While the "new stance" looked great, it didn’t take to the radial very well so with the likes of Scott Oksas, Levi Hanna, Greg Castro, Justin Beutner, Tony Marks, Robert Everson and Terry Barkley looking to take out the champ, Hoyle put on the two-year-old slicks and took the #1 qualifying spot with a 4.988/144.09, followed by Oksas 5.241, Hanna 5.387, Catro 5.547, Beutner 5.655, Marks 6.088, Everson 6.452 and Barkley (N/T).

It came down to a battle between the nitrous cars, #1 Qualifier Rich Hoyle’s SBC Nova and #3 Levi Hanna’s BBC Mustang. Hoyle made his way to the final with a round 1 single 4.959 and a semi final 5.019 over Justin Buetners 5.688. On the other side Hanna advanced in Round 1 with a single 5.425 when Tony Marks didn’t make the call. In the semis Hanna took out #2 Qualifier Scott Oksas 5.377 to 5.598.

In the final Hoyle took the starting line advantage .053 to .078 and held on for the 5.020/120.00 win over Hanna’s 5.328/140.32. Rich Hoyle picked up the trophy and $2,000 winner’s check.

DRAG RADIAL
This was also the first event that the Drag Radial class competed on 1/8th mile. If there was a class that suffered the most from the track conditions, it was the high-horsepower 275 Radial cars. This class is known as a finesse class and that wasn’t any more obvious than during qualifying.

The whole field was battling the conditions all day and when the smoke cleared in the #1 spot was Jeff Young from Idaho with a 5.581/132.55 followed by Dee Pfinster 5.621, Rod Oxford 5.813, Kevin Young 5.997, Mike Pillen 6.018, Hubbard 6.061, and Chico Coleman 6.222.
 
The final in D/R came down to local Phoenix racer Dee Pfinster in his BBC/N2o 69 Camaro and Kevin Young in his third gen f-2/blo-thru Camaro. The Young brothers made the long haul from Idaho and it paid off with a #1 Qualifier spot for Jeff and a final round appearance for Kevin.

Pfinster made his way to the final with a win over Coleman (5.526 to 6.666) and another local racer, Rod Oxford, in a battle of 1969 Camaros, 5.768 to 12.669. On the other side of the ladder Kevin took out local racer Mike Pillen (5.810 to 6.145) and his brother Jeff (5.582 to 6.088).

In the final the two cars were staging when Young couldn’t hold the car in the staging beams and red lighted. Pfinster took the win with a 5.607/137.57. Pfinster earned the new E.T. and MPH records and the points lead, the trophy and $1,800 check plus a $200 winner’s bonus from CIRCUITZ Custom Wiring.