ATCO, N.J. – Brad Personett (Orlando, Fla.), who drove his Titan Motorsports Scion tC to a historic 220.15 mph in qualifying, was able to back it up within the 1 percent requirement on Sunday at historic Atco Raceway. He also set a national time record of 6.51 seconds.
Personett was able to back up his speed in the first round of eliminations enroute to his third win in 2006 on the NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing Series. He defeated Matt Scranton with a time of 6.55 seconds at 218.23 mph. Scranton driving his Ride Revolution Toyota Solara was tough to beat to the finish line with a 6.51 at 217.21.
“We actually slowed the car down to keep the record at 6.51,” said Personett. “But we almost slowed it down too much. We knew Scranton needed to hit a home run to beat us and he darn near did it, except he red-lit.”
Other winners on the weekend were Bryan Jimenez (Pro FWD), Jorge Lazcano (Modifed), Ron Lummus (Hot Rod), and Norris Prayoonto (Honda Tuning All Motor).
Bryan Jimenez Jimenez (Houston) drove his Everyone’sMortgage Chevy Cobalt to the finish line to beat Gary Gardella who had crashed earlier in the day. It was not a speedfest on the track for this race since Gardella just came to the starting line to stage his car. He knew he could not get it down the track. Jimenez managed to have a clean start to make it across the finish line, and get his first Wally in his short NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing Series career.
“I was just trying not to red-light,” said Jimenez. “I would’ve put my feet through the floor to keep it from red lighting. It hasn’t sunk in yet, but it feels great right now. I sometimes say it is better to be lucky than good. I had a great running car. I want to thank my sponsors Everyone’s Mortgage, GM Racing, Redat Race Turbos, and Hydromatic.”
Jorge Lazcano The winner of Modified was San Juan, Puerto Rico, resident Lazcano. He won his second Wally of the year driving his 1985 Mazda RX7 to a time of 7.57 seconds at 179.16 mph. Lazcano defeated Dee Karagiannis who was driving a newer model Mazda RX7.
“This second time winning this year I feel better because I am more relaxed,” said Lazcano. “The car performance was there, and the team is performing consistently. I want to thank Pica Motors Import. This is not gonna be my last win.”
Karagiannis almost didn’t make it to the starting line in the Modified final, but he found some help in a surprising place, Lazcano’s Team Puerto Rico. He had broken his transmission earlier in the day, and didn’t think he would be able to compete in the final, but he went to Team Puerto Rico asking for some spare parts. He received something better. Oso from La Atrevida Racing Team and some other crew members came over and helped put the transmission back together so that Karagiannis could run. It got finished so close to racing time that he didn’t even get to test the new transmission.
“I couldn’t have done it without their help,” said Karagiannis. “This is what our sport is about. They just wanted to see a race. I want to thank all of them that helped. What’s amazing is I didn’t have my team turn the car up as high as it could have gone. I could’ve run even better.”
Ron Lummus Lummus (Anaheim, Calif.) won his eleventh career Wally in his Pontiac Sunfire in the closest final of the day. His better reaction time of .050 seconds was the difference he needed to beat Stephane Beauregard’s (Granby, Quebec, Canada) reaction time of .169 seconds. Lummus finished with a time of 8.13 seconds at 178.99 mph to Beauregarde’s 8.11 seconds at 178.19mph.
“It feels awesome,” said Lummus. “Now it’s scrappin time. It’s tenths and hundredths that make the difference now for wins. I tried to stay as focused as I could down the track.
Frenchy (Beauregard) was great. He came over and gave me hug at the finish line,” continued Lummus. It’s enjoyable to race with people who enjoy racing. In the Bible it says, ‘We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.’ The cloud is symbolism for great things, and these other racers are great.”
Norris Prayoonto Prayoonto (Honda Tuning All Motor), from Springfield, Va., won his second race by defeating Jeremy Lookofsky in a rematch of the previous race two weeks ago at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. Prayoonto narrowly missed a perfect reaction time to defeat Lookofsky with a time of 9.70 seconds at 137.61 mph. Lookofsky ran 10.08 seconds at 140.34 mph.
“We kept the car the same as we had it at Englishtown,” said Prayoonto. “The track ran great yesterday, but today it wasn’t as good. Sometimes you qualify No.1 but that doesn’t mean your No. 1. It’s No.1 that counts.”
Lookofsky was able to establish both ends of the Honda Tuning All Motor national records this weekend with a time of 9.64 seconds and a speed of 141.89 mph.
The Northeast NHRA Sport Compact Nationals will be telecast on ESPN2 on Sunday, June 4 at 1 p.m. and re-telecast on Sunday,June 11 at 4 a.m. The Sony Xplod Stylefest will be telecast on ESPN2 on Sunday, May 31 at 1:30 a.m.
The next NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing Series event will be the NHRA Sport Compact Summer Nationals where the Pro RWD drivers will join the POWERade series at Heartland Park Topeka in Topeka, Kan. on May 26-28.
ATCO, N.J. — Sunday’s final results from the Fifth Annual Northeast NHRA Sport Compact Nationals at Atco Raceway. The race is the Fourth of 11 in the $2.5 million NHRA Xpl?d Sport Compact Drag Racing Series.
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