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Laird Upsets Hernandez
In just his third start of the season and the first time he’s made it past the first round this year, Harold Laird made his presence known in the AMS Pro Mod Challenge at the U.S. Nationals.
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With number one qualifier, Mike Janis in the Eaton ’07 Cobalt (6.020/241.76), and number 16, Cody Barklage’s ’06 GTO (6.208/230.840), separated by only .188-second, the Pro Mod competition was plenty fierce this year.
The ’07 GTO of Shannon Jenkins and the ’07 Mustang of Mike Castellana were the only nitrous cars to make the field, Jenkins at no. 11 and Castellana four spots behind.
Starting from the number 13 qualifying position, Laird’s supercharged ’63 Corvette got past defending World Champ Jay Payne in the first round. In the second round Laird’s .056 reaction time got the jump on Mike Knowles, who took .312-second to get going and couldn’t catch Laird. In the third round Laird’s holeshot 6.202/223.84 eliminated John Russo, whose ’68 Firebird turned in a 6.175/233.56 after a couple of wiggles around half track.
On the other side of the ladder, number two qualifier Joshua Hernandez began eliminations Sunday evening in a staging duel with Castellana. Both drivers lit the pre-stage lights but neither was in any hurry to move on. After Hernandez moved first and turned on the second stage light, Castellana still waited almost six seconds to pull to the line.
“There wasn’t any frustration on my part,” Hernandez said later, “I was just taking my time, knowing that he was going to do the same.”
The supercharged “Dr. Moon’s Rage” ’68 Camaro got to the finish line quicker, a 6.053/239.10 to the nitrous-aided 6.201/231.00 for Castellana’s Western Beef Mustang.