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Janis kept it up in the next round, posting 6.21/227/73
numbers in besting Steve Vick. Mitch Stott put up a 6.21/225.86 MPH
run in beating Ed Hoover, and Al Billes and Alan Pittman also advanced
with wins over Shannon Jenkins and Harold Martin.
Semifinal action saw the top two qualifiers advance, as
Billes (photo) took out Pittman by a 6.35 to 7.76 count, while Janis
beat Stott, 6,191 to 6,199--or to put it another way, about five feet
at the stripe!
For the bucks, Janis stayed strong while Billes fell off
a bit, with Janis prevailing by a 6.20/227.312 to 6.42/214.35 margin.
All in all, a satisfying stay in Illinois for 2002 Pro Mod champ Janis,
who scored his first IHRA win of 2002. In the winner's circle, Janis
said, "This feels great, we struggled early on this season, but I think
we are back now. I owe this one to my crew, Mike, Tom, Jeff, Joe and
Sean, plus all the guys back home that help."
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| Outside of the fuel cars and bikes, the Grave
Digger Pro Mod put on the most crowd-pleasing show. Long, smoky
burnouts and all-out runs didn't pay off in a win this time, but
business was brisk at the Holbrook Motorsports t-shirt stand. |
PRO STOCK
Unlike Pro Mod, Pro Stock provided a slew of first round
upsets. Jerry Yeoman started the trend by dumping low qualifier Duane
Rice, and #15 man Larry Larsen followed suit by ousting #2 Carl Baker.
Other "double digit" upsetters included #11 John Bartunek over #7 Tim
Nabors and #12 Jason Collins over #5 Steve Speiss.
Collins continued on in the second round, beating Brian
Gahm 6.58 to 6.57 on a holeshot. Larson advanced over a broken John
Montecalvo, but Bartunek and Yeoman packed it in, Yeoman on a hole shot
loss to Doug Kirk, and Bartunek on a .01 second loss to Elijah Morton.
In the semis, Kirk put together a .02-second starting
line move to edge Larson, and Collins used a consistent 6.60 to stop
Morton's close but losing 6.68.
In the final, Collins scored his first career IHRA Pro
Stock win by winning the reaction time war .441 to .485, and that, as
they say, was that! Collins' winning numbers came up as 6.59/213.10
to Kirk's better but losing 6.57/211.56. What a way for a driver to
get his first big win!
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