Cory Reed (far lane) and the rest of the field in MANCUP Pro Open racing could not catch Mark Rendeluk who is just a monster in this class.

Mr. Paint (Rendeluk) had a single in E-1 and his competition for E-2, Dennis Powell, was broken so again he had a free ride in this round where both times he just broke the beam, under power and headed back into the pits. However, in E-3 he had to earn the win by butting heads with Cory Reed of Star Racing, who wasn’t giving anyone a free anything out on the race track. Mark’s .019 reaction to Cory’s .024 light set the pace for the race as Mr. Paint dispatched Star Racing’s newest star 6.63 to 6.97. This set up a tough drag racing match up for the final round in Pro Open.

Rick Perry, who qualified fourth with a 6.84, had passes of 6.81 and 6.87 in competition so he KNEW his only chance of winning against the quicker bike was to chop the tree. At the blink of the yellow lights Rick attacked best he could but he was too quick on the reaction by .003 of a second. So Mark Rendeluk starts off 2016 the same way he ended the 2015 season with the MANCUP sanction: he’s #1 in Nitrous Express Pro Open class.

In the APE-sponsored Pro Street class, the sixteen bikes on the ladder for race day were led by Terence Angela of Aruba. His solid 6.89 at 215 MPH really rocked the house during the Saturday qualifying session. While Joey Gladstone is the most recognized name in the class, he’s not alone and he knows it. Joey and his teammate Terence, a fellow DME racer, have traded heavy punches before, so this was nothing new for these two who qualified one-two in the class. However, a harsh reality of drag racing is - never get comfortable.

Joey started off eliminations tearing up the opposition in usual form. He took out Ryan Schnitz with a 6.83 pass in E-1 then upped the ante in E-2 with a 6.77 and a 6.76 in E-3 that proved the record run was no fluke. He also carded reaction times of .025 and .014 for those runs. He was a man on fire going into the final round of racing. But someone forgot to point this out to driver Ehren Litten, who was not intimidated at all by DME’s power.

Ehren, driving with Williford Racing, qualified 9th on the back half of the ladder. He had Jason Dunigan of DME in E-1 and when Jason’s bike faltered, Ehren drove right past him. In E-2, he was the giant killer and drilled Terence Angela on the tree with an .008 reaction time to Terence’s .079 light, 6.905 for Litten and 6.904 for Angela and advanced to the semis.

There he met Alex Williams, who took out Bud Yoder and Joey Jobbe in previous rounds. Ehren’s 6.80 and .044 light was too much for Williams as he earned the right to face Gladstone in the final round.