In Pro Fuel McPhillips (Valley Forge, Pa.) broke through with his first Ironman, beating Hamelink in the final. In McPhillips’ only other start this season he went to the final both nights in Rockingham, but finished runner-up in both outings.

Saturday night McPhillips was finally able to turn that luck around.
 
“Three finals in three races, not too bad. We are happy with this win and look forward to going for another one tomorrow,” McPhillips said. “And to win it the way we did, beating Jeff in a great race, only adds to the excitement.”
 
McPhillips ran a solid 5.587, 250.74 in the final to edge Hamelink’s 5.819, 222.69. Hamelink, coming off his first career victory at Edmonton last month, did all he could to hold on to the lead, but McPhillips was able to chase him down and come away victorious for the first time this season.
 
In the consolation matchup Robin Samsel had the best pass of the night with a 5.441, 251.77 to get around a smoking Bill Evans.
 
Hamelink reached his second final in a row with a first round victory over Samsel, while McPhillips pulled off an opening round upset of Evans.
 
While the dragster classes had some very close racing, the closest matchup of the night came in Prostalgia Nitro Funny Car as Nichols claimed his second career Nitro Jam win by a mere 18 inches at the line.

Steve Nichols (near lane) and Peter Gallen.

Nichols picked up the holeshot win by nailing the tree and running a 5.998/239.02 in the final. Gallen crossed the line with a weekend best 5.936/247.29 in the runner-up effort.
 
“What a tremendous race. These Canadian race fans stuck it out through rain and delays and just about everything you could throw at them and still, at almost midnight, the stands were full of people cheering us on,” Nichols said. “It was great to see and it just makes these races so much fun to be a part of. I want to thank IHRA, my crew, Peter and all the people that help make this car run the way it does.”