NHRA (ATCO, NJ) - HUNT WINS DOOR TO DOOR FINAL AT NORTHEAST NHRA SPORT COMPACT NATIONALS

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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ATCO, N.J. -- Sunday's final results from the sixth annual Northeast NHRA Sport Compact Nationals presented by JEGS at Atco Raceway. The race is the fifth of 11 in the NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Drag Racing Series:

PRO RWD

Boris Rojas, Orlando, Fla., dragster, 19.605, 58.41 def. Carl Stevens Jr, Franklin Lakes, N.J., '05 Nissan, broke.

PRO FWD

Jason Hunt, Crofton, Md., '07 Cobalt, 7.479, 197.88 def. Gary Gardella, Howell, N.J., '07 Cobalt, 7.491, 193.10.

MODIFIED

Ken Scheepers, Flower Mound, Texas, '05 RX8, 7.414, 177.93 def. Paul Efantis, Ijamsville, Md., '03 Solara, 8.205, 141.73.

HOT ROD

Stephanie Eggum, Elgin, Ill., '00 Civic, 8.247, 167.32 def. Kenny Tran, Garland, Texas, '06 tC, foul.

HONDA TUNING MAGAZINE ALL MOTOR

Jeremy Lookofsky, Simi Valley, Calif., '06 Civic SI, 9.489, 139.65 def. Norris Prayoonoto, Springfield, Va., '04 Honda, 21.308, 58.46.

SPORT RWD

Mark Mazurowski, Orlando, Fla., '05 240SX, 9.467, 147.31 def. Darin Dichiara, Orlando, Fla., '94 Toyota, 9.853, 149.17.

URBANRACER,COM SPORT FWD

Bryan Danieli, Verona, N.J., '92 Civic, 10.035, 149.40 def. Jason Lopes, Liverpool, N.Y., '05 tC, 10.399, 147.04.

BFGOODRICH TIRES STREET STOCK

Cristian Castillo, Orlando, Fla., '98 Integra, 12.280, 108.75 def. Loan Nguyen, Burke, Va., '99 Civic, 12.378, 113.21.

QUICK 16

Ryan Smith, Somers, Conn., '92 Civic, 10.265, 140.33 def. Brian Ballard, Sloatsburg, N.Y., '07 Cobalt, 9.972, 117.04.

ET1

Jose Torres, Bronx, N.Y., ’72 Datsun, 14.11, 61.85 def. Bill Weber, Philadelphia, Pa., ’79 Corolla, 10.63, 110.85

ET2

John Briese, Galloway, N.J., ’07 Tundra, 15.07, 84.54 def. Jay Neville, Franklinville, N.J., ’96 Stratus, 17.75, 63.31

ATCO, N.J. -- Final round-by-round results from the sixth annual Northeast NHRA Sport Compact Nationals presented by JEGS at Atco Raceway, the fifth of 11 events in the NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Drag Racing Series:

PRO RWD:

FINALS -- Boris Rojas, Mazda Pickup, 19.605, 58.41 def. Carl Stevens Jr, Nissan, broke.

PRO FWD:

ROUND ONE -- Gary Gardella, Chevy Cobalt, 7.560, 190.89 def. Christian Rado, Scion tC, 7.852, 188.28; Marty Ladwig, Cobalt, 7.443, 192.69 def. Ed Bergenholtz, Mazda, 8.438, 158.07; Jason Hunt, Cobalt, 7.459, 193.46 def. Bryan Jimenez, Cobalt, broke;

SEMIFINALS -- Gardella, 7.472, 189.23 def. Ladwig, 7.430, 173.18; Hunt, 17.754, 87.70 was unopposed;

FINALS -- Hunt, 7.479, 197.88 def. Gardella, 7.491, 193.10.

MODIFIED:

ROUND ONE -- Paul Efantis, Toyota Solara, 7.334, 182.03 def. Dee Karagiannis, Mazda, 9.931, 89.02; Ken Scheepers, Mazda RX8, 15.730, 56.41 def. Luis Corujo, Toyota Celica, broke; Brent Rau, Eclipse, 15.859, 60.74 was unopposed;

SEMIFINALS -- Scheepers, 7.416, 181.11 def. Rau, 7.442, 189.63; Efantis, 7.455, 181.13 was unopposed;

FINALS -- Scheepers, 7.414, 177.93 def. Efantis, 8.205, 141.73.

HOT ROD:

ROUND ONE -- Kenny Tran, Scion tC, 8.142, 172.23 def. James Farrer, Cobalt, 8.459, 166.62; Stephanie Eggum, Honda Civic, 8.085, 173.81 was unopposed;

FINALS -- Eggum, 8.247, 167.32 def. Tran, foul.

