Mike Wheeler, making his second straight semi-final appearance would fire up next alongside our most recent winner, Steve Matthews, who had lived in the 4.70 zone all night.  Wheeler was the quickest winner from first round and had the advantage on paper but Matthews was off the line first and needed everything he could get to take the holeshot win with a 4.80 at 148 mph to Wheeler’s quicker but loosing 4.79 at 147 mph.  The margin of victory, just twenty three hundredths of a second at the finish line, what a drag race!  Both winning drivers in Stouffer and Matthews advanced to the final round on holeshots as Stouffer was looking for his first win with the TBFA series while Matthews could make it two in a row!

Side by side burnouts blistered the starting line for the final pass of the evening just after midnight with fans still in the stands and a large crowd forming at the starting line as the pair of silver blown slingshots were guided into position.  They crept into the final stage beams and as the ambers dropped Stouffer was out first by a half a tenth on Matthews.  Matthews was reeling him in as they neared the finish line but ran out of real estate as Stouffer put together his second holeshot win in a row, with a 4.77 at 145 mph win, to Matthews’ quicker but loosing 4.74 at 149 mph. 
           
FINAL ROUND RESULTS:

(W) Chris Stouffer (.071 rt) 4.77 @ 145 mph vs. (L) Steve Matthews (.122 rt) 4.74 @ 149 mph