PHOTOS: RICK BELDEN, TARA BOWKER, JOE MCHUGH

PRO EXTREME

Terry Leggett wants to go fast. Winning rounds and collecting event trophies are perhaps side effects of the North Carolina driver’ s desire to light up the scoreboards in his Terry Coyle-tuned’ 71 Mustang, but Leggett has done all of the above so far this season. He defeated 2015 world champion Jason Scruggs in the Bryant Industrial Pro Extreme presented by Pro Line Racing final round at GALOT, then qualified No. 1 and recorded low et and top speed at Maryland.

“ We come to win and all that, but we really come to run fast,” Leggett said.“ The track was real hot in qualifying. We struggled a little with that. It was just so hot. But we knew we’ d be able to go fast on Saturday when it cooled down. Sure enough, that 3.55 at 216 popped up first round.”

PRO NITROUS

After several strong qualifying efforts and late-round finishes, Randy Weatherford was hungry for his first win in Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous presented by MoTeC. He pulled out all the stops at Maryland, tuning and driving his WS Construction’ 69 Camaro to four consistent passes in eliminations. Not only was he consistent, Weatherford was also quick, popping off career-best numbers to take out a list of class veterans.

“ I had to earn this one,” Weatherford said in the winner’ s circle.“ This is the toughest series out there. That’ s why I run PDRA Pro Nitrous. It brings the best out of you. These are competitive guys, and that’ s who I want to race against. If I’ m going to be at the top, I want to be at the top because I earned it. I think we showed today that we can run with these guys.”

PRO BOOST

Former Outlaw 10.5 star Chuck Ulsch has quickly become one of the most threatening competitors in Moroso Pro Boost, driving his Roots-blown’ 68 Camaro to runner-up finishes at the first two races of the year. A broken rear-end cost him the East Coast Nationals victory, while he was simply outrun

by Tommy D’ Aprile in the North-South Shootout final round. With a quick – he qualified No. 4 at GALOT and No. 2 at Maryland – and consistent race car, Ulsch is sure to break through for a win soon.

“ Though it wasn’ t the outcome we would’ ve hoped for, we are more than happy with the success we’ ve had early on,” Ulsch said.“ Taking a new car to back-to-back finals and No. 2 in the points race is nothing to complain about. This team has done a great job and we’ re working hard towards a win and maybe a championship.”

EXTREME PRO STOCK

John DeFlorian and his Amsoil Camaro fired off the low elapsed time and top speed of the event in the first round of the North-South Shootout, a 4.038 at 179.76 mph, but perhaps his most impressive performance of the race was a last-ditch effort to jump from the outside of the Liberty’ s Gears Extreme Pro Stock field to the No. 1 spot during final qualifying.

“ We were pretty far down in the qualifying order when we were going up for the final session, then we got bumped out,” DeFlorian said.“ I was a nervous wreck. I knew we had to just get through low gear and make an A-to-B run, just enough to get in. I left the starting line, felt pretty good. The shift light comes on and I knew it was going. Then I look up and see that. 09 on the scoreboard and just started screaming my head off. It was a huge relief. We went from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs in a matter of 4.09 seconds.”

PRO EXTREME MOTORCYCLE

As the tuner for McKinney Motorsports, Ashley Owens is tasked with making the calls on two of the quickest and fastest Drag 965 Pro Extreme Motorcycle entries in the world. The Alabama native was able to show off his skills at the North-South Shootout, where he tuned the Suzuki he rides to a 4.008 to qualify No. 1 Friday night and teammate Eric McKinney’ s bike to the event win on Saturday evening.

“ It feels good to come out here and qualify No. 1,” said Owens, who missed the season-opener along with McKinney so the duo could test and adequately prepare for the rest of the season.“ We struggled a little bit with Eric’ s bike in qualifying. I wish we could be No. 1 and No. 2, but I’ m glad we were able to get it figured out. Glad to be back in the swing of things.”

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