Drag Illustrated Issue 139, December 2018 | Page 42

THE DI
TOP 3
THE PDRA TOP 3 LIST IS THE LATEST ADDITION TO DRAG ILLUSTRATED’S COVERAGE OF THE
2018 PROFESSIONAL DRAG RACERS ASSOCIATION (PDRA) SEASON. THIS LIST, REPRESENTING
PERFORMANCES FROM THE PDRA WORLD FINALS AT VIRGINIA MOTORSPORTS PARK, DOES
NOT REFLECT THE CURRENT POINTS STANDINGS, THOUGH MOST OF THE DRIVERS WHO APPEAR
ON THIS LIST CAN ALSO BE FOUND NEAR THE TOP OF THE POINTS STANDINGS IN THEIR
RESPECTIVE CLASSES. AS DRIVERS BATTLE BACK AND FORTH FOR NO. 1 QUALIFYING SPOTS,
EVENT WINS AND NATIONAL RECORDS OVER THE COURSE OF THE 2018 SEASON, THIS LIST
WILL CHANGE TO REFLECT THOSE ACCOMPLISHMENTS.
PRO
NITROUS PRO
BOOST EXTREME
PRO STOCK PRO EXTREME
MOTORCYCLE PRO OUTLAW
632
1. JASON HARRIS
2. JIM HALSEY
3. LIZZY MUSI 1. MELANIE SALEMI
2. TOMMY D’APRILE
3. KURT STEDING 1. CHRIS POWERS
2. STEVEN BOONE
3. JEFF DOBBINS 1. RONNIE SMITH
2. PAUL GAST
3. RICARDO KNIGHTS 1. JOHNNY PLUCHINO
2. JEREMY HUFFMAN
3. TONY GILLIG
Jason Harris’ holeshot
victory over Chris Rini in the
first round removed any
possibility of Tommy Frank-
lin winning a third consecu-
tive world championship in
Switzer Dynamics Pro
Nitrous presented by MoTeC.
The 2014 world champion
marched on to the final
round, where he used a ca-
reer-best 3.689-second pass
to defeat Jim Halsey. Ap-
pearing in his second final
round of the season, Halsey
was fresh off a world-record
3.646 semifinal win in his
Fulton-powered Camaro.
Meanwhile, the Pro Nitrous
speed record was reset
again by Lizzy Musi with her
astonishing 209.23 mph pass
in the second round. On top of leaving Virginia
Motorsports Park with the
World Finals trophy, Melanie
Salemi recorded several of
the quickest passes in
Moroso Pro Boost history,
including a world-record
3.624 in the second round.
Tommy D’Aprile, the No. 1
qualifier and newly crowned
world champion, was sec-
ond-quickest of the event
with his second-round
3.626. In the semifinals, Kurt
Steding did what no driver
has been able to do at the
last two races: collect a
winning time slip with
Tommy D’Aprile in the other
lane. He set a career-best
3.743, while D’Aprile’s domi-
nant Camaro tried to go air-
borne in its pursuit of the
record. While the elusive first sub-
4-second pass in Liberty’s
Gears Extreme Pro Stock
wasn’t recorded at the
World Finals, a slew of the
quickest passes in class
history were recorded in the
process. Chris Powers’
Chuck Samuel-tuned
Camaro was locked in the
low 4.0s on his way to a fi-
nal-round victory over Elijah
Morton. One of his round
wins came via a four-thou-
sandths holeshot victory
over Jeff Dobbins as the pair
ran the quickest side-by-
side race with a pair of
4.012s. It was all Dobbins
needed to back up his 4.010
world record set in qualify-
ing. The world champion-
ship trophy went home with
Steven Boone, who stepped
up to a 4.038 in a slight
semifinal holeshot loss. As the leader of one of the
tightest championship
battles, Ronnie “Pro Mod”
Smith had a ton of pressure
on his shoulders going into
the World Finals. He bought
himself a round win in quali-
fying when he ran just two
thousandths off his own
3.973 world record to qualify
No. 1 and earn a first-round
bye. He kept his title hopes
alive with a 4.08 win over
Burke Forster before en-
countering trouble in the
semis, but Paul Gast’s
victory over championship
challenger Brunson Grothus
ensured Smith the champi-
onship. Gast, a drag bike
icon, went on to run his
slowest pass of eliminations
– a 4.011 – in a final-round
victory over Ricardo Knights.
Appearing in his first Drag
965 Pro Extreme Motorcycle
final, Knights posted a re-
spectable 4.10. Johnny Pluchino dropped a
bomb on the East Side Auto
Transport Pro Outlaw 632
class when he recorded a
4.163 at 170.19 to qualify No.
1 in the second session. He
backed up the world-record
pass with a 4.204 on a first-
round single, locking up the
world championship in the
process. With the title
decided, the first-round
winners in Pro Outlaw 632
agreed to split the purse
when the rest of the race
was pushed into Monday.
Following Pluchino in quali-
fying and ETs in the first
round were Jeremy Huffman
and Tony Gillig. Huffman ran
a 4.265 after qualifying No.
2 with a 4.214, while Gillig
was deadly consistent with
his third-best 4.269 in quali-
fying and 4.258 in the
opening round.
42 PDRA660.com