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NHRA Sport Compact Nationals and Extreme AutoFest
Dates: June 9, 2007 - June 10, 2007
Location: Atco, NJ
Article:
Event Promoter
Photos:
Matt Marden |
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Article by NHRA
HUNT WINS DOOR TO DOOR FINAL AT NORTHEAST NHRA SPORT COMPACT NATIONALS
ATCO, N.J. – The drivers of the NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing Series gave the fans at Atco Raceway an exciting day of eliminations for the Northeast NHRA Sport Compact Nationals presented by JEGS.
Winners of the race were Jason Hunt (Pro FWD), Ken Scheepers (Modified), Stephanie Eggum (Hot Rod), Jeremy Lookofsky (Honda Tuning Magazine All Motor) and Boris Rojas (Pro RWD).
Hunt, who came into Sunday as the No. 1 qualifier, was worried all day about making it past each round. As it turned out he didn't need to worry until the final round when his Matco Chevy Cobalt came up against Gary Gardella. It was a thrilling race as the two battled each other all the way to the finish line. Hunt crossed the finish first with a time of 7.47 seconds to Gardella's 7.49. The winning speed was 197.88, which is Hunt's career best NHRA speed. This gives him his second win in 2007 and fifth in his career.
"I know that I'm a race fan and front wheel drive is exciting to race, but the fans had to be excited watching me and Gary battle each other,& said Hunt. "Having Matco behind us to race, and also GM behind us along with Marty (Ladwig), Gary (Gardella), and Bryan (Jimenez) is great. I am glad the weekend was good to us. This now makes the points chase exciting. Our Borg Warner turbo system helped with that (fast) mph."
By all accounts, Ken Scheepers should not have even been in the final round with his Mazdaspeed Mazda RX8 to face defending 2006 Modified champion Pau Efantis. He broke an oil line fitting in the first round of qualifying that much to everyone's chagrin oiled down the whole length of the track. Yet, he won that round when Luis Corujo took too long to stage his car and was timed-out. Then in the second round he was racing the fastest Modified car of the year being driven by Brent Rau. Rau spun the tires at the start and Scheepers pulled away and won despite Rau coming on strong towards the finish line. Finally against Efantis, Scheepers had a late start, but won when Efantis had nothing but trouble with his car. His final time was 7.41 seconds at 177.93 mph to earn him his third win of 2007 and his seventh career win.
"Absolutely incredible," said Scheepers. "I want to thank all the guys who helped me. Without their help I wouldn't have been able to do it. To all my Puerto Rican friends, thank you. I was actually more worried about making it through the semifinal than the final. I stuck to my game plan and I had to do what I had to do. I knew Brent was coming on hard. The consistency of the season is paying off."
In addition to his runner-up finish Efantis gained a valuable 20 extra points for setting a national record for speed at 7.33 seconds.
Eggum gained valuable points on season-long rival Kenny Tran by defeating him for the second time this season. This now makes it twice that the two of them have defeated each other in the four events. Eggum was able to easily win when Tran had trouble at the start and had his car leave too early. This gave him the red light loss. Her final time in the Eggum Racing Honda Civic was 8.24 seconds at 167.32 mph.
"It was an important win," said Eggum. "We were supposed to have new fuel here because our fuel was contaminated, but it was in Chicago. We also had found a boost leak before the final round, but we had gone 8.08 with it. So, we decided to leave everything alone. I stayed calm. I want to thank Precision Turbo for the power they provide me."
Lookofsky came into the event only leading his main challenger, Norris Prayoonto, by two points in the standings. When it came to the final round Lookofsky was going to leave with a slightly larger lead or he would end up number two because he was facing Prayoonto. The tension between the racers was visible when neither driver would stage his car at the start. Prayoonto went in first followed by Lookofsky in his DVS-Drag Civic. When the cars left the starting line Prayoonto had a sizeable head-start, but immediately broke. Lookofsky never looked back to see his opponent and went on to win his second race of 2007 and fifth overall with a time of 9.48 seconds at 139.65 mph.
"We needed that," said Lookofsky. "It was a gnarly win on my birthday weekend. Most of all the win belongs to Sean Ragen's little newborn daughter, Ellen. Much love to the team and of course to my wife, Summer, and my daughter, Victoria Mae, who are at home."
Rojas was able to gather his first career NHRA win when his opponent and No. 1 qualifier, Carl Steven Jr., could not make it to the staging lanes or the starting line. Rojas raced his Mazda pickup very conservatively to the finish with a time of 19.60 seconds at 58.41 mph.
"I'd always rather be quicker than lucky and lucky was with me this weekend," said Rojas. "I was disappointed we couldn't give the fans a show. I got no seep last night because we were trying to figure out electrical problems. I will be in Indy with my car and Manny Cruz. We want to give the Titan cars a battle."
The NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing Series will next be at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, July 13-14, for the fifth annual Las Vegas NHRA Sport Compact Nationals. For more information go to nhrasportcompact.com.
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