 1 qualifier award of the season Friday night at the PDRA ProFabrication DragWars at GALOT Motorsports Park. Driving his Musi-powered \u201cJungle Rat\u201d \u201969 Camaro, Franklin recorded a 3.644-second pass at 205.63 MPH to claim the top spot as he chases a third season title.<\/p>\n
In Menscer Motorsports Pro Street presented by Afco Racing, No. 1 qualifier Nick Agostino walked away from a crash that saw his twin-turbocharged \u201969 Camaro impact both walls in the third and final qualifying session. Agostino was sore, but uninjured in the incident. The crash occurred less than 20 minutes before the 11 p.m. noise curfew, so series officials set the fields in most classes. Liberty\u2019s Gears Extreme Pro Stock presented by AED Competition and the Jr. Dragster classes will run a final third session on Saturday morning.<\/p>\n
The low qualifiers in the rest of the professional classes are Jason Harris in WS Construction Pro Boost presented by P2 Contracting and Ty-Drive, Daryl Stewart in M&M Transmission Pro 632, Meshal Al-Saber in Drag 965 Pro Nitrous Motorcycle, and Derek Mota in Afco Racing Super Street presented by Menscer Motorsports. Elijah Morton is the provisional No. 1 qualifier in Extreme Pro Stock.<\/p>\n
The sportsman classes completed all three planned qualifying sessions, with No. 1 qualifier awards going to Bryan LaFlam in MagnaFuel Elite Top Sportsman presented by PAR Racing Engines, Frank Falter IV in Laris Motorsports Insurance Elite Top Dragster, Tim Lawrence in MagnaFuel Top Sportsman presented by Corbin\u2019s RV, and Brian Maine in Laris Motorsports Insurance Top Dragster.<\/p>\n
The young racers who compete in the PDRA\u2019s Jr. Dragster classes continue to impress. In Coolshirt Systems Pro Jr. Dragster presented by PRP, which qualifies based on a 7.90 index, Spencer McGee recorded a 7.900 to take the provisional No. 1 spot. Reaction times set the field in Classic Graphix Top Jr. Dragster presented by PRP, and McKenna Halas went perfect with a .000 light to hold the No. 1 position going into Saturday\u2019s final session.<\/p>\n
Throughout the season, two-time Pro Nitrous world champion Tommy Franklin and four-time and reigning world champion Jim Halsey have battled back and forth for No. 1 qualifier awards and race wins. Franklin won the latest battle, using a 3.644 at 205.63 to qualify No. 1 over Halsey\u2019s 3.647 at 207.15. The two drivers are on opposite sides of the ladder, creating the potential for a final round fight for the points lead going into the World Finals at Virginia Motorsports Park. Franklin in his Musi-powered \u201cJungle Rat\u201d \u201969 Camaro is motivated to do his part to make that happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll we\u2019ve got to do is worry about our lane and turn on win lights,\u201d Franklin said. \u201cBut [Halsey] is a tough team, so they\u2019re going to be good. We know they\u2019re going to be there. But some way between here and Virginia, we\u2019ve got to win one more round than them. We came in here with the idea that to go No. 1 would be good, but we didn\u2019t want to cost a bunch of parts to do it. We\u2019re a little bit conservative, but wanted to make good laps when we did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Halsey\u2019s 3.647 in his Fulton-powered \u201cDaddy Shark\u201d \u201968 Camaro was good for the No. 2 spot. Local star Jay Cox, who plans to step back from driving duties after the season concludes, qualified third with a 3.667 at 205.63 in his Musi-powered Butner Construction \u201cPumpkin\u201d \u201969 Camaro.<\/p>\n
A slew of Pro Boost drivers fired off 3.60-second passes in the final qualifying session, but it was points leader Jason Harris\u2019 3.616 at 204.82 that topped them all. It was a rebound for the two-time Pro Nitrous world champion, who dropped a valve in Thursday testing and had to swap in new cylinder heads on his ProCharged \u201cParty Time\u201d \u201969 Camaro. He made solid passes in the first two qualifying sessions, then went for it in the final session.<\/p>\n
\u201cTruthfully, it\u2019s a killer game out here,\u201d said Harris, who thanked partners like Hoosier Racing Tires, M&M Transmissions, and Pro Line Racing. \u201cYou gotta do what you gotta do to win, and I knew that we didn\u2019t really have anything to lose. We were already in the field. We weren\u2019t gonna get bumped out. It was either go or blow for it and just try to get No. 1. Me and Brandon [Stroud, tuner] talked about it. We put in there what we thought we could run and it ran a little bit quicker than what we thought. We were hoping for a low .62 to high .61. Everything\u2019s been killer all week, all year, and all weekend right now. Let\u2019s hope I can keep it up for tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kurt Steding laid down a 3.621 at 208.46 in his Todd Tutterow-tuned, screw-blown P2 Contracting \u201920 Camaro to qualify No. 2. Melanie Salemi, who won the season opener at GALOT in Eddie Whelan\u2019s screw-blown \u201919 Camaro, qualified third with a 3.622 at 206.10.<\/p>\n
