Mr. Explosive’s transmission wasn’t pretty, but it was fixable.  (Darr Hawthorne photo)

In the first round of elimination, Todd Lesenko easily took his victory over a tire smoking Leah LeDuc. Steve Macklyn drove the Harris Family’s “Nitro Thunder” Firebird to a win over Roger Garten’s Mustang and in a close match Steve Rajcic’s 5.916 defeated first alternate Steven Densham’s 5.949 in the “Teacher’s Pet.”

“Nitro Thunder” scared the “War Horse” in the first round.  (James Drew photo)

Tim Boychuk pops the chutes at the top end. (James Drew photo)

Sanders was shut off after the burnout with a barrel valve fuel leak, handing the win to Tim Boychuk (above), who ran a 5.774 Low Elapsed Time of the event at Top Speed of 247.20 mph on the single, setting a personal best for the Victory Racecars chassis.