Unfortunately, Siguel's holeshot advantage (0.90 seconds) was enough to give him the win despite the off-the-mark 8.002-second elapsed time. The margin of victory was just two hundredths of a second, making for one of the most exciting races in the history of the class. In the quarters, Matt Hartford took out the Venom Tacoma, while Orlando Torres upset Rafaelito when neither car could get it going in one of the slowest pro races to date. Jorge Lazcano took the 300ZX past Jorge Juarbe when his car had problems off the line.

Before the semis, a brief shower hit just after 3pm and this put the program on hold for about 80 minutes. After the track was dry, a round of bracket cars helped re-prep the track as new glue was laid down on the jet-dried surface. By the semis, both Matt Hartford and Orlando Torres had trouble putting the power to the pavement, but Matt got to the finish first.

In the other semi, the V6 of Lazcano upset the favorite Jose Torres in the Siguel Mazda. Lazcano laid down a 7.57, putting together an all V6 final. Unfortunately, Mother Nature came back and drenched the track surface with rain, lighting and thunder before the finals of the Pro and Quick classes could be run. This episode of Puerto Rico versus USA would end in a technical draw with both teams splitting $6000 and gaining 70 points each in the championship.

When will this rematch take place? IDRC is already working at a feverish pace to find the sponsorship needed to bring Lazcano's 300ZX and the Siguel Racing RX7 to Maple Grove Raceway on October 21st for the biggest and best East Coast Finals in the history of the IDRC.

NITTO TIRES TURBO MAGAZINE QUICK CLASS
If the best Pro Class action in the history of the sport wasn't enough, the Quick class featured the quickest field ever for an East Coast event. This killer field consisted of four cars in the 9s, 11 in the 10s and just one in the 11s. In addition to the consistent Honda qualifiers, there was also representation from Mazda, Nissan, Toyota, Mitsubishi and Dodge in the field. In an ironic twist, Hondas were extinct by the seminal round.

The Nissan SE-R of Jose Farrer got a by run due to a weight DQ of Dan Cokic and a no-show in staging by Jimmy O'Connor and the Venom Civic. Brent Rau's Eclipse faced off against the Forward Motion Neon. The Neon pulled past the Eclipse as Brent was in search of the Gremlins keeping the car out of the 9s. Not only did the Neon run its personal best, but so did the Echo Unlimited Civic of Gary Gardella as he blasted into the 9s, while the All-NOS CRX of Ramon Torres got his team their first pass in the 10s (10.969 @ 126.83mph).

APEX INTEGRATION OUTLAW CLASS
Vinny Ten made his return to competition known by taking the number one spot in qualifying. The remainder of the field was filled by four Team Puerto Rico entries and three mainland cars. Ten defeated fellow Team USA competitor Juan Lopez in the quarterfinals, while Pepe Loco, Gary Moysouret and Carlos Perez also got by their competition. In the semis, no shows by Ten and Pepe Loco produced an early final. In this final Gary Moysouret blasted to a near-class-record 8.155 ahead of Team Puerto Rico teammate Carlos Perez.

IMPORTDRAG.COM STREET CLASS PRESENTED BY SPORT COMPACT CAR
RWD vs. AWD, Mazda vs. Mitsubishi...let the rivalries begin. The top four qualifying positions in this field were shared between the top Mitsubishi and Mazda racers in the world. John Shepherd and Jeff Hill filled the number one and three spots while Ari Yallon and Steven Kan took the two and four spots. By the semis, John eliminated Steven and Ari sent Jeff home. The ultimate fight was on as John met Ari in the final for the first time ever.

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