North Carolina\u2019s own Elijah Morton jumped straight to the top of the qualifying sheet in the first session when he recorded a 4.068 at 176.93 in his Allen-powered Morton Brothers Motorsports \u201919 Mustang. He followed that up with a 4.08 in the second session. Morton and the rest of the Extreme Pro Stock racers were in the staging lanes for their final session when racing was halted for the night. With a season-high 18 cars on the property, the class will get to run the final session on Saturday morning to solidify the 16-car field.<\/p>\n
Rookie Alan Drinkwater, who\u2019s less than one round behind points leader and 2021 world champion Chris Powers, is second with a 4.082 at 176.79 in his Kaase-powered IronListing.com \u201908 Mustang. JR Carr took the Elite Motorsports-fielded Johnson\u2019s Horsepowered Garage \u201921 Camaro to the provisional third spot with a 4.085 at 176.86.<\/p>\n
In just his second race back in Pro 632 after starting the season in Extreme Pro Stock, Daryl Stewart claimed his second consecutive No. 1 qualifier award in his nitrous-fed Chassis Engineering \u201912 Camaro. With Clayton Murphy calling the shots on the HRE-powered entry, Stewart recorded a 4.15 at 171.05 in the second session to take the top spot.<\/p>\n
Reigning world champion Amber Franklin laid down a 4.17 at 169.81 in her Musi-powered \u201cOG Jungle Rat\u201d \u201969 Camaro to qualify No. 2. Points leader Jeff Melnick took a close third in Alan O\u2019Brien\u2019s AMC small-block-powered Greenbrier Excavating & Paving \u201920 Camaro with a 4.171 at 169.51.<\/p>\n
Kuwait\u2019s Meshal Al-Saber started his season as the No. 1 qualifier at the spring GALOT race. He repeated that feat on Friday night when he lit up the scoreboard with a 3.997 at 176.67 aboard the McCoy Motorsports-fielded Q80 Racing Hayabusa. Al-Saber can now turn his focus to securing his first event win of the season as he battles an eight-rider field that includes points leader and 2021 world champion Chris Garner-Jones and championship challenger Brayden Davis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best guys in the world are racing here in the PDRA,\u201d said Al-Saber, who\u2019s third in points. \u201cThat\u2019s very important to me and very important for the team and my sponsors, Q80 Racing and the BMRC. I thank PDRA \u2013 they make a good race for everybody here. Everybody here is fast. I fly overseas from Kuwait 14 hours to come racing here all season. I am really, really happy about qualifying No. 1. Thank you, Brad McCoy. He makes me faster, then faster, then faster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garner-Jones nearly joined Al-Saber in the 3-second zone with his 4.005 at 177.98 on his T.T. Jones Racing Hayabusa to qualify second. Davis ended up third on his Timblin Chassis Hayabusa with a 4.022 at 174.82.<\/p>\n
In the last pair of Pro Street\u2019s second qualifying session, Nick Agostino and Bill Lutz made what is likely the quickest side-by-side pass in the class\u2019s history, with Agostino\u2019s 3.911 topping Lutz\u2019s 3.919. Both drivers were eying record-setting passes in the 3.80s in the third session, but Agostino\u2019s tires broke loose around the 330-foot mark, sending him into the left retaining wall, then across the track into the right wall. Agostino has spent all season focusing on his early numbers, and the third session was one of his first attempts at applying more boost down-track to charge harder in the back half of the run. The result likely would\u2019ve been a new class record.<\/p>\n
\u201cEarlier this season, we decided let\u2019s do the smart thing. Let\u2019s start the race instead of just going out and seeing how fast we can go,\u201d Agostino said. \u201cWe felt like we had a really good handle on it. That second run, we felt very comfortable. The third one, I was ready to go 3.85 or 3.86 with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Agostino\u2019s twin-turbo \u201969 Camaro known as the \u201cCannoli Express\u201d took a couple hard hits in the crash, the chassis itself wasn\u2019t too damaged. Agostino, though sore and disappointed to end a championship pursuit with a crash at the penultimate race of the season, was optimistic and already looking ahead at the rebuilding process.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought we actually had a shot at it in the points race,\u201d said Agostino, who praised the PDRA\u2019s safety and tech teams, as well as his crew, fellow racers, and partners like M&M Transmission. \u201cWe had a chance to win the last two races. I had the car. We just needed to do our thing. But moving ahead, we\u2019ll take our time now, and we won\u2019t have to do anything until maybe January. We\u2019ve got some time to get it apart, get it back on the jig, get it all sorted out, and come back out better than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lutz was set to make his final qualifying attempt on a single behind Agostino. His 3.919 in his screw-blown \u201cBig Boost\u201d \u201968 Camaro from the second session held up for the No. 2 spot. Points leader Bill Riddle extended his one-point lead over defending world champion Tim Essick by two points when he recorded a 3.947 at 187.78 next to Agostino, putting his roots-blown Corrigan Race Fuels \u201989 Camaro in the third spot.<\/p>\n
