In an absolutely thrilling side-by-side race, Mike Bowman made his best-ever pass at Bandimere Speedway and thought he knocked off eventual champ Carl Stevens Jr. Bowman went 5.912 at 249.03 mph, but it wasn’ t quite enough against the red-hot Stevens, who went 5.880 at 246.21 to nip the defending winner by a mere. 007 in the side-by-side duel of the weekend at the World Series of Pro Mod.

“ I seriously thought I beat him,” Bowman said.“ It was so close. What a great race. I was pulling on him and I thought I would catch him. It was an awesome race and I feel good about the weekend.”

The race had everyone buzzing on Thunder Mountain, assuredly standing as one of the highlights from a magical weekend. It denied Bowman a chance for a second straight win, but he still had plenty

to be pleased about. He went 5.985 to beat Derek Menholt in the first round, then improved to a 5.915 at 242.32 in round two to beat Jeremy Ray.

But just getting to the event was big for Bowman. His Chevelle got finished for the WSOPM just in time, as Bowman’ s team spent several days at Jerry Bickel Race Cars getting the car put back together. It was an impressive display by the staff at JBRC and Bowman’ s team, but there was an underlying theme behind it all.

“ It was really important that we not only make it here, but to also run well,” Bowman stressed.“ We accomplished that, so I’ m happy about that. It was super important to be here and I didn’ t care what it took.”

The 2018 WSOPM was just as enjoyable for Bowman, who raved about the event even in defeat, building plenty of momentum for

what he hopes is a second win at the 2019 WSOPM.

“ The event was awesome. It was just as much fun as last year,” Bowman said.“ It was a great event, a

great time and I’ ll try to win it again next year. I wanted to put on a good show and I did that. I was leaps and bounds better than last year.”

- JOSH HACHAT DI

PHOTOS: JOE MCHUGH

The fans came from Canada and Mexico, with some driving 2,000 miles to watch Stevie“ Fast” Jackson perform on Thunder Mountain. As usual, the fan-favorite delivered, doing it in a major way at the World Series of Pro Mod at Bandimere Speedway. Jackson won the Drag 956 / Nitrous Outlet burnout contest for a second straight year, winning the $ 5,000 prize after the buildup

for it reached impressive levels.

The only thing missing was an event win, as Jackson fell in the third round to eventual runner-up Danny Rowe, but Jackson delivered on every level and assuredly sent all his legion of fans home happy.

“ That means a lot to me,” Jackson said.“ It’ s about the people. When fans come out and put in that effort to watch me do what I love to do, there’ s no better victory than that.”

On Friday, Jackson blasted through his burnout to nearly the 1,000-foot mark in his Bahrain 1 Racing Camaro, eliciting a wild round of applause from the fans who enjoyed every minute of the contest. Coming back on the return road, Jackson was beaming as he soaked it all in.

“ This is awesome. This is just as good as the race,” Jackson said.“ The reason it’ s so awesome is because

all them people up there( in the stands) were excited they came to watch drag racing. That’ s what it’ s about. It was crazy.”

Jackson went 5.984 in the second-round win against Jim Whiteley before falling to Rowe, but he left Denver in a much better place. Struggling since a crash in April at the NHRA Pro Mod race in Charlotte, Jackson had been unable to get things to click in his Shadow 2.0 Camaro, not qualifying at two consecutive NHRA races. But the team gained a great deal during WSOPM testing, something he carried over to win the U. S. Nationals in Indy.

That progress on Thunder Mountain was impressive to see, and Jackson couldn’ t have been more pleased about the WSOPM, which took another giant step forward in year two.

“ We had a blast up here,” Jackson said.“ Drag racing is an awesome sport because not everybody gets a trophy. Only one person gets a trophy. We learned a tremendous amount about our car and our program. This was invaluable data.”

- JOSH HACHAT DI