2016 NMCA WEST Street Car Nationals Results

Santa Ana, Calif. (October 4, 2016) – With this third race of the season, the stakes are greater as championship points become scarce and racers need to make every round count. The 5th Annual Energy Suspension NMCA West Street Car Nationals featured several racers who pulled away from the rest of the pack, while others found it hard to dominate the competitive fields.

In Fastest Street Car Pro Mod, Mack Moffat put an end to Greg Seth-Hunters dream of a perfect season. In the final round, Moffat took the starting-line advantage and would go on to take the win, 5.17 to 6.03 over Seth-Hunter.

ProCharger Limited Street saw James Lawrence’s 2001 Camaro continue to dominate the field despite a number of set backs that the team had to work through. Johnny Coleman had set a stout pace in qualifying at 4.67, but it was Lawrence and Ryan Jones who prevailed over the field and faced off in the final. The lights were really close, and so was the finish, with Lawrence edging out Jones, 4.82 to 4.95.

The ARP Outlaw 8.5 competition has been tighter than ever and number-one qualifier Ben Davidow was poised to take another trip to the Aerospace Components Winner’s Circle this weekend after posting a 4.99. He faced the very capable Anthony Smith who got out of the gate first in the final round, but Davidow was able to pull past him in a 5.03-to-6.24 victory lap.

Ross Wilson continued his domination of the Lucas Oil NA 10.5 ranks this weekend, posting an 8.18 and 170.04 to claim the number-one qualifying spot, low et, and top speed of the event. Wilson faced stiff competition in the final round with Alta Loma, California’s Bryan Cobbett, taking the starting line advantage. Wilson’s ’05 Sunfire had just enough to edge past at the stripe with an 8.35/164.39 to Cobbett’s 8.39/163.45.

The unstoppable Mike Silva claimed yet another victory in the new-for-2016 Ultra Street Shootout. Silva has yet to run out of horsepower in the class this year, and has thus managed to edge out all contenders. While Jim DiMaggio did manage to snatch the top speed of the weekend at 129.18 mph, Silva qualified on top with a 5.478 and collected low et of the weekend with a 5.472. A model of consistency, Silva defeated Kevin Watson and his Ford Fairlane in the final round, 5.479/127.43 to 5.81/123.66.

Meziere Top Sportsman saw Doug Crumlich honing in the performance of his new Corvette machine. He set the qualifying pace with a 7.18 at 191 mph, and narrowly defeated Kelly Harper and his GTO in the final round, 7.239/184.14 to 7.241/192.00.

Paul Weichmann qualified at the top of Champion Cooling Systems Pro Comp in his roadster Corvette, but it would be Zach Meziere in his ’11 Mullis dragster facing Gary Cooke and his ’61 Corvette in the final round. Meziere was behind at the start by .007 seconds, but combined with his 8.894 breakout of his 8.90 dial in, was the lesser of two infractions as Cooke had gone 9.889 on his 9.90 bid.

Brent Calvert has been steadily collecting points this year in Jet-Hot Open Comp and his win in the final round this weekend would add quite a haul to his championship hopes. Calvert squared off against Paul Wolfe in a late-model-versus-classic, all-Mustang final round and the race started off with near identical reaction times. Calvert would go dead-on 8.688/8.68 while Wolfe was slightly off with his 10.02 on a 10.5 bid.

Fastest Street Car Street Comp saw Jan Vanderpool make it two wins in a row this weekend. In the final round, Vanderpool’s ’67 Mustang took a starting-line advantage (.085 to .145) over Mike Sayle and his ’68 Nova, and that helped his 10.481 on a 10.42 dial in defeat Sayle’s 11.05 on a 10.97 dial in.

Making it two wins for the weekend was Brent Calvert who took a second trip to the Aerospace Components Winner’s Circle to claim the MMR Mustang Madness Victor trophy. In the final round, Calvert gave up a bit at the hit to Ron Mihld, but his 8.689 on his 8.66 dial in was enough to turn on the win light against Mihld who was 12.120 on a 12.05.

In Hedman Hedders Nostalgia Street Car action, it was frequent bracket winner, Rob Strong and his enduring ’66 Chevelle collecting the win. Strong was deadly with a .007 light and took the double breakout win with his 10.986/11.00 besting Steve Cox’s 10.464/10.50 effort.

The second driver to clinch two wins at this one event was Zach Meziere, who in addition to collecting the Pro Comp win, also found himself in the Edelbrock Super Quick final round. There, Meziere took the reaction time advantage (.028 to .033) over Dave Gotts, and his 8.905/8.90 effort bested Gotts’ 9.915/9.990 pass.

Tim Seymour was runner up in Calvert Racing Quick Street at the last event, but redeemed himself this weekend by taking the event win. After four tough rounds of competition, Seymour coasted to the winner’s circle after Rod McGregor turned on the red light in the final round.

A new addition to the NMCA West series this weekend was the Top Dragster Shootout, and Russell Suyenaga of Lake Elsinore, California, qualified on top with a 6.57 at 210 mph. Suyenaga would be taken out in the second round by eventual winner, Michaelyn Roelle. The shootout’s final round pitted Roelle against A.J. Cameron, and Roelle took the reaction time advantage and went 6.97 on a 6.96 dial in for the win over Cameron whose 7.79 on his 7.77 dial in was not enough to make up for the starting line deficit. NMCA West will host a second Top Dragster Shootout at the next event.

The ever-busy-racing Dan Geis, who is always putting laps on his big-block Nova, took the Gear Vendors True Street crown. Geis averaged 9.55 seconds to secure the top spot over runner up Javier Hernandez who’s boosted Silverado short-box averaged 10.13 seconds. Ken Slater grabbed the 10-second win with is GT500 by averaging 10.97 seconds, Ross Thorpe nailed the 11-second prize with an 11.04 average from his gear-banging ’69 Camaro, and Nacho Bernal cruised his ’16 Cadillac CTS-V to the 12-second average with a 12.04. The first of two Mustangs taking a True Street win was Ted Borges who averaged 13.02, while Melanie Green wasn’t far behind, and averaged 14.07 for her class win. Rounding out the contingent was Dennis Sato, who is taking it easy as he recovers from some recent health issues, but is keeping his skills sharp. Sato piloted his 2000 Camaro to a 15.03-second average for the plaque.

In Saturday’s Edelbrock Bracket Showdown, AJ Cameron took the B1 win, Tim Seymour added the B2 trophy to his Quick Street win, and frequent bracket winner Frank Malone secured the B3 win. On Sunday, it was more tough competition with Mark Simonian, Jeff Interlicchia, and Bob Zahner taking home the B1, B2, and B3 wins respectively.

The next stop for the VP Racing Fuels NMCA WEST series is October 14-16 in Fontana for the 5th Annual Mickey Thompson NMCA West World Finals.