By Graeme Jones, CanadianDragbike.com
Photos by Fastpixs.com

Sunday morning's action saw a test session held before qualifying, and Bud Yoder (riding Ty Martin's Velocity-turbo'd Hayabusa) fired a huge warning shot with a 7.45/195 off the trailer. That run re-set the Canadian and track record for a Pro Street motorcycle, set last year by Phil Stoll on Mitchell's old bike.

Three rounds of qualifying were held before eliminations, with Yoder re-setting his own mark with a 7.44/197.15 MPH top qualifying performance. He was followed closely by a 7.47/190 from Rob Budgell, a former bracket racer who currently sits in the Top 5 in AMA/PROSTAR Pro Street points.

Stoll had trouble keeping the new RMR bike hooked up, but after shortening to 64" he sped to the #3 spot at 7.57/191. Lonnie Angel's RCC Turbo-powered 'Busa went 7.68/189 for fourth. 'Canadian Mike' Mildon tuned John Poretti to an 8.05/185 (best qualifying run by a Canadian), Barkley's Walt Healy-backed Gixxer took 6th at 8.37/180, and Trevor Altman and Mike Bayes rounded out the top 8 (8.60 and 8.63, respectively).

The first round of eliminations saw nearly all of the quicker qualified bikes advance, with the exception of Poretti, who spun off the line and couldn't reel in an improving 8.39/164 from Mike Bayes' nitrous-injected Kawasaki ZX-14. Budgell's 7.49/189 was low E.T of the round, Stoll's 193.00 MPH trap speed the fastest. Of particular note was the incredible 1.24-second 60-foot time clocked by Budgell!

John Poretti
Poretti took 'Canadian Mike' Mildon's turbo 'Busa to a Canadian-best 8.05/185 to qualify fifth

Round two saw the tightest match of the event between last year's finalists, Phil Stoll and Lonnie Angel. Stoll pulled slightly ahead at the tree, but Angel was locked up with him the entire track. His 7.60/190.27 was his best run in Canada but still not enough for a consistent 7.54/189 from Stoll.

Bayes scored another one for Team Kawi with his second upset of the day, getting the holeshot on #2 qualifier Budgell and then running away from him when Budgell spun the tire off the line. Budgell continued to catch up and spin, catch up and spin, but his 8.369 couldn't overcome an event-best 8.375 from Bayes!

Ethan Barkley, who travelled all the way from Calgary to be a part of the race, saw his weekend end at the hands of Yoder in the second round, but kept him in check with an 8.07/183 to Yoder's top-end spinning 7.75/168.

Mike Bayes' good luck story came to an end in the semis at the hands of Stoll's event-best 7.504/193.46. Yoder earned a bye run into the finals.

This set up a much-anticipated final round matchup between the current record holder and the old one, the defending champ vs. the top qualifier, red bike vs.....red bike. Yoder ran in the 7.40's during qualifying but hadn't been quicker than 7.70's in eliminations. Meanwhile, Stoll had run a string of consistent 7.50's thanks to Mitchell's tuning knowledge and seemed to have the distinct advantage.

Both racers had stellar reaction times, Stoll getting the jump out of the gate before smoking the rear tire off the line. Yoder was also fighting for traction, and at half track less than .03 separated the pair. Unfortunately Stoll started spinning again, finally giving in as Yoder's 7.71/189 took the stripe ahead of a slowing 7.93/161.