HONDA TUNING MAGAZINE ALL MOTOR:

ROUND ONE -- Leslie Durst-Armendariz, Scion tC, 9.502, 140.68 def. Richie Gibson, Honda CRX, broke; Norris Prayoonoto, 9.479, 140.08 def. Julie Stepan, Chevy Cobalt, 11.006, 118.04; Saul Salceda, Acura Integra, 9.497, 139.33 def. Scott Kelley, Toyotoa Corolla, 10.213, 120.69; Jeremy Lookofsky, Honda Civic SI, 9.525, 138.88 def. Doug Parks, Mazda 3, 10.489, 126.48;

SEMIFINALS -- Lookofsky, 9.466, 140.74 def. Salceda, 9.495, 139.85; Prayoonoto, 9.618, 139.99 def. Durst-Armendariz, broke;

FINALS -- Lookofsky, 9.489, 139.65 def. Prayoonoto, 21.308, 58.46.

SPORT RWD:

ROUND ONE -- Mark Mazurowski, Nissan 240SX, 18.357, 78.77 was unopposed;

Darin Dichiara, Toyota, 9.619, 151.71 def. Anthony Niemczyk, Eclipse, 12.141, 128.15; Shane Ramsundar, Mazda, broke def. Jason Greenawalt, broke;

SEMIFINALS -- Mazurowski, broke was unopposed; Dichiara, broke was unopposed;

FINALS -- Mazurowski, 9.467, 147.31 def. Dichiara, 9.853, 149.17.

URBANRACER.COM SPORT FWD:

ROUND ONE -- Andrea Koury, Honda CRX, 12.444, 75.82 was unopposed;

Jonathan Reynolds, Integra, 9.889, 137.39 def. Steve Lockett, Neon, 10.828, 133.46; Kevin Van Natten, Dodge SRT-4, 9.943, 144.86 def. Brian Afflerbach, Acura, 12.650, 108.30; Felix Medina, Honda Civic, 13.206, 112.76 def. Damian Borroto, Civic, foul; Fernando Reyes, Civic, 9.710, 154.83 def. Chad Colfer, 11.399, 108.51; Bryan Danieli, Civic, 9.927, 152.88 def. Joe Simpson, Civic, 10.849, 137.30; Jason Lopes, Scion tC, 10.791, 145.34 def. Chris Miller, Civic, broke;

QUARTERFINALS -- Danieli, 9.825, 156.43 def. Koury, 9.942, 159.66; Lopes, 10.731, 109.88 def. Reyes, foul; Reynolds, 9.857, 154.71 def. Van Natten, 9.983, 143.26; Medina, 17.654, 79.52 was unopposed;

SEMIFINALS -- Lopes, 10.347, 146.83 def. Medina, 11.068, 114.50; Danieli, 18.273, 59.71 def. Reynolds, broke;

FINAL -- Danieli, 10.035, 149.40 def. Lopes, 10.399, 147.04.

BFGOODRICH TIRES STREET STOCK:

ROUND ONE -- Francisco Pietri, Acura, 18.870, 68.10 def. Chris Dye, Acura RSX, foul; Loan Nguyen, Honda Civic, 12.510, 112.68 def. Benjamin Reyes, Civic, 12.856, 104.87; Cristian Castillo, Integra, 13.415, 96.63 was unopposed;

SEMIFINALS -- Castillo, 11.940, 112.40 def. Pietri, 12.639, 110.95; Nguyen, 16.957, 51.68 was unopposed;

FINAL -- Castillo, 12.280, 108.75 def. Nguyen, 12.378, 113.21.

QUICK 16:

ROUND ONE -- Kevin Francisco, Honda, 10.679, 123.45 def. Juan Lopez, RX7, 8.599, 152.59; Brian Ballard, Chevy Cobalt, 10.303, 108.38 def. Jerry Lewis, VW Beetle, 11.704, 131.73; Ryan Smith, Honda Civic, 10.410, 140.80 def. Larry Kelley, Beetle, 10.521, 117.60; Jose Toro, Starlet, 11.912, 110.40 def. Nelson Orana, Corolla, broke;

SEMIFINALS -- Smith, 10.337, 139.65 def. Francisco, 11.247, 127.98; Ballard, 10.540, 98.28 def. Toro, 12.164, 109.22;

FINALS -- Smith, 10.265, 140.33 def. Ballard, 9.972, 117.04.