On paper Capps was a favorite over Force. He had lane choice and in seven races against her in 2012 had beaten her five times. Capps left first by  only .005 of a second but then his Dodge smoked the tires at around 70 feet while Force flew down to the Pomona finish line, recording the quickest pass of the weekend with her 4.025 ET at 317.12 mph for her second career win.

Courtney said of her win, “Going against Capps, I was terrified. It definitely made me nervous, he’s a tough competitor, but my car was flying!  It got over to the centerline and I just hung onto it, trying to keep it straight and get across the finish line for that win.”

With the Pomona victory, Courtney and her Traxxas-backed Mustang will have an automatic spot in the Traxxas Funny Car Shootout later in the year.

In Pro Stock Vincent Nobile’s Dodge Avenger had bracket-like consistency. He defeated Matt Hartford with a 6.580 in round one, a 6.592 taking out Shane Gray in the second, and just overcame a rare late leave in the semifinals driving around Greg Stanfield in the lights and getting to the win stripe by a miniscule .002 of a second with a 6.575 to Stanfield’s 6.588 to advance to the finals.

On the other side of the ladder a resurgent Jeg Coughlin, now using Roy Johnson Hemi power, made it to the finals. Jeg ran a 6.572 ET in round one, a 6.569 ET in round two to beat Kurt Johnson and a 6.574 to defeat V. Gaines in the semis.   

The Pro Stock final was dramatic to say the least. First Nobile had trouble on the burnout and at first couldn’t get the trans in reverse. Coughlin shut his engine down waiting as Nobile finally got the trans in reverse and started backing up. At this point Coughlin tried to restart his engine and it wouldn’t. A crewmember dove under the right side of the car and was just able to get the car started and staged before the starter sent Nobile on a single run. 

Being teammates, Nobile waited for Jeg’s Hemi to come back to life and NHRA Chief Starter Mark Lyle waved the two into the beams for the final as the sun began to set. Uncharacteristically, Coughlin bulbed (-014) and wasted a 6.571/211.03 charge to Nobile’s Wally-winning 6.584 ET at 210.05 mph. It was the young driver’s sixth career Pro Stock win.

“It’s pretty awesome leaving here with the points lead,” said Nobile. “That’s every team’s goal. Now we just want to stay there, stay consistent and keep the wins coming.” Nobile said after the race.