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July 20-22, 2007 Grand Bend Final eliminations GRAND BEND, Ontario --
Cannon stepped into a Top Fueler this season, driving Evan Knoll's '06 Hadman Dragster. Sunday during the Mopar Canadian Nationals presented by Castrol he was able to break through and head back to the Winner's Circle for the first time in 10 years by stopping Jim Cavaleri in the final round. Cannon clocked a 4.967 at 293.92 mph to better Cavaleri's 5.071 at 256.06. "I really have to thank the Canadian fans," Cannon said. "They were just incredible. It's been 10 years since I've won one of these, but this win was just as sweet as the last one."
One year later Creasy was back in the Winner's Circle at Grand Bend Motorplex after defeating first-time finals participant Mitch King. It was Creasy's fifth career national event victory and kept him in the lead in the season championship points chase. "We're working as hard as we can," Creasy said. "This is a great weekend and we're on a roll. But there are a lot of good cars out there who can get on a roll just as quick as we did, so we just have to keep working hard." Ray Commisso (Toronto, Ont.) pulled off an upset when he drove his brand new 1967 Camaro to the Winner's Circle. He was able to get past Mike Janis in the final round to become the second consecutive No. 13 qualifier to end up in the Winner's Circle on the Nitro Jam tour. Commisso blew up after crossing the finish line, but that didn't matter as he got to the stripe before Janis.
The win came in Noakes' first IHRA Nitro Jam event of the season and was a bit of redemption for his Crew Chief Les Mellows. Mellows wrenched for Atchison before moving over to Noakes' team last season. "Les Mellows, my Crew Chief, has been my friend forever," Noakes said. "He made all the right calls this weekend and the car responded. We came to this event just hoping to qualify, but we were able to take home the win. I'm very, very happy right now." Steve Spiess, the 2005 Torco's CompetitionPlus.com Pro Stock world champion, won a Nitro Jam national event for the first time since the 2005 Skull Gear World Nationals when he defeated Frank Gugliotta in the final round at the Mopar Canadian Nationals. Spiess, from Manhattan, Ill., carded a 6.389 at 219.22 mph to claim the championship against Gugliotta, who lifted out of the run.
The next event on the $19.5 million Knoll Gas Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series is the Torco Racing Fuels Northern Nationals, August 3 - 5, Knoll Gas Motorsports Park at US 131, south of Grand Rapids, Mich. GRAND BEND, Ontario -- Sunday's final results from the Mopar Canadian Nationals presented by Castrol at Grand Bend Motorplex. The race is the fifth of 11 in the $19.5 million 2007 Knoll - Gas Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series: Top Fuel -- Scotty Cannon, 4.967 seconds, 293.92 mph def. Jim Cavalieri, 5.071 seconds, 256.06 mph. Nitro Funny Car -- Dale Creasy Jr., Chevy Monte Carlo, 5.233, 263.51 def. Mitch King, Chevy Corvette, 5.382, 272.01. Alcohol Funny Car -- Paul Noakes, Ford Mustang, 5.947, 242.50 def. Rob Atchison, Chevy Monte Carlo, 6.024, 242.41. Pro Modified -- Raymond Commisso, Chevy Camaro, 6.117, 233.92 def. Mike Janis, Chevy Cobalt, 6.894, 172.70. Pro Stock -- Steve Spiess, Chevy Cobalt, 6.389, 219.22 def. Frank Gugliotta, Cobalt, 16.265, 63.72. Top Sportsman -- Gary Wojnowski Jr., Chevy Monte Carlo, 7.067, 196.22 def. Tom Bene, Pontiac Trans Am, 7.147, 191.43. Top Dragster -- Dave Elrod, Dragster, 7.340, 182.33 def. Bill Riddle, Dragster, 7.088, 176.81. Quick Rod -- Brett Nesbitt, Dragster, 8.917, 169.32 def. Dave Klomps, Dragster, 8.906, 160.82. Super Rod -- Steve Furr, Chevy Camaro, 9.942, 157.19 def. Mark Hazelton, Camaro, 9.944, 137.57. Hot Rod -- Tim Shuck, Chevy Camaro, 10.885, 125.87 def. Rudy Matthews, Camaro, 10.848, 133.90. Super Stock -- Kevin Helms, Oldsmobile Achieva, 9.246, 135.02 def. Gianni Cantusci, Pontiac Firebird, 10.343, 126.54. Stock -- Rick Baehr, Ford Mustang, 12.572, 82.45 def. Myron Piatek, Dodge Dart, 11.833, 109.73. ET Bracket -- Fred Ellis, Plymouth Barracuda, 10.785, 121.85 def. John Klassen, Pontiac Firebird, 9.259, 145.77. ET No Box -- Fred Ellis, Plymouth Barracuda, 10.771, 117.77 def. Andrew Stirk, Ford Mustang, 11.014, 120.28. ET Box -- John Klassen, Pontiac Firebird, 9.213, 141.83 def. Shelley Smith, Dragster, 7.776, 167.86. ET Motorcycle -- Josie Brooks, Suzuki, 8.971, 126.64 def. Mike Jardine, Honda, 10.283, 125.61. Final Qualifying GRAND BEND, Ontario --
"Everyone in Canada is pretty cool," Gilbertson said of the huge Canadian crowd. "Live Nation does a great job of putting these things on. I hope everyone who came out today comes back tomorrow. We're planning on putting on a great show. We're either going to blow it up, put it in the wall or put it in the Winner's Circle." Gilbertson will take on Andy Kelley in the first round while defending event champion Dale Creasy Jr., the No. 2 qualifier, will face Jack Wyatt.
