PHOTOS: MIKE CARPENTER, NATE VAN WAGNEN

PRO EXTREME

The PDRA crowned its third consecutive firsttime winner in Pro Extreme when Wesley B. Jones drove his Batman-themed’ 41 Willys to a final-round win over low qualifier Terry Leggett at the North- South Shootout. Jones, who races as a teammate to past world champion Jason Scruggs, joined GALOT winner Mike Recchia and Darlington victor Mattias Wulcan as new Pro Extreme event champions.

“ This feels pretty darn good,” Jones admitted after emerging from his screw-blown entry.“ I’ ve been racing Pro Extreme for three or four years and Pro Mod racing for at least 15 years. I’ ve won some other races, but to win one of these PDRA races is pretty impressive. It still hasn’ t sunk in that I’ ve won yet. I’ m used to coming to the winner’ s circle with Jason( Scruggs), and now it’ s the other way around.”

PRO NITROUS

Last season’ s championship runner-up has been determined to improve his points finish by one position this season. Cox swept the season-opening Southern Extreme Nationals and repeated the feat again at Maryland when he qualified number one and scored the event win over defending world champion Tommy Franklin, recording a series of 3.6-second runs in the process. It was Cox’ s latest battle against the Pat Musi-powered entries of Franklin and record holder Lizzy Musi, and he doesn’ t expect it to be his last this year.

“ Pat and Lizzy and Tommy by far have some strong cars, and for us to be able to go out there and outrun them speaks volumes. I talk a lot of junk, but I have a lot of respect for those guys. It’ s going to be a dogfight until the end of the year,” Cox said.

PRO BOOST

When Hartsville, South Carolina’ s Tylor Miller turned on the final-round win light for the first time in his PDRA career at the North-South Shootout, the 27-year-old driver also lit up the scoreboard with his quickest et in Pro Boost competition. With Miller and 22-year-old Pro Boost rookie Ty Tutterow running nearly identical ets before facing each other in the final, the money round was as pressure-packed as possible. While Tutterow let go of the transbrake just a touch too soon, Miller maintained composure to earn

the win.

“ I work really well under pressure,” Miller said.“ It seems like the more pressure you put on me, the better I do. Pressure doesn’ t bother me. My biggest technique is to not think about the car next to me. I try to block out the other side of the track, focus on my lights, wait for the tree to drop and do my thing without worrying about what the other car is doing.”

EXTREME PRO STOCK

Though he didn’ t walk away from Maryland International Raceway with the North-South Shootout win, Trevor Eman did leave with the Extreme Pro Stock elapsed-time record, worth 50 points. Eman and the Aruba. com’ 11 Mustang posted a 4.022 during qualifying, then backed it up with a 4.04 in eliminations. The Darlington winner was denied his second consecutive event win by Cary Goforth in the final round, losing by just five inches in a 4.053-to-4.06 decision.

“ We were just concentrating on getting down the track every run,” Eman said.“ We weren’ t necessarily focused on backing up the record, but putting up a run of that caliber is required to win rounds in this class. I’ m very excited about what the car’ s doing now, and we look forward to the next race.”

PRO EXTREME MOTORCYCLE

After winning the season-opening race at Valdosta, three-time and defending Pro Extreme Motorcycle world champion Eric McKinney finds himself in an unfamiliar position: Chasing the points leader. He’ s qualified number one at two of the four races this year and appeared in three final rounds, but he’ s come up short to Travis Davis in the last two finals. McKinney lost on a holeshot at Darlington and trailed Davis in the quickest side-by-side run in class history at Maryland. The Ohioan nicknamed the“ Junkyard Kid” intends to even the score as the series enters the summer months.

“ We’ re looking forward to these next few races because my bike will run in the heat,” McKinney said.“ We’ re definitely going to put the pressure on Travis at Indy and Tulsa.

PDRA660. com 101