Taylor wasn’t celebrating his narrow first-round loss to Matt Smith in Pro Extreme (3.63 to 3.65), but he made up for it with a red-light win against 2010 ADRL World Champion Dan Millen in the finals of Extreme 10.5. Millen went an incredible 3.84 at 202 mph, but his quick start gave the win to Taylor, who went 3.93 at 194 mph while pulling double-duty in Round Five.

“It’s pretty cool to win the first (Extreme) 10.5 class race outside of the states,” Taylor said. “I saw someone red-light and just hoped it wasn’t me. It turns out we also had a flat tire at the finish line. We were dropping down at the finish line, but this is a pretty exciting deal.”

Taylor went 3.96 in his first-round win, knocking off David Hance with another 3.96 at 194 mph in the semifinals. The “Madman” stepped it up in the finals, but also conceded that Millen remains the favorite in the four-race XTF season.

“It’s coming around pretty good,” Taylor said. “I think the next race we could get in the mid-80s, but Millen is the man to beat right now. We got lucky and he gave us one.”

Al-Balooshi’s points lead in Pro Nitrous will only balloon after another strong performance at QRC. A day after he set the PN record with a 3.80 in qualifying, Al-Balooshi and the Speedtech team pulled out another 3.80 in a first-round win. He followed with a 3.82 in the semifinals before going 3.83 in a holeshot victory against Shannon Jenkins.

“He’s really been running well. They unloaded with a good combination and they’re racing well,” Jenkins said. “(Al-Balooshi) is driving well and he’s doing a super job.”

Jenkins saw some positive signs on Friday, going 3.81 in the finals as the Al-Anabi Racing driver seems to be putting things together.

“It was good. We should be better when we come back,” Jenkins said. “We’re slowly dialing it in.”

Round Six and the start of the three-race session in February that closes out the 2010-2011 season begins with qualifying on February 3.