FINAL GRAND BEND QUALIFYING
Rain showers wreaked havoc on the evening portion of the schedule, but after a few delays the ‘Night of Fire’ produced some of the best racing of the weekend before a final storm ended the evening just a few runs shy of the finish.
But not even the rain could slow down Del Cox.
RECORD RUNS FLOURISH IN COOL SATURDAY EVENING CONDITIONS
Cox blasts to No. 1 in Top Fuel; Pontieri (Pro Mod) and Gugliotta (Pro Stock) top charts
A pair of Canadians owned the Pro Modified class as Tony Pontieri
leaped to the top of the charts in the popular doorslammer category and
Del Cox (Top Fuel), Frank Gugliotta (Pro Stock) and Bruce Boland (PMRA)
all claimed spots at the top of the charts during the popular “Night of
Fire” at the MOPAR Canadian Nationals Saturday at the Grand Bend
Motorplex in Grand Bend, Ontario.
Rain showers wreaked havoc on the evening portion of the schedule, but
after a few delays the ‘Night of Fire’ produced some of the best racing
of the weekend before a final storm ended the evening just a few runs
shy of the finish.
But not even the rain could slow down Del Cox.
Cox (Downey, Calif.), in the first professional pass following the
delay, blasted to the top of the Top Fuel charts with a blistering
4.725 elapsed time at 317.94 miles per hour to knock points leader
Bruce Litton (Indianapolis, Ind.) from the top spot.
“It was a little nerve racking going out there after the rain because
these are the baddest hot rods in the world. It was dark, it was cold
and that was the most driving I have had to do, but we got it down the
track,” Cox said.
Did he ever.
Cox’s run was the fastest speed of the entire year as he made a bold
statement in his attempt to get back in the Top Fuel title chase and
make up some ground on Litton.
“She was moving, there was no doubt about that. I think we are back,”
Cox said. “We got another five points and if the car runs like it did
tonight I don’t think we will have a problem. The weather has been
pretty similar so we will go with the same tune-up and go again
tomorrow.”
Just behind Cox was Litton whose 4.810 second lap on Friday was enough
to keep him in second. Boychuk also dropped a spot to third via a 4.865
second pass Friday night.
Outside of Cox, the other big story on Saturday was Dom Lagana in his first professional run in Top Fuel.
After making a so-so pass on Friday, Lagana opened it up on Saturday
with a solid 4.978 elapsed time at 290.82 miles per hour in his first
weekend of competition in Top Fuel. Lagana was the fourth car to
venture into the four-second range.
Mitch King (5.057) was fifth heading into Sunday.
Pontieri
(Bolton, Ontario) blasted to the top of the Pro Mod charts with a
record setting performance, setting both ends of the Grand Bend track
record with a 5.974 second pass at 241.93 miles per hour to top the
charts during the cool afternoon session.
“This is a car that has like three laps on it. Actually, the laps that
you saw here at this track were some of our first,” Pontieri said. We
were out prior last weekend on our local track and we only got 60 foot
times so we came here blind. We tried all the stuff we had over the
winter and we got this car three weeks ago, got it painted, did some
work to it and you saw the results.”
Not only was it a track record, but Pontieri’s pass was also the
quickest and fastest pass in the history of Pro Modified racing in the
country of Canada.
“I woke up this morning feeling good after we cleaned the car last
night I did some adjustments and I told my crew chief to get ready
because if I get it into second gear we are going in the fives,”
Pontieri said. “When I hit second gear the car got a little loose, but
not bad enough it was out of control. I put it back in the groove and
she just charged to the end of the quarter mile.
“I knew it was fast because I could feel it and then I saw everybody
jumping at the end of the track. It went from the team working hard
over the past month to this tonight. It was quite a run for everybody
involved with this team.”
Kenny Lang (Grande Pointe, Manitoba) tucked himself in behind Pontieri
and leaped from the bottom of the charts to second with another
blistering lap of 5.993 seconds at 237.82 miles per hour. Lang also
claimed Saturday’s Last Man Standing award for producing the fastest
winning time during the “Night of Fire” qualifying session.
Ed Hoover ran a 5.999 E.T. at 237.34 miles per hour to fall in behind
Lang in third as three cars dipped into the five-second zone on
Saturday. Gary Irving (6.071) and Melanie Troxel (6.130) rounded out
the top five heading into Sunday.
Troxel’s afternoon pass was her best lap in a Pro Modified vehicle since switching over to the door car this season.
Gugliotta
(Mt. Airy, Md.) ruined Pete Berner’s (Crete, Ill.) attempt at his first
pole of the season, running a solid 6.330 elapsed time at 219.83 miles
per hour to qualify No. 1 and claim Saturday’s Quarter-Max Last Man
Standing Award in Elite Motorsports Pro Stock.
“It was an awesome run. My guys did a great job, everybody from the
bottom to the top. Richard Freeman, I can’t thank him enough. J.R.
Carr, Agripak, Elite Motorsports – everybody,” Gugliotta said. “Really
this is a whole team effort. We look out for each other and try to make
everybody run the best we can and it was me tonight.”
Berner ran a great 6.349 E.T. at 219.04 miles per hour during the
afternoon session and looked poised to claim his first No. 1 qualifying
spot of the season, but the points leader was able to knock him off the
top spot and beat him head-to-head during the final qualifying session
of the weekend.
“This is the hardest class out here, it really is. It is so close, one
little mistake, one turn of a screw one way or the other can be the
difference,” Gugliotta said. “We had fun running Pete tonight. He is
one of my good buddies and a two-time champion and we would like to be
where he is.”
Saturday’s marked Gugliotta’s first pole of the season.
Just behind Gugliotta and Berner was Elite Motorsports head man Richard
Freeman who ran a solid 6.358 at 218.72 miles per hour. Friday’s Last
Man Standing John Montecalvo (6.359) dropped to fourth.
Mark Martino rounded out the Pro Stock top five with a solid 6.372
second lap, but it was his speed that turned a few heads. Martino was
just off of the track record with the fastest lap of the weekend at
220.15 miles per hour during the brisk evening hours.
Saturday night’s highly touted “King of Canada” match race between
Alcohol Funny Car stars Paul Noakes and Rob Atchison turned into a one
round show due to the rain – and what a round it was.
In the only pass of the weekend for the pair of cars Atchison was able
to make the most of his brief moment in the spotlight with a solid
5.792 second pass at 246.57 miles per hour, edging Paul Noakes who ran
a 5.848 E.T. at 240.98 miles per hour.
Jason McKnight, a late addition to the event, actually put down the
quickest and fastest lap of the afternoon with a 5.779 elapsed time at
251.86 miles per hour. Larry Dobbs ran a 5.993 E.T. at 237.96 mph.
The Pro Modified Racing Association points leader Bruce Boland (Stoney
Creek, Ontario) put down the fast lap of the weekend Saturday night
with a blazing 4.030 elapsed time at 193.39 miles per hour on the
quarter mile.
Jack Grainy (Tonawanda, N.Y.), Friday’s fastest man, dropped one spot
to second one a 4.031 second pass at 179.97 miles per hour.
Jeff Roth (4.161), Mark Nielsen (4.174) and Jason Kalso (4.175) rounded
out the top five in the PMRA Challenge at Saturday’s MOPAR Canadian
Nationals.
Sunday’s action will get underway at 9 a.m. with sportsman eliminations
followed by professional eliminations beginning at 11 a.m.
Advertisement