Jason Krueger, Wally’s son, took out the always-tough Jeff Frees in the battle of ‘64 Belvederes with a nice .029 reaction. Berens showed signs of things to come with his .018 light that helped him defeat the vintage Ford Fairlane driven by Bob Mosher.

The best race of Round 1 had to be the classic bracket race between two mid-Missouri Racers, Mike Volkart and Phil Cathey. In the Chevy vs. Mopar clash, Volkart’s bright yellow ’67 Chevelle topped Cathey and his GTX when Volkart combined a .002 light with a .01-over 10.26 ET, forcing Cathey, who had a .017 reaction, to breakout with a 10.39 on his 10.50 dial.

After most of the pre-race favorites went out in the first round, the second round brought a whole new group of racers into the championship scenario. Round 2 showed that the great reactions of the first round were no flukes. The best race-winning RT of the round went to series newcomer Gary Fenice with a .012 against Steven Glubke. Jamie Guy and Scott Bourrell both used .018 reactions to move on, and Brian Essary had a .003 RT on his single to advance. Mike Volkart coupled a .021 light with a .015-under 10.235 to defeat the wheelstanding Savoy of Jeff Millward in yet another double break-out affair. Doug Duell ended his run with a red light against Kevin Miller.

Round 3 opened with Fenice defeating the resilient Rideout.  Fenice used a .039 light and a .018-over 10.518 to push Rideout into breaking out. Berens continued his unexpected run at the championship with a .012 light that pushed racer and track owner Al Corda into a double break-out loss.