JOHNNY PLUCHINO ROLLS TO RUNNER-UP FINISH IN MMPSI
Two-time PDRA Extreme Pro Stock world champion Johnny Pluchino has checked off numerous boxes on his Mountain Motor Pro Stock bucket list , but a big-money win in a standalone event like the Mountain Motor Pro Stock Invitational ( MMP- SI ) still looms . After a semifinal win , Pluchino and his Long Island-based team were preparing for a winner ’ s circle celebration , but the second-generation wheelman was upset in the final round by Matt Giangrande .
Pluchino ’ s confidence going into the week was taken down a notch or two in testing when he blew the tires off four runs in a row . Working with his father , 2016 PDRA Extreme Pro Stock world champion John Pluchino , Johnny got things figured out in qualifying and ended up third on the 16-car final qualifying order with a 4.093 at 177.42 .
The Kaase-powered Feather-Lite Batteries / Kelling Equipment ’ 13 Mustang continued to improve in eliminations , where Pluchino set low E . T . of all rounds leading up to the final . First , he ran a 4.111 to beat Canadian Tony Pontieri in the tricky opening round .
“ First round is the one you always sweat , so we were sweating that one ,” Pluchino said . “ It was warmer out than it was the previous few days , so you always gotta consider that . The track was tricky , but when we let the clutch out and went low for the round , the confidence that we had at that point was extremely high . We just said , ‘ OK , we just gotta do our thing from here on out . Make consistent runs and let other guys beat us .’”
That confidence continued in the second round , where Pluchino grabbed a slight starting line advantage and recorded a 4.125 to take out Tony Gillig and his 4.143 .
“ That was a monster matchup ,” Pluchino said . “ We knew we had our work cut out for us . Tony is an excellent driver and I pride myself on that aspect as well . That was one of the rounds where you have to dig down .”
In the semifinals , Pluchino left on Dwayne Rice and made the second-quickest pass of eliminations , a 4.109 at 176.88 , to finish ahead of Rice ’ s 4.132 .
Pluchino was between three and five hundredths quicker than Giangrande in the first three rounds , but he expected him to step up in the final . Accordingly , the Pluchinos made some adjustments that they believed would result in a pass in the 4.08-second range . That didn ’ t pan out , as Pluchino slowed to a 4.137 at 175.71 to finish behind Giangrande ’ s 4.108 .
“ Due to some unforeseen circumstances , we unfortunately ran into a problem ,” Pluchino said . “ We were down around a hundred-something horses that round . We slowed down two and a half MPH and Matt let the clutch out first on that one . We just didn ’ t have all our ponies with us . They did a great job . They made the run they needed to , and unfortunately we didn ’ t run where we should have , so the win went to Matt .” — NATE VAN WAGNEN DI
PHOTOGRAPHS BY SCOTT WITTY , LUKE NIEUWHOF
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