Elijah Morton  (Bret Kepner photo)

Ronnie Humphrey  (Jeff Burk photo)

Two teammates from Jacksonville, NC, met in the Unlimited Pro Stock final round and produced the most exciting race of the event. Elijah Morton, whose Volvo-sponsored ‘06 Ford Escort had qualified second behind team driver Ronnie Humphrey’s Morton Trucking

Company ‘07 Escort, earned the title on the basis of reaction time when Morton’s 6.488 beat Humphrey’s 6.483 to the finish line by only thirty-three thousands of a second. Incredibly, both drivers recorded a speed of 216.62 mph on the run! Dean Goforth‘s Holdenville, Oklahoma-based ‘06 GTO set Low ET and Top Speed at 6.41/218.97.

Craig Hankinson  (Jeff Burk photo)

Ohioan Craig Hankinson took the new Boscoe HVAC-sponsored 2007 GTO to its first win in NHRA Pro Stock Eliminator with a 6.72/205.04 over the 6.76/205.32 effort from the ‘07 Dodge Stratus of Houston, Texan Erica Enders. Richie Stevens’ Louisiana-based ’07 Stratus recorded the quickest and fastest NHRA-legal runs at 6.66/206.89.

 

Chris Rivas  (Bret Kepner photo)

Jay Payne  (Jeff Burk photo)

Fresno, Californian Chris Rivas debuted a new 2007 Harley-Davidson Buell in Pro Stock Motorcycle Eliminator and scored the honors with a best of 7.17/176.81. Recent NHRA O’Reilly Midwest Nationals champion and GIR track record holder Matt Smith set the performance marks for the event aboard his Buell at 7.10/183.84.

Top Alcohol Funny Car superstar Jay Payne made multiple attempts to break GIR’s seven-year-old 253.71 mph speed record for the class but Payne's new Valvoline ‘07 Mustang just missed with a best of 5.79/252.14.  

 

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