July 6th, 2009 – West Palm Beach, Florida – The NSCRA’s Round 2 event at Palm Beach International Raceway was a huge success despite harsh weather conditions and a slight rain delay. Racers from all across the country showed up to battle it out including the Clutch Masters team of Norris Prayoonto, Loan Nguyen and Jonathan Reynolds. All seven heads-up classes featured some of the world’s fastest sport compacts as new NSCRA records were set and shattered throughout the hot day. Racers also looked towards the bounties that were placed on each of the winners from Round 1 as an added payout for each class. Across the way from the drag racing track, local Florida grassroots drifters and time attack racers were out putting on a show in between drag racing rounds.
“One of the greatest highlights of the event was how quickly Palm Beach International Raceway was able to clean up the track after the rain delay. Couple of years ago, that sort of rain would have lead to a cancellation of an event. The NSCRA barely experienced a one hour break in action,” said John Brown of the NSCRA. “The drag racers, drifters and time attack racers came out and supported in full force letting the world know that sport compact racing as a whole is growing at a magnificent rate. The fan base was supportive of all the different motorsports activities that were going on.”
The drifters and time attack racers put on a great show in between downtime and rounds of intense drag racing. Grassroots racers from across Florida showed up including Petit Racing’s RX-7, Japtrix’s Time Attack Evo and P2R’s Accord and Civic. Sean Yearwood shifted gears to attacking the road course this event as he was a drag racing competitor at our previous event – just showing off some of the versatility of what the NSCRA has to offer for all its automotive enthusiasts. The drift demo was well received by the crowd as locals such as Jason Jiovani in his S13 and Bizspeed.net’s sponsored S14 and Mustang went sideways lighting up the tires.
Onto the drag racing competition – in the South Florida Turbo True Street class, no one would topple and claim Chris Green’s bounty. He was the top qualifier of the class with a 10.081 @ 144.01 mph and claimed the class win over Gerard Carre with a 10.507 @ 145.74 mph to Carre’s 13.370 @ 112.65 mph. Green received the $250.00 bounty that was placed on himself and will be back for Round 3 to see if anyone can claim his crown. “The bounty is a great idea. It gives all the racers a chance to take home some money and gives some extra fun to the winners of each class.” Chris Green commented after winning the class again.
In the Street Compact Naturally Aspirated class, all eyes were on Loan Nguyen in The Driveshaft Shop Honda Civic of Prayoonto Racing and Mark Podkowik, Round 1’s winner. Podkowik had a $150.00 bounty placed on him after winning Round 1 and looked towards defending his win in the intense heat. Nguyen would qualify first with an 11.028 @ 127.28 mph setting up an inevitable meeting with Mark Podkowik in the finals. This heads-up battle lived up to the hype as both these K-series monsters battled it out. Nguyen would lose it at the light however, hitting a .297 reaction time to Podkowik’s .084. Mark Podkowik defended his Round 1 win with a 11.207 @ 124.57 mph to Nguyen’s faster 11.096 @ 125.85 mph.
In Phantom Grip’s Street Outlaw 4-Cylinder class, the NSCRA would see records dropped. Anthony Mossburg in the AWD Motorsports 2003 Evolution would run the class’s first 8-second pass with a 8.754. Jonathan Reynolds in the Supertech Valves Integra of Prayoonto Racing would run off a 165.70 mph pass! At the end of the day, the number one qualifier, Chris Williams with a 9.498 @ 150.88 mph would not make it to the finals, getting taken out by eventual winner Jonathan Reynolds. It almost seemed as if Reynolds was bracket racing, running a 9.251 @ 165.70 mph in the semi-final round to beat Williams and then a 9.215 @ 158 mph pass in the finals over David Marks’ 11.096 @ 132.65 mph. Hopefully we will see Reynolds in the 8-second range at a future NSCRA event!
Street Outlaw 6-Cylinder class would see the return of the Supras with Big Daddy Vijay Ramkissoon in his MK III taking the top qualifying spot with an 8.846 @ 162.41 mph pass. But Chris Gore, Round 1’s winner with a $250.00 bounty on him, would not give up without a fight. The two would eventually meet in the finals in a battle of the generation Supras. Ramkissoon would take the win at this event however, tree’ing Gore with a .102 reaction time to Gore’s .346. It was still a bumper to bumper, door to door race with Ramkissoon taking the win light with a 9.134 @ 158.67 mph to Gore’s 9.116 @ 152.93 mph. Congratulations to the Big Daddy Performance team for capturing the bounty!
The Naturally Aspirated Sport Compact class saw some fantastic rear wheel drive rotary vs. front wheel drive piston racing. Norris Prayoonto in the Clutch Masters Insight would qualify first with a blazing 9.605 @ 141.88 mph pass, but would run consistent 9.5’s all day long while battling it out with the rear-wheel drive rotary-powered vehicles. Prayoonto would claim the bounty on Armando Melendez in the semi-finals round with a 9.525 @ 146.32 mph pass to Melendez’s 10.334 @ 128.32 mph. The finals would pit Prayoonto with Jesus Padilla Jr., but Padilla’s Jr.’s ’85 Mazda would have trouble getting down the track. Prayoonto finished off the day with a 9.534 @ 145.99 mph. Congratulations to the team from Virginia on claiming two of the three class wins.
Turbo Sport Compact saw a mixture of familiar faces and new ones as Hector Garcia’s ’82 Mazda dominated all day long. Junior Espinal would take the bounty on Juan Rodriguez in round one in his ’95 Civic with an upset win at the light. A .374 reaction time to Rodriguez’s .596 was all it took for Espinal to claim $150.00. With 10 racers in The Turbo Sport Compact class, Garcia made the rounds taking a quick light in round 1, a single in round two and running an 8.273 @ 164.23 mph in the semi-finals over Abel Burgos’ 8.763 @ 124.75 mph. The finals would see Garcia and Luis Ferrer Jr. (who was also Round 1’s Modified Sport Compact winner) in the battle of old-school Mazda vs. Toyota. Garcia proved too much for Ferrer Jr. as Garcia runs an 8.173 @ 165.01 mph to Ferrer’s 8.658 @ 150.20 mph. The Turbo Sport Compact bounty on Hector Garcia will be increased for Round 3 thanks to the support of all its racers!
Lastly, the Modified Sport Compact class was filled with eight racers from ’94 Mazda RX-7s of Boris Rojas to Luis Ferrer Jr.’s ’07 Scion tC and Jaime Rodriguez Jr.’s old school Toyota. The story of the day would be Rodriguez Jr.’s resume for the day. Round one would show a 7.481 @ 179.42 mph over Ferrer Jr.’s troubled Scion tC, taking the $500.00 bounty. Round two would bring a 7.477 @ 178.97 mph pass over Boris Rojas’ 9.994 @ 134.24 mph. In the finals, Rodriguez Jr. would continue to impress finishing off what would seem a bracket -racing day for him with a 7.472 @ 178.52 mph pass over Alex Dieguez’s 10.426 @ 101.06 mph. Was he racing ET1 or Modified Sport Compact?! Congratulations to the team from West Palm Beach, Florida!
Gallery
