Bryan Sanders saved his best pass for last, setting a world record top speed of 268.40 mph during a 3.451-second victory over Daryl Ehrlich in the Top Fuel Hydro final of the Valley of the Sun Spring Nationals April 2 at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park.

 

With the crowd on its feet anticipating the big pass after Sanders went 267.96 mph during his semifinal bye run, the Houstonian delivered with a picture-perfect run that lit up the scoreboards.

 

"That was just awesome," Sanders said of his record run. "We tried to get it last year and came up a little bit short so we came out in the first race this year and got it done. That was a great deal.

 

"We knew the boat was going to do it. We had a feeling it was going to get there so we went after it and we did put a leg on it in the semis so we had the backup. We had that one last shot at it in the final and we got it."

 

Sanders was joined in the winner's circle by Top Alcohol Hydro's Bob Pizza, Top Alcohol Flat's Tony Scarlata, Pro Mod's Shawn Reed and Pro Outlaw's Cole Allen.

 

TOP FUEL HYDRO

 

After failing to make the call in the opening qualifying session of Top Fuel Hydro, Sanders silenced any doubters with his big pass of 3.552 seconds at 259.47 mph in the "Nitrochondriac," which was more than half a second quicker than his nearest rival, making him top qualifier for the class.

 

"I'm very happy," Sanders said. "We missed the first round with a little electrical issue. You know, we've been out of the boat for four months and even though we ended last season really well you come back out here and you really don't know what to expect. But we got up there (in Q2) and she laid down a really good pass."

 

The series last ran in November, once again at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, and the time off definitely played a role in Saturday's racing action.

 

"It's a whole new kick in the pants when you've been out of the seat for that long," Sanders said. "Usually the first thing that goes through your mind is 'what are you doing? Are you crazy?' Then the next thing going through your mind is 'I hope the guys got everything right.' You just want to get that first (pass) out of the way. So when it rolled over, went straight, and hooked it on through there in (Q2), that's all I needed."

 

 

Race day got progressively better each round for Sanders and the General Tires "Nitrochondriac" boat as the top qualifier's elapsed times continued to improve each session. He opened with a 3.531 at 262.29 mph in a romp over Scott Compton, posted a 3.464 at 267.96 mph during the semifinal bye run, and then stepped up to a 3.451 at the record 268.40-mph top speed for the trophy.

 

"I got the boys to make the noise," Sanders said. "I'm telling you, this boat is just incredible. It never skipped a beat from last year to now. Sometimes you bring something back from the year before and it all goes wrong but this thing's just picked up right where it left off. I couldn't be prouder of these guys for keeping it that way."

 

TOP ALCOHOL HYDRO

 

Californian Mike De Clark led Top Alcohol Hydro qualifying in his GS Marine-sponsored "Little White Lies" entry after an impressive 4.378 at 203.73 mph. He was followed closely by Andy Reynolds, who coaxed a 4.397 at 200.84 mph out of the "Running With Scissors" boat, and Bob Pizza, third in the "What A Tomato" vessel with a 4.406 at 203.03 mph.

On Sunday Pizza was a picture of consistency in winning Top Alcohol Hydro class in his "What A Tomato" vessel, surviving a tough eight-boat field to earn the victory. Starting the day as the No. 3 qualifier, Pizza beat Dale Riggs with a 4.392 at 203.30 mph ahead of Riggs' 5.034 at 175.42 mph. He then posted an almost identical 4.395 at 204.07 mph to trailer semifinal foe Andy Reynolds, who topped out at 4.472 at 200.62 mph.

 

In the money round, Pizza stepped up to 4.338 at 204.85 mph to outrun Steve Streeter's 4.552 at 198.14 mph. Earlier in the day in the opening round, Streeter beat top qualifier Mike De Clark, so Pizza wasn't taking any chances.

 

"It wasn't easy," Pizza said. "We started out Friday struggling with electrical problems, and had more of the same Saturday. It actually wasn't until first round this morning that it finally worked and that's when it started running the numbers.

 

"I'll tell you one thing about the 'What A Tomato' boat, when it's working, when everything is running 100 percent and it does the same thing every time, it makes it very easy to drive."

Like Sanders in Top Fuel Hydro, Scarlata rode the No. 1 qualifying position to victory lane, handily beating Bill Diez with a 5.356 at 154.16 mph in Tommy Thompson's Lucas Oil-sponsored "Shazam" to Diez's 5.899 at 141.33 mph to earn the Top Alcohol Flat hardware.

 

"Today's success was largely due to what we did last week," Scarlata said. "We were out testing on the delta and found some things that would have bitten us here. We arrived in town four passes ahead of the game and that's why it looked easy today. We still had our struggles, changing engines after the first round, in an hour's time, and a bunch of other stuff to match that engine. I'm just so lucky to have Tommy Thompson and the whole Lucas Oil crew

behind me.

 

"It's big to win the first race, because if you look statistically over the years, the person who wins the first race usually wins the championship. If you get behind and somebody else gets on a roll early, it's hard to reel them in. Bill Miller went out first round but then Bill Diez steps in and gets on a roll. That's what needs to happen in this sport: People stepping up their game every race."

 

Scarlata benefitted from being the top qualifier as he received a bye in Round 1, where he nevertheless posted a 5.552 at 152.43 mph. He then turned up the horsepower to beat Doug Durnall with a 5.507 at 140.49 mph to Durnall's 5.854 at 148.52 mph. That run earned him a final-round date with Diez.

 

In qualifying, the Lucas Oil-sponsored "Shazam" was at the front of Top Alcohol Flat. His 5.491 at 147.00 mph was more than enough to get the job done.

 

"We found a few things wrong with the boat today,” Scarlata said after qualifying. “It's actually an old boat with a new engine and for some reason it's going from left to right. I start way up against the barge, which is on the left side of the lane, and I'm ending up just missing the buoy on the outside lane. There's something going on with my steering and it's probably slowing me down about a tenth of a second. Fortunately, we have a bye first round so we can work on getting that fixed. If it'll run in the mid-5.30s all day we should be there in the end."