NHRA (VIRGINIA) - LADWIG DRIVES TO RECORDS AND WIN AT VIRGINIA

PETERSBURG, Va. – It was a weekend of record-breaking racing and back-to-back wins at Virginia Motorsports Park for the Virginia NHRA Sport Compact Nationals.

Winners of the race were Marty Ladwig (Hot Rod), Ken Scheepers (Modified), Kenny Tran (Hot Rod), Norris Prayoonto (Honda Tuning Magazine All Motor) and Brad Personett (Pro RWD).

Ladwig had the biggest weekend of the season. On Sunday he was able to back-up his run of 7.31 seconds for a national record. In the same run that he backed-up the record he was able to power his car to a run of 200.17 mph. Then to cap off the event he won. He won the event by defeating Ed Bergenholtz who had a red light. Ladwig finished with a time of 7.63 seconds at 169.36 mph.

“It feels great,” said Ladwig. “For us to come to come out this weekend at a good track and use the full potential of the car was big. The main thing was to get the maximum points (138 for No. 1 qualifier, national record, and event win) as far as the championship. The icing on the cake was to run 200 mph. We are the only ones to do it in Pro FWD in the Lucas Oil Chevrolet Cobalt. I want to thank Lucas, K&N, Borla and the tremendous horsepower provided by Garrett Turbo.”

Scheepers, in his Mazdaspeed RX8, raced to his first back-to-back win in Modified. Following up his win from Moroso earlier in the month he defeated fellow Mazda driver Dee Karagiannis. Karagiannis broke during the run and Scheepers easily won with a time of 7.59 seconds at 179.71 mph.

“It’s awesome and totally incredible,” said Scheepers. “I came up here by myself and it’s rewarding for all the hard work to pay off. I am sorry that I didn’t back up my run of 7.27 mph, but I am excited about having the fastest ET and MPH for a two-rotor rotary. I am getting calls from all over Puerto Rico. The record has been held by Puerto Ricans for decades and now it’s mine. I want to thank NHRA and Sony for supporting us racers. Also, I want to thank Mazdaspeed, Idemitsu, Mickey Thompson, NGK, PCS and Innovate Motorsports. I especially want to thank Kilo and Jesus Padilla for my engine, and also Tito Chassis for a safe car.”

Tran was also a back-to-back winner this weekend. He defeated Stephanie Eggum to get the win for his Q Racing Scion tC. Tran needed a holeshot to gain his win over a hard charging Eggum. His time of 8.08 seconds at 181.54 mph was just enough to overcome Eggum’s quicker run of 8.05 seconds at 181.28 mph.

“It feels great,” said Tran. “I have been a little under the weather all weekend. It was a great win. We worked really hard and had a fresh motor during qualifying. On Saturday we skipped qualifier three to swap out the engine for the engine we won with in Moroso. We knew Stephanie had a great car and she has been running well. So we decided to go with the Moroso engine. It was a great call by my guys. This was a great win for our sponsors and everyone who supports us. Scion is excited, and we are excited for Nitto.”

Prayoonto was the No. 1 qualifier and he used that to his benefit in his Clutchmasters Honda Insight. He was able to hold off his Honda Tuning Magazine rival Jeremy Lookofsky. Prayoonto is now 5-1 against Lookofsky in final rounds. He gained his fifth career win driving to a time of 9.51 seconds at 143.46 seconds.

“Everything that could go wrong went wrong this weekend except the win,” said Prayoonto. “I just concentrate on the tree when I am going up against a car that is just as fast. I need to kill him on the tree and I did.”

One positive for Lookofsky on the weekend is that he left Virginia with the national record for time at 9.40 seconds.

Personett gathered his 15th career win by defeating his teammate Gary White. This win puts him tied at the top for most career wins. He is tied with former Pro RWD driver Matt Scranton and Modified driver Paul Efantis. Driving his Titan Motorsports Scion tC he was able to easily win when White had a red light start. Personett easily finished with a time of 7.25 seconds at 205.19 mph

“The weather was fantastic and there was some of the best side-by-side racing with my teammate Gary White,” said Personett. “It’s exciting to be on top of the winner’s list. I didn’t know something like this could happen in such a short period of time. It was such a roller-coaster ride in ’04 and now I am at the top.”

The NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing Series will next be at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J., May 5-6, for the seventh annual NHRA Sport Compact Springnationals. For more information go to nhrasportcompact.com.

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PETERSBURG, Va. -- Sunday's final results from the second annual Virginia NHRA Sport Compact Nationals Presented By Dreamz in Motion at Virginia Motorsports Park. The race is the second of 11 in the NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Drag Racing Series:

PRO RWD

Brad Personett, Elkhart, Ind., '06 Scion, 7.251, 205.19 def. Gary Lee White, New Market, Ala., '05 Celica, foul.

PRO FWD

Marty Ladwig, San Antonio, Texas, '06 Cobalt, 7.634, 169.36 def. Ed Bergenholtz, Tustin, Calif., '07 Mazda, foul.

MODIFIED

Ken Scheepers, Flower Mound, Texas, '05 RX8, 7.596, 179.71 def. Dee Karagiannis, Glenwood, Md., '07 Mazda, 11.401, 110.33.

HOT ROD

Kenny Tran, Garland, Texas, '06 tC, 8.081, 181.54 def. Stephanie Eggum, Elgin, Ill., '00 Civic, 8.055, 181.28.

HONDA TUNING MAGAZINE ALL MOTOR

Norris Prayoonoto, Springfield, Va., '04 Honda, 9.516, 143.46 def. Jeremy Lookofsky, Simi Valley, Calif., dragster, 13.085, 24.90.

SPORT RWD

Mark Mazurowski, Orlando, Fla., '05 240SX, 12.377, 84.35 def. Darin Dichiara, Orlando, Fla., '94 Toyota, broke.

QUICK 16

Jerry Lewis, Mechanicsburg, Md., '68 Beetle, 10.483, 132.19 def. Brian Ballard, Sloatsburg, N.Y., '07 Cobalt, 9.367, 155.44.

URBANRACER.COM SPORT FWD

Fernando Reyes, Orlando, Fla., '94 Honda, 11.112, 104.74 def. Damian Borroto, Miami, Fla., '00 Civic, 12.405, 96.67.

BFGOODRICH TIRE STREET STOCK

Cristian Gomez, Orlando, Fla., '98 Integra, 12.038, 111.75 def. Loan Nguyen, Burke, Va., '99 Civic, broke.

PETERSBURG, Va. -- Final round-by-round results from the Second Annual NHRA Virginia Sport Compact Nationals Presented By Dreamz in Motion at Virginia Motorsports Park, the Second of 11 events in the NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Drag Racing Series:

PRO RWD:

ROUND ONE -- Gary Lee White, Toyota Celica, 6.936, 201.70 def. Manny Cruz, Mercury Cougar, 6.846, 204.76; Brad Personett, Scion, 9.700, 99.60 was unopposed;

FINALS -- Personett, 7.251, 205.19 def. White, foul.

PRO FWD:

ROUND ONE -- PRO FWD:

ROUND ONE -- Marty Ladwig, Chevy Cobalt, 7.344, 200.17 def. Bryan Jimenez, Cobalt, 9.263, 111.75; Jason Hunt, Cobalt, 7.504, 194.49 def. Gary Gardella, Cobalt, 8.081, 190.78; Ed Bergenholtz, Mazda, 7.518, 192.14 def. Christian Rado, Scion tC, 7.702, 175.94;

SEMIFINALS -- Bergenholtz, 7.461, 194.60 def. Hunt, 7.435, 199.55; Ladwig, 8.024, 131.43 was unopposed;

FINALS -- Ladwig, 7.634, 169.36 def. Bergenholtz, foul.

MODIFIED:

ROUND ONE -- Paul Efantis, Toyota Solara, 7.634, 175.39 def. Luis Corujo, Toyota Celica, broke; Dee Karagiannis, Mazda, 18.074, 42.15 def. Eddie Colon, Mazda MX-6, broke; Ken Scheepers, Mazda RX8, 10.659, 146.83 def. Steve Topletz, Celica, broke;

SEMIFINALS -- Karagiannis, 8.071, 161.09 def. Efantis, 29.547, 136.39; Scheepers, 9.386, 179.25 was unopposed;

FINALS -- Scheepers, 7.596, 179.71 def. Karagiannis, 11.401, 110.33.

