The two met in the final round but the two extra cylinders on Tetsuya Kawasaki's 180SX was too much for Lingenfelter to handle. Out of the hole Tetsuya got the light by 0.22 sec., and near half-track Lingenfelter let off, giving the victory to the HKS Nissan.
Modified VIIILast year's points champion, Carlos Gonzalez, was at it again, qualifying in the number-one spot with his fastest time of 8.10 sec. The two hard-charging front drives piloted by Stephan Papadakis and Nelson Hoyos also battled it out among the field all the way to the semis, where we would see a GM versus a Honda.
Nelson Hoyos, known for his yellow Ford Focus that dominated last season, was the new pilot of the Cavalier. Hoyos was quick to learn how the X-Trac transmission would handle a heavy foot. Throughout competition the Cavalier dealt with transmission problems that made it difficult to get the car in reverse. Although shifting the transmission was difficult, the problem was not enough to stop the car from running its best time of 8.69 sec. at 172.65 mph.
Lately, Steph has been encountering gremlins that have made his car run less than par. Even with the car not at full power he was able to stay competitive, nabbing the number-two spot with an 8.31 e.t. followed by Nelson Hoyos' 8.82. In the semis the two would meet up to battle it out, but Steph's car ran into more problems. While Nelson was awaiting Papadakis, crew chief Greg Nakano had to pull off the front end of the tube chassis to fix a starting problem and fasten the front end before time ran out. Nelson's reverse gear started to act up again, and, to top it off, the car was leaking water. How the Cavalier got away with running we will never know, but in the end Hoyos was able to take out Steph and advance to the finals. It was obvious that the AEM Civic was encountering ignition problems.
The final round saw Gonzalez against Hoyos, but this time the Cavalier's reverse gear just gave up, resulting in a disqualification and giving Carlos the easy victory with an 8.26 e.t.
Hot Rod XVIThe biggest news in the Hot Rod class was all about number-one qualifier Jojo Callos in his new Acura Integra. For the first time in import racing history Callos piloted his FWD Hot Rod (Quick) Class Integra into the 8s. Not only was he able to set a record run of 8.89, he was able to run consistent 8.9s throughout the day. While Jojo dazzled the crowd with his first 8-sec. pass, Bruce Mortensen was also running in the 8s in the first round of competition.
Before the first round started Callos encountered wheel sensor problems, but the quick hands of Kareem El Sheriff had the problem dealt with in no time at all. Mortensen, on the other hand, was ready to rock but still had to worry about transmission problems. The Civic was making gobs of power and the only resolution to the tranny problem was to swap transmissions after each pass. Making power has never been a problem for Venom tuner Harv St Mary, but transmission problems have always been an issue.
The Jojo Callos Bruce Mortensen show is not new to the Hot Rod Class. Jojo's Castrol Integra ousted Andrew Bermea from Deep Stage, while Bruce shifted the Venom Civic in the semis against Mike Crawford.
Going into the finals, we looked to have a good race with the only two 8-sec. front-drives squaring off in the Hot Rod Class. In the water box, Callos warmed up this tires while Mortensen rolled right through the water. This time it wasn't transmission problems that kept the Venom Civic from winning; it was a bad cylinder. Jojo reigned victorious with a 9.42-sec. pass.