Hernandez Continues Domination
Josh Hernandez regained his domination of the AMS Pro Mod Challenge presented by Tindle Enterprises, winning his fifth race of the season at the O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. The sweltering July heat stifled the times but not the spirits of the drivers as they all battled to try to make up ground against the breakout Hernandez.
In the finals, Canadian Raymond Commisso and his R2B2 Motors-sponsored ‘68 Camaro had lane choice over Hernandez, and took the preferred right lane, hoping to gain the advantage. At the hit of the throttle, however, the race was over as Commisso struck the tires and could only watch as the Texan claimed the AMS Eagle he so desperately wanted.
"Raymond is a fierce competitor, and I was ready to take it down to the wire," Hernandez said. "I'm sure he was loaded for bear, and that he's looking to make up ground when Indy rolls around."
Top qualifier Mike Janis fought a hard battle with Jay Payne in the quarterfinals, with defending world champion and 2006 Bristol event champ Payne taking the win light, 6.189/235.56 to 6.241/228.11.
Payne advanced to the semifinals and faced off against Commisso. Despite a lightning-quick reaction time of .022 seconds, Payne's '05 Stratus made a slight sashay to the right just off the line and the extra time was just enough to see Commisso drive away with the win: 6.162/236.96 to 6.282/233.32.
In other exciting action, Troy Coughlin's twin-turbo powered '06 GTO decided it preferred the right lane, despite the fact Coughlin started in the left-hand side of the track. In their second round match up, the bright yellow JEGS.com-sponsored entry took a hard right at about 600 feet, missing all of the timing cones and falling in line behind Scott Ray's '63 Corvette.
"We were so excited to get a round win with this car, and every time we get down the track we learn a little more," Coughlin explained. "We definitely know we don't want to do that again. We'll take the summer to work on getting more power to track early in our runs, and be ready come Indy."
After six races of the ten-race AMS Pro Mod season, Hernandez and his Howard Moon-tuned '68 Camaro have dominated the competition, winning five events and amassing a more than 1100-point lead over Commisso, the closest competitor in the BAE Championship Cup. Hernandez has also earned 610 points in the ProCare Rx Pro Mod Clash, holding onto first place by 70 points over Doug Palmer.
The teams now take an almost two-month summer break, racing next at the Mac Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals, Aug. 29-Sept. 3.