HOT ROD:

ROUND ONE -- Kenny Tran, Scion tC, 8.219, 178.21 def. Chuck Seitsinger, Honda Civic, broke; Stephanie Eggum, Civic, 8.036, 182.58 was unopposed;

FINALS -- Tran, 8.081, 181.54 def. Eggum, 8.055, 181.28.

HONDA TNING MAGAZINE ALL MOTOR:

ROUND ONE -- Leslie Durst-Armendariz, Scion tC, 9.480, 141.77 def. Scott Kelley, Toyotoa Corolla, 9.853, 139.82; Julie Stepan, Chevy Cobalt, 10.724, 126.33 def. Saul Salceda, Acura Integra, 11.906, 103.59; Jeremy Lookofsky, Honda, 10.466, 95.35 def. Doug Parks, Mazda 3, broke; Norris Prayoonoto, Honda, 11.055, 84.94 was unopposed;

SEMIFINALS -- Lookofsky, 9.403, 143.05 def. Stepan, 10.738, 127.57; Prayoonoto, 9.523, 142.42 def. Durst-Armendariz, 9.976, 140.05;

FINALS -- Prayoonoto, 9.516, 143.46 def. Lookofsky, 13.085, 24.90.

SPORT RWD:

ROUND ONE -- Mark Mazurowski, Nissan 240SX, 9.422, 143.80 def. Rob Latkovich, Mazda RX7, 11.134, 127.17; Darin Dichiara, Toyota, 9.727, 149.65 def. Jason Greenowalt, 240SX, 10.747, 119.58;

FINALS -- Mazurowski, 12.377, 84.35 def. Dichiara, broke.

URBANRACER.COM SPORT FWD:

ROUND ONE -- Jonathan Reynolds, Integra, 23.197, 56.83 was unopposed;

Fernando Reyes, Honda, 11.797, 99.03 def. Andre Scott, Honda Civic, 11.956, 119.94; Kevin Van Natten, Dodge SRT-4, 10.323, 134.75 def. Andrea Koury, 10.646, 142.04; Steven Jung, Civic, 10.617, 134.51 def. Felix Medina, Civic, broke; Joe Simpson, Civic, 10.921, 93.73 def. Roger Young, Civic, 12.142, 112.16; Damian Borroto, Civic, 14.928, 74.93 def. Brian Stoll, Civic, 16.931, 66.90; Dan Driskill, Civic, 13.446, 96.82 def. Jason Lopes, Scion tC, broke;

QUARTERFINALS -- Borroto, 15.702, 75.83 def. Van Natten, broke; Simpson, 11.985, 102.45 def. Driskill, 12.317, 114.70; Reyes, 10.115, 126.46 def. Reynolds, 20.676, 31.01; Jung, broke was unopposed;

SEMIFINALS -- Reyes, 12.166, 88.97 def. Simpson, foul; Borroto, 19.401, 69.08 was unopposed;

FINAL -- Reyes, 11.112, 104.74 def. Borroto, 12.405, 96.67.

BFGOODRICH TIRES STREET STOCK:

ROUND ONE -- Shad Sawyer, Honda Civic, 11.998, 114.89 def. Francisco Pietri, Integra, 13.134, 106.46; Loan Nguyen, Civic, 11.918, 117.12 def. Brian Fisher, Civic, 12.260, 117.37; Cristian Gomez, Integra, 11.943, 113.21 def. Chris Dye, Acura RSX, 13.167, 107.21;

SEMIFINALS -- Gomez, 11.940, 113.45 def. Sawyer, 12.289, 113.40; Nguyen, 12.188, 116.62 was unopposed;

FINAL -- Gomez, 12.038, 111.75 def. Nguyen, broke.

QUICK 16:

ROUND ONE -- Jerry Lewis, VW Beetle, 11.333, 98.52 def. Larry Kelley, Beetle, 12.410, 113.56;

FINALS -- Lewis, 10.483, 132.19 def. Ballard, 9.367, 155.44.