“Boy what a win for the ‘Mr. Explosive’ team,” Sanders said. “This car has been on a rail since Jake (son and crew chief) put this sucker back together last year and now here we are putting down some awesome laps and to do it against such a great team as Pete has, all I have to say is wow. What a win, we will be celebrating with all of the great fans in San Antonio tonight.”

In the consolation round Texas native John Hale powered past Greg Jacobsmeyer to take the win.

In the final nitro pairs Nitro Harley had easily the most exciting race of the night as the pair of nitro-powered motorcycles produced a side-by-side final with fire pouring from the pipes and a race separated by approximately two feet at the line.

While both Jay Turner (shown) and Tracy Kile had less than stellar passes in their opening rounds, the pair more than made up for it in the final with Turner getting off the line first with a .036 reaction time and crossing the finish line first as well with a 6.552, 198.94 pass to Kile’s 6.489, 211.27.

Wrapping up the nitro action was Ron Hope who won in a pedal-fest against Kyle Hough to put “Rat Trap” back in victory lane after a strong finish to 2012. Hope had a smoking 9.578, 142.27 in picking up the win.