Gardella was pumped to take his first NHRA win.
"We worked our butts off this weekend." He said." After all of that effort it's great to finally win one of these things. Kenny had a problem but we still ran great and would have given him a run for his money even if he had a trouble free run, so this is a sweet victory for me."
The modified class ended up being a Cesar Febus benefit. Jimmy O'Connor was realistically the only real opposition for Febus and after qualifying O'Connor's engine was hurt and he failed to appear for his first round race against Luis Corujo. Corujo went on to the final thanks to a second-round solo pass and Febus dispatched the Corolla of Alex Deiguez with a 7.950 at 171.82 mph against a very respectable 8.236 at 164.89 mph.
In the final Febus launched hard and got an immediate advantage. Corujo bogged his motor and when the dust cleared, Febus was well on his way to another NHRA victory in the white 300ZX with an 8.102 at 157.67 mph against a 10.102 at 116.44 mph.
The Pro-FWD class saw Shaun Carlson continue his perfect weekend. After qualifying on pole, Carlson got a single pass in the first round and cruised to the second round with a gentle car-saving 13.006.
In the second round Carlson faced the all-motor Venom Civic in the hands of Bruce Mortensen who was putting in an appearance to gain points for the extreme rush. Bruce put the light on Carlson but the pink Civic was no match for the ground-pounding Mopar.
Carlson stopped the clocks with a record-setting 8.241 at 180.61mph to set up an all-domestic final against Nelson Hoyos in the GM Cavalier.
The final was an anticlimax. Carlson launched first and the Cavalier broke as Hoyos hit the go-pedal. Hoyos rolled to an undignified halt as Carlson ran an 11.247 at 83.01 mph. Despite the disappointing final round, the fans that hung around through the rain delay were treated to the sight of an ecstatic Carlson receiving a "Wally" at his first attempt with the all-new car.
"This couldn't have been scripted better," said Carlson. "We have picked up maximum points after setting a new class record, qualifying in first and winning the event. I can't wait for the next event and I'm sure we'll get better every time we run the car."
The flagship Pro-RWD class first round action saw both of the Streetglow Solaras running at over 200mph. Ara Arslanian took out Abel Ibarra with a 6.878 at 201.92 against Ibarra's 7.124 at 194.51 mph and George Ioannou blew by Stephan Papadakis with a 6.990 at 202.61 mph against an 8.368 at 115.93 mph.
Matt Scranton won against Matt Hartford with a 7.108 at 178.35 mph against Hartford's 8.303 at 124.00 mph.
Grant Downing was back on form in the first round as he made a nice clean pass to beat the Nissan of Jorge Lazcano with a 7.187 at 189.79 mph against a troubled 11.683 at 50.96 mph.
The second round saw the Bullish Solaras lined up side-by-side. With identical cars and no team orders this was always going to be a display of brute horsepower and skilled driving.
When the tree dropped, Ioannou got a slight advantage and in a spectacular door-to-door shootout, Ioannou took the win with a 6.974 at 202.24 mph against his teammate's 7.025 at 203.16 mph.
On the other side of the ladder, Matt Scranton lined up against Grant Downing. Scranton was lightning quick on the light and was never challenged since Downing had a problem and slowed at the top end of the track. Scranton's 7.577 at 179.39 mph set up a final-round race against George Ioannou.
Unfortunately Scranton had damaged his Celica's motor in the semis and could not get it repaired in time to line up against the Streetglow Solara.
Making a solo pass, Ioannou didn't take any chances on a damp track and eased the car out of the hole and cruised to another victory with a 13.490 at 88.34 mph.
"That was a great event for our team," he said. "Our guys worked hard and Ara and I had the chance to put on a show with a double 200 mph race. All we have to do is keep this up for the rest of the year, but we know it won't be easy. We've got some really tough competition in the Pro-RWD class."
With the rain coming down, it was time to pack up and head for the next race at Atco, New Jersey. Jersey is home territory for the Bullish boys and the races are sure to be thrillers.