A dominant weekend at the last race on tour put season-opener winner Derek Mota back in championship contention. He went into DragWars needing another clean sweep to gain more ground on points leader Blake Denton, and he laid the groundwork for that with his first qualifying pass. He lowered his own class E.T. record with a 4.637 at 163.97, though he hurt his single-turbocharged engine and had to sit out the second session to make repairs. No one went quicker in that session, and the third session was cut, so Mota picked up his second consecutive No. 1 qualifier award.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re running the car hard and this is going to happen,\u201d Mota said, noting that his team had plenty of time to check over everything and make all necessary repairs for race day. \u201cWith the team I\u2019ve got behind me \u2013 Jamie [Miller, tuner] and my crew guys and all the support I have from everybody here \u2013 we get it all done. We\u2019ll be out there and we\u2019re gonna give [Denton] a run for his money. Hopefully we\u2019ll make up some points this weekend. We did go No. 1 and we reset the record. We\u2019re going to claim this one as the .63. If we back it up tomorrow in eliminations, that\u2019ll be another 50 points for the championship, and hopefully we\u2019ll go into Virginia on his heels and try to come around him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Denton qualified No. 2 in his nitrous-assisted \u201976 Camaro with a 4.773 at 153.46, putting him on the opposite side of the ladder from Mota. Fellow young gun Connor McGee used a 4.787 at 151.77 in his nitrous-fed \u201985 Mustang to reset his personal best in Super Street trim, qualifying third in the process.<\/p>\n
Bryan LaFlam in his supercharged \u201967 Mustang led a pair of nitrous-assisted Camaros to pick up his second No. 1 qualifier award of the season in Elite Top Sportsman. LaFlam recorded a 3.733 in 196.56, holding off Buddy Perkinson and his 3.739 at 201.01 in his Musi-powered LAT Racing Oils \u201969 Camaro. Glenn Butcher took the No. 3 spot in his Albert-powered \u201969 Camaro with a 3.794 at 195.65.<\/p>\n
Tim Lawrence just missed out on the 16-car Elite field, but he scored the No. 1 spot in the Top Sportsman field with a 3.979 at 184.98 in his Albert-powered \u201913 Camaro.<\/p>\n
Maryland\u2019s Frank Falter IV used a 3.747 at 199.26 in his supercharged \u201cCandy Man\u201d \u201920 Miller dragster to qualify on top of an Elite Top Dragster field that saw all but one of the 16 drivers post 3-second passes. Two North Carolina-based drivers, Asheville\u2019s Charles J. Careccia and Graham\u2019s Kellan Farmer, followed Falter in second and third. Careccia posted a 3.786 at 193.82 in his supercharged \u201996 Horton dragster, while Farmer ran a 3.826 at 189.84 in his ProCharged \u201920 Race Tech dragster.<\/p>\n
Brian Maine, who was the Top Dragster No. 1 qualifier at the spring GALOT race, claimed the top spot yet again with a 4.012 at 178.71 in his \u201914 Miller dragster.<\/p>\n
Qualifying at the PDRA ProFabrication DragWars at GALOT Motorsports Park will continue Saturday beginning with Jr. Dragster final qualifying at 9:30 a.m. and Edelbrock Bracket Bash presented by COMP Cams time trials at 10 a.m., followed by first round of eliminations in Top Dragster and Top Sportsman. Extreme Pro Stock will run its final qualifying session at 11:30. Pre-race ceremonies and pro eliminations will kick off at 2:45 p.m.<\/p>\n
The post T. Franklin, Harris, Morton, Stewart, Al-Saber, Agostino and Mota No. 1 Qualifiers at PDRA DragWars<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated | Drag Racing News, Opinion, Interviews, Photos, Videos and More<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two-time Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous world champion Tommy Franklin earned his first No. 1 qualifier award of the season Friday night at the PDRA ProFabrication DragWars at GALOT Motorsports Park. Driving his Musi-powered \u201cJungle Rat\u201d \u201969 Camaro, Franklin recorded a 3.644-second pass at 205.63 MPH to claim the top spot as he chases a third […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89909\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}