John Lombardo Jr.  (James Drew file photo)

Lombardo, who won the Pacific Division championship last year, overtook Steve Gasparrelli for second place in the Western Region Top Alcohol Funny Car standings behind Annie Whiteley with the win, his second of the season and fifth overall. Lombardo set low e.t. of both qualifying sessions and all three rounds of eliminations, including the final, where he topped Lance Van Hauen in a close race, 5.72 to 5.79. It was Van Hauen's third late-round appearance in a row, including semifinal showings in Topeka and Earlville.

Lombardo's 5.72 in the final round was his only run outside the 5.60s, following  a 5.68 in qualifying that held up for the top spot, a 5.67 on his first-round single, and a 5.66 (low e.t.) over current Central Region points leader Kirk Williams in the semifinals.

"The car was like a bracket car all weekend," said Lombardo, who also won the Phoenix regional early this season. "It just went right down the track run after run, and I really have to thank Jeff Lirones and our team for having everything set up just right all weekend. I think it's too late to catch Annie for the Western Region points, but this really helps us in both the regional and national standings."

David Billingsley and Jimmy DeFrank both had near perfect reaction times to take the wins in Comp Eliminator and Super Stock while Shawn Carter had a .002 reaction with a dead-on run for the win in Super Gas.  Billingsley was .006 off the line and held on for the win against Adam White with a lap of 8.839 seconds at 149 mph. California racer DeFrank, was .003 on the line in defeating Slate Cummings in 8.894 seconds at 150 mph to Cummings’ 8.911, 142. Carter was even better in his final round with Jeff Lopez.  The Park Hill, Okla., resident combined his .002-second reaction time with a 9.900 run on the 9.90 index for the win and the trophy.

In the division’s Suburban Chevrolet Top Sportsman Series, it was Tom Schmidt and his ’63 Corvette running down Matt Crisp in his ’09 Mustang.  Schmidt went 6.936 at 201 mph to Crisp’s 7.631 at 178. 

Other winners this weekend at Thunder Valley were David Oenes in the Sunset Racecraft Top Dragster class over Jerry Holt, Jody Simoneaux beat Jared Swinehart, Piedmont, Okla., in Stock Eliminator; Austin Williams knocked out Bill Dennis in Super Comp; Val Harmon put Gary Stinnett on the trailer in Super Street; and Rob Bennett ousted Mike McCullah in the Sportsman Motorcycle Series presented by Harley Davidson.