Round one of XPS was marred by tire shake for nearly every car that went down. Trevor Eman and Team Aruba were one of the teams hit by the track conditions, but still managed to come out on top. Eman drove through the tire shake to get to the finish line first, beating out competitor Doug Kirk. Unfortunately, the win came at a cost as their Kaase Engine took a fatal blow. The team rallied, and with the help of Jon Kaase himself, as well as fellow competitors, Team Aruba managed to swap engines before round two. After the mad dash to be prepared for round-two action, the team had a tough competitor in Brian Gahm. Eman and Gahm left together, but Gahm pulled away for the win.

“I am very proud of our team,” said Eman. “We worked incredibly hard all week, and when we finally thought things would slow down we had our most exhausting battle yet. Even though it ended in a loss, I’m proud of our team for working together to change the motor in between rounds and make it back out to compete in round two. That was the first time we had ever had to change engines between rounds and the team did an excellent job. We really appreciate the help of Jon Kaase and the Pluchino team, who helped us out and let us use their engine hoist, as well as the other teams who offered assistance. The sportsmanship among XPS teams is truly incredible. The competition is awesome, but the camaraderie is even better.”

With a final that lived up to its billing, Eric McKinney inched past Casey Stemper in a thriller, running 4.083 at 176.56 mph to beat Stemper for the first time in the finals this year after two previous defeats. It was a battle of the top two riders in the points race, and with his fourth win in 2012, McKinney inched closer to a championship thanks to a victory he quickly deemed special.

“This is better than the first one. I don’t know how to explain it. Dragstock was my first ADRL win (in 2009) and (Saturday) was just unbelievable,” McKinney said. “When we came through the tunnel before the final and I saw the crowd, it was a little overwhelming. My mom had to tell me to calm down.”

McKinney qualified No. 1 with a 4.074, but deemed his effort on the tree not up to his usual standards before he and Stemper both had .007 reaction times in an outstanding final.

“I’m just fortunate enough to ride this bike. I was struggling on the tree all day and I was a little worried about that, but to get that .007 was just great,” McKinney said.