He was not wrong! The two black cars were again lined up against each other for their second PSCA final of the year. Thornton had dodged a bullet in the first round when a blown turbo seal and the resultant 8.516-second pass meant nothing because Randy Walker had already gone red. Paulauskis showed he was serious in the semis against Mary Baltzell by going .000 to win, 6.759 to Baltzell’s 6.841.
So it all came down to the final, late model versus shoebox, rookie versus three-time champion. And what a final it was! The WFO Cavalier was out of the hole first but only by .003. At the stripe it was a hard charging Thornton who had the fans gasping at the mph numbers on the scoreboard, a 228.73 but the win light was on for the man from Peoria, AZ. Paulauskis had done the impossible, he held back an on-form Thornton and took his second win of the year.
 Thornton scoreboard |
 Paulauskis scoreboard |
The ET's 6.515 to Thornton 6.513 for a MOV of .012 which Extreme Speed crew chief Shane Tecklenburg worked out to be an amazing .250 of an inch. Paulauskis was even more excited than when he gained his third pole. “What a race," he exclaimed. "Neither Ed nor I could tell who had won. I have to give all the credit to my crew, what a job they did and what about that 228 from the Extreme Speed team! That was a race and a half! Like Ed when he won yesterday I would like to dedicate the win to LVMS employee Nik Bezwerchyj who passed away recently.”
OTHER RESULTS
Gary Brandt got the Limited Street win with a 9.087/154.26 over the 9.204/151.51 of Mike Saikis's Corvette.
