BUDDS CREEK, Md. – Moroso Pro Boost rookie Kris Thorne finished Friday’s qualifying round at the PDRA North-South Shootout presented by Line-X at Maryland Int’l Raceway as the No. 1 qualifier for the second consecutive race.
A high car count, frequent oil downs and rapidly approaching thunderstorms led PDRA officials to postpone the third qualifying session, which was also to include the rain-delayed pro class final rounds from the PDRA Mid-Atlantic Showdown at Virginia Motorsports Park.
The PDRA’s professional classes finished two of three scheduled qualifying sessions Friday evening, with the final session set to run Saturday morning.
“We’re thankful to have so many cars to run down the track, but we ran into a lot of unexpected downtime and couldn’t run everything as scheduled,” said Tyler Crossnoe, race director, PDRA. “We’re just going to have to go hard tomorrow, pray for the best and hopefully everything goes smooth so we can get this event wrapped up.”
Thorne continued his strong debut season in Pro Boost with his 3.707-second run at 216.55 mph, a pass that stood as the quickest of the day after 19 Pro Boost entries attempted runs down the Maryland eighth-mile strip.
“I’m very impressed with the way we’re running,” Thorne said. “We’re finally starting to get a handle on this thing. We’re struggling a little bit, but all around we’re doing pretty well with it. We have Proline Racing Engines on board – they kind of make everything fall into place.”
Defending world champion Tommy D’Aprile continued his run for another title in Al Billes’ roots-blown ’69 Camaro, posting a 3.715-second pass at 199.23 mph to take the No. 2 spot. Drag radial star Daniel Pharris in his Jamie Miller-tuned, twin-turbocharged ’17 Mustang ran a 3.725-second pass at 216.48 mph for the No. 3 slot.
The other provisional low qualifiers in the pro classes are Jim Halsey in Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous, Jeff Dobbins in Liberty’s Gears Extreme Pro Stock, Johnny Pluchino in Schwing America Pro Outlaw 632 presented by Precision Chassis and Paul Gast in Drag 965 Pro Nitrous Motorcycle. Ken Quartuccio is the provisional No. 1 qualifier in Atomizer Racing Injectors Outlaw 10.5 presented by Drag 965.
After two sportsman qualifying sessions, the provisional low qualifiers are John Benoit in MagnaFuel Elite Top Sportsman, Ken Mottshaw in Top Sportsman 32, Brian Bednar in Lucas Oil Elite Top Dragster, and Tim Antinora in Top Dragster 32.
In the Jr. Dragster classes, Joshua Talvacchio ran a perfect 7.900-second pass to hold the No. 1 spot in Coolshirt Pro Jr. Dragster presented by Knoxtown Products. With a .005 reaction time, Ryan Harris grabbed the provisional No. 1 position in Gilbert Motorsports Top Jr. Dragster.