E-Town Extravaganza

There are several reasons why the Englishtown, New Jersey track is a firm favorite of most racers. The facility is first rate and the track always hooks up well, thanks to expert preparation. The sea-level altitude and favorable weather conditions ensure that a racecar will always run at its best and the fans are simply awesome. Huge crowds are the norm at the Englishtown track and the enthusiasm of the fans is a sight to behold. When the NHRA Sport Compact series comes to E-Town, it turns into a two-day frenzy of fast cars, exuberant crowds and killer race action and the Weekend of May 3rd and 4th was no exception.

Qualifying
The qualifying sessions at E-Town saw some all-out action as the best in the business fought it out to decide the running order for Sunday's elimination rounds. Track conditions were ideal and it was evident from the times that were posted that this was going to be a weekend to remember.

In the all-motor class, Moroso winner Ken Scheepers led the field with a 10.408 at 128.85mph just ahead of Norris Prayoonto (Integra) and last years champion, Jesus Padilla (RX7).

The depth of the field was obvious with the top-four driver all posting sub-10.5second passes.

In the Hot-Rod class, Marty Ladwig was flying in his automatic-equipped Pontiac Sunfire. The rest of the competitors were left in his dust as Ladwig blasted to a new national record with an 8.533 at 163.59mph. Kenny Tran mounted the strongest challenge with an 8.712 at 165.15mph in the Quaker State Civic but this was to be Ladwig's day.

"I have to congratulate Marty." Tran said. "His car is running great and it is so consistent. He deserves the record. We know what we have to do to compete. Once we overcome our transmission problems we will be able to raise the boost and get back on the pace, but for now we are limited to how much power the transmissions can handle. It's frustrating because we are really taking it easy on our motors and we know we have a lot more power in reserve."

Lancelot Ho Lung clinched the third spot and Mike Crawford took the Mopar Neon SRT-4 to fourth.

The Modified class was a three-way battle between Cesar Febus, Jimmy O'Connor and Carlos Gonzales.

Febus came out on top with a flying 7.707 at174.41 and Gonzales clinched second with a 7.837 at 166.85mph. The Venom Supra driven by O'Connor was on the pace again as the Venom team owner posted a 7.935 at 167.12mph to tie up the third position.

In the Pro-FWD class Nelson Hoyos made it a great day for GM as he joined Marty Ladwig in a qualifying leading double-act. Hoyos ran an 8.485 at 178.47mph and John Brown followed him with an 8.836 at 144.69mph to claim second. Christian Rado's Celica was once-again, giving Rado a hard time but he still managed to tie up the third position with a 9.443 at 144.69mph.

Rado was not discouraged however. "We are getting really close with the car now. I am pleased with the initial launch but we have been fighting some elusive engine problems that kill the performance down-track. We will get it sorted and then we will be setting the pace for sure."

The flagship Pro-RWD class qualifying sessions were a thriller with a take-no-prisoners battle between the Streetglow Solara's of local favorites George Ioannou and Ara Arslanian and the awesome Turbonetics Celica of Matt Scranton.

At the end of the day Ioannou would blast to a 6.817 at 205.47mph to claim the top spot and Scranton ran a 6.90 at 202.45mph for second place. The ever-spectacular Jorge Lazcano tied up third with a 7.091 at 190.62mph. Stephan Papadakis had the AEM Civic edging nearer the front runners as he ran a 7.101 at 195.17 to qualify in the fourth position.