Hodgson tattooed Bouchey (shown) off the line, but his 4.57 at 151 mph was no match for Bouchey’s jaw dropping career-best pass, 3.78 at 186 mph.
Marriott and Bouchey advanced to face each other in the final for the third time this season with Bouchey coming out on top both prior matches. Bouchey was making his fifth career final round appearance and, with a perfect 5-0 record and low elapsed time of the both rounds of eliminations, was definitely the favorite on paper. Marriott has played the consistency game all season racking up numerous 4.0 and 3.9 second passes and at this event broke Brad Rigler’s record for most final rounds in a single season with five, a record Rigler set in his dominating season last year.
The call went out to fire up the last pair of fuel altereds to wrap up the 42nd Annual Mo-Kan Labor Day Classic in fine style with two nitro powered cacklers set to do battle. After their burnouts the fumes were thicker than Missouri molasses but problems set in for Bouchey. An oil line fitting back backed off and caused a leak that forced him to shut off prior to staging and Marriott got the signal to take the win on a solo. The “Shockwave” launched hard and skated around, Marriott pedaled it and clicked off a 4.21 at 175 mph to claim his fourth win and all but wrap up the 2007 Outlaw Fuel Altered championship.
Marriott’s fifth straight final round appearance resulted in yet another win for the “Shockwave” team and extended their points lead to 66 over Bouchey in second. With two events remaining in the 2007 OFAA season the biggest battle to settle is for second place between Bouchey and Hodgson who are separated by only 15 points.
The next stop on the tour is at North Star Dragway in Denton, TX, on September 15. To find out more information on the Outlaw Fuel Altered Association go to www.ofaa.net.
