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| Conrad Grünewald put on another sick performance in qualifying with perhaps the sickest inverted entry we have ever seen in the first turn. Conrad was pulling off ridiculous angle all weekend long only to over rotate against John Russakoff and eliminate himself. |
Justin “JTP” Pawlak in his Falken Mustang then went up against Dennis Mertzanis and his Kenda Tire/Konig Wheels Nissan 240SX. JTP kept his momentum from Long Beach going and was able to put a large gap on Mertzanis and the advantage went to JTP. Mertzanis had a great lead run, keeping a gap and forcing an error by JTP in the horseshoe because of it. However, by the end of the downhill, the Mustang caught the supercharged VQ35DE powered 240SX and because of the gap that was increased by JTP in his lead run, Justin Pawlak went through to the Top 16.
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| Matt Field has come to the 2011 season packing V8 power in his S14. Matt Powers took him out in his V8 powered S14. |
The fans were not happy because in their eyes, the tire drop by JTP in his follow run should has cost more. I, though, agree with the judge’s call and feel that the gap created by JTP in his lead run was the deciding factor along with being able to reel in Mertzanis on the downhill.
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| Rhys Millen could not get a break from Lady Luck at Atlanta. He suffered a mechanical failure and did not qualify. |
Then it was the Matt and Matt Show, featuring Matt Powers in his David Lee Roth inspired S14 240SX powered by a LS7 GM V8 and Matt Field in his Neon Yellow S14 240SX powered by a LS1 GM V8. The battles between the two were close, but the Need For Speed sponsored Matt Powers was declared victor. “Tons and tons of style in the chase run, I think he had a big advantage on the first run,” said Judge Tony Angelo, when asked to comment on why Powers won. Tony did give the advantage to Field, but the other two judges saw differently.
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| Kyle Mohan amazed us. His car was also delayed from California, stuck in Texas due to bad weather like Charles Ng. His first run was also his first qualifying pass. With no practice Kyle came off the trailer and killed it. Kyle has a pretty low buck program and always impresses us with his performance. Corporate big guys, if you want to sponsor someone, look at Kyle! |
Then Darren McNamara in his Falken Tire Pontiac Solstice went up against Mike Feiock and his Xowii Energy Mazda RX-7. Feiock struggled in his follow run, putting a tire off track twice, but McNamara was perfect on his lead run. Feiock put on a good lead show, but it was not enough and D-Mac moved on!
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| Justin “Universal white guy” Pawlak came back from a shattering crash that severely damaged the Falken Tire ASD built Mustang in practice. Justin was the dominant one in the first practice, killing it until the Mustang suddenly twitched out of control and slammed into the wall. |