Zizzo will face Bruce Litton in the first round of eliminations while Lagana will square off with Jim Cavaleri. Scott Cannon Jr.'s astounding 5.997 pass Friday night held on to the pole in the Torco's CompetitionPlus.com Pro Modified class. Cannon (Lyman, S.C.) set both ends of the track record Friday and will battle Jason Hamstra in the first round. Mike Janis, Kenny Lang, Ed Hoover and Tony Pontieri rounded out the top five on the qualifying sheet.
Brian Gahm (Lucasville, Ohio) ran the first 6.20s run in Torco's CompetitionPlus.com Pro Stock history Friday night. He backed up his record, officially a 6.299, during Saturday afternoon qualifying and the time stood up against the field when all qualifying was complete. He will face Rob Mansfield, the No. 8 qualifier, in the first round. Robert Patrick (Fredericksburg, Va.) ended up second on the qualifying sheet with a 6.318 pass at 220.15 mph. Steve Spiess, Frank Gugliotta and Pete Berner rounded out the top five. Professional eliminations are scheduled for Sunday at 10:30 p.m., 12 noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
GRAND BEND, Ontario -- (July 20, 2007) - Brian Gahm, of Lucasville, Ohio, has made a habit
of doing things first. He became the charter member of the Quarter-Max
6.40s club during the 2004 racing season. He then, after that club
was filled up, was the first Pro Stock driver to run in the 6.30s
to become the initial member of the Lenco Transmissions 6.30s club.
"I like getting some of my money back from Haas," Gahm, who drives a Jerry Haas-built 2007 Mustang with Jon Kaase power. "This is a brand new race car and it doesn't get any better than that. I'm tickled to death. We contemplated what to do with the transmission and Cliff made the right call. He said tonight would have the best conditions of the weekend and we went for it." As he approached the end of the track Gahm wondered if his car was going to stay together. "When I hit the high gear the thing was flat carrying the mail," he said. "When I got to the high side it was banging around and I thought the engine was coming apart. When they first told me I thought I heard them say a 6.39 because it was banging around so much. We were shooting for a 6.32 and would have been happy with that, but everything came together with the weather and it was a heck of a run." T.J. Zizzo slid into the provisional top qualifier spot in Knoll Gas Torco Racing Fuels Pro Nitro Top Fuel with his 4.662 pass at 314.83 mph.
Dale Creasy Jr. (Beecher, Ill.) claimed the provisional Knoll Gas Torco Racing Fuels Pro Nitro Funny Car top qualifying spot with a 5.062 pass at 300.73 mph. "We were getting a little nervous because it looked like the Funny Cars were having problems getting down the track," Creasy said. "But we were able to put a clean pass together. We'll be back at it tomorrow."
"My dad and I thought about it all day, thinking if we were going to back it down," Cannon said. "We finally decided not to because the air was so good and you see what happened." Mark Thomas (Louisville, Ohio) has been to the Alcohol Funny Car final at each of the first four Nitro Jam national events this season. He qualified Friday like he intends on making it five-for-five, blistering the quarter-mile in 5.838 at 241.76 mph to end up on the provisional pole heading into Saturday. Racing resumes Saturday at 9 a.m., with professional qualifying rounds at 1 and 7 p.m.
TF 1 317 T.J. Zizzo, Lincolnshire IL, McKinney-TFX 4.662
314.83 314.83 ------------ Not Qualified ------------ 9 141 Bobby Lagana Jr., Scarsdale NY, McKinney-BAE
12.701 61.39 61.39 FC 1 1 Dale Creasy Jr., Beecher IL, '05 Monte Carlo
5.062 300.73 300.73 PM 1 6 Scott Cannon, Lyman SC, *'68 Firebird 5.997@
237.92& 237.92 ------------ Not Qualified ------------ 17 1152 Tony Pontieri, Toronto ON, *'57 Bel Air 8.381
116.90 116.90 PS 1 21 Brian Gahm, Lucasville OH, '07 Mustang 6.299
220.66 220.66 ------------ Not Qualified ------------ 17 626 Chuck DeMory, Winfield IL, '05 Escort 16.395
61.42 61.42 Alky 1 1 Mark Thomas, Louisville OH, '05 Monte Carlo 5.838
241.76 241.76 ------------ Not Qualified ------------ 9 6 Terry McMillen, Elkhart IN, '00 Avenger 10.204
79.79 79.79
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