TOP SPORTSMAN

For the second straight PDRA event, former Pro Extreme champion Mick Snyder went to the MagnaFuel Top Sportsman final, but unlike the previous month in Memphis, at Dragstock XII it was his opponent who came out on top.

After qualifying his '06 Ford Escort 15th in the 16-car field, Chesapeake, VA's Dane Wood defeated points leader Ronnie Davis in round one, then took out Tony Wilson and Cam Clark before reaching his first PDRA final against Snyder.

Wood dialed in at 4.18 while Snyder put a 3.98 dial on his roots-blown, fuel injected '63 Corvette. Both drivers posted solid reaction times of .012 for Snyder and .016 for Wood, with his win light coming on 4.20 seconds at 171.71 later as Snyder ran 4.06 at 181.32 mph.

"I wasn't sure if I was going too fast or if I was okay and right about 500 feet is when I made the decision to lift and make sure I didn't break out. I don't really believe I would've anyway, but I wanted to play it safe and it paid off," Wood said.

TOP DRAGSTER

With a new Procharger-equipped 540 cubic incher by Stacy Hall at Fulton Competition Engines between the rails of car owner Andy Burnet's '09 Horton dragster, Matt Cooke raced to his first Dart Machinery Top Dragster win.

Cooke qualified fifth with a 4.00 at 180.79 mph for the 16-car field at Rockingham. He then ran a near-perfect 4.00 against a 4.00 dial in against Ryan Snell, who broke out by one thousandth in round one of racing. Round two saw Derrik Sholar, winner of the previous event in Memphis, also break out against Cooke, while a red-light start ended Junior Houston's hopes in the semis as Cooke ran 3.98 at 181.67 against a 3.98 dial.

That set up a final-round match against veteran Steve Furr, who dialed in at 4.47 and ran 4.48 at 153.74, but thanks to an outstanding .003 light to Furr's .029 start, Cooke took the win with a 4.01 pass at 163.06 against another 3.98 dial in.

"The car is really good and consistent and it made me look better than I am, at least today," Cooke said.

Winners also were crowned in the Huddleston Performance Jr. Dragster classes, with the Pro Jr. win going to number-one qualifier Carson Brown from Blountville, TN, and the Top Jr. Dragster title going to third-place qualifier Alexis Tanner.