The Modified field had only three participants and it shaped up as a Humphreys versus Efantis final. The third entrant was Ali Afshar who has yet to fully sort out his new Subaru racer. With Gary Kubo in the pits the Easy Street/SPT WRX posted its best ever e.t. in qualifying, an 8.855, but it was still more than a second off the pace of top qualifier Paul Efantis.
The expected final was confirmed when Humphreys posted a 7.83 against Afshar's 9.97. The final would be worth the price of admission and suffering through a few cloud bursts during the day. It was the Back-Pedal Nats as both cars got way squirrely as they tail-wagged their way down the strip. Efantis worked the magic best and took the win, 8.826 to 8.876.
In Pro FWD, Ed Bergenholtz put his Mazda in the 7s with a 7.993 in the first round, running a bye because Shaun Carlson had taken chunks out the cylinder walls of his Mopar Neon on Saturday. The second pairing found 200-mph Ladwig matched with Jerrold Rhodes, who was debuting a new car, Stephan Papadakis' old FWD Civic coupe, that hadn't dipped into the burnout box in three or four years. At the flash of the green the upset of the year unfolded as Ladwig's Pontiac stalled and Rhodes skated to 10.84-second, 113-mph slalom run and the win.
In the finals Rhodes was no match for the hard-charging Team Bergenholtz as Ed Bergenholtz dropped an 8.056 on Rhodes who managed only an 11.61.
In Pro RWD the first round proved to be a barometer of the final as Brad Personett and Matt Scranton were the only drivers to post 6-second e.t.s. Things heated up big time in the semis as Titan teammates Brad Personett and Vince Fourcade had a date with destiny. This was an epic battle from the flash of the green where Personett had a scant advantage with a .032- to .074-second reaction time. At the big end the final margin of victory was barely a blink of the eye as Personett's 6.832 was just enough to put down Fourcade's 6.837. This put Personett and Scranton on a collision course.
In the money race Scranton produced the best light of the weekend, a .007, but Personett's .031 was nothing to sneeze at. The Supra-powered Celicas accelerated in tandem down the 1320 with Personett's power advantage proving the difference and took the win with a time of 6.848 to Scranton's 6.905.
The points races tightened up after the Mopar Mountain Madness Nationals in the two most competitive classes, All Motor and Pro RWD. The points leaders in both of these classes were out of the picture early. None of the championships are foregone conclusions as the series enters a very interesting stretch with more than two months between races.
What will the racers do to better their cars during this dry season? Who will have cars completed in the interim? And how will these new cars impact the points chase? Yep, things are heating up.