MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2009

Maryland International Raceway located in Budds Creek, MD played host to Round-2 of the 2009 Battle of the Imports racing series. With a weather pattern that has washed out almost every event held over the past eight weekends, this event looked as though it was going to be number nine. However, the drag racing Gods smiled down and with the presence of some humidity, the weather was near perfect. Perfect for far away travelers such as Darin Dachiara (Orlando, FL) who recently competed in the season opener event in Orlando, FL and Richard Homer (Jacksonville, NC). Dichiara would end up meeting Richard Homer (Jacksonville, NC) in the Street-Tuner "all Supra" finals but came up short against Homer's 8.952 at 173.63 MPH.

In Pro-Import, Steve Merman (Collegeview, PA) made his 2009 debut and blasted a personal best of 8.317 at 179.80 MPH in his 93 Honda Civic securing him the number-one spot. Merman made the rounds and paired up against local Mat Keller (Springfield, VA) driving the 01 Acura Integra. Merman would cross the stripe first with a 9.361 at 172.94 MPH to Keller's 9.927 at 155.81 MPH.

Not bad for Keller since his 01 Acura Integra is in Street-Comp class trim. The Integra weighs in at a beefy 2500 pounds, has all of the factory glass windows and no wheelie bars. "I wanted to run the bigger tires and see what she would do," commented Keller. "I knew the class minimum for Pro-Import was 1900 pounds and that we were about 600 pounds over weight but I would say that we did fairly well."

Jonathan Reynolds (Springfield, VA) surprised the crowd by running 9.475 at 160.27 MPH in the same vehicle that was involved in a crash at the season opener event in Orlando, FL. Suffering heavy front end damage, Prayoonto Racing got to work immediately after the event and the Integra performed right off the trailer as if nothing ever had happened.

Unfortunately for Reynolds, transmission problems kept them from advancing after the first round of eliminations. Kevin Vannatten (Belford, NJ) would later meet Matt Doughhetec (Waldorf, MD) in the finals where Vannatten would take the win in the 04 Dodge SRT.

In the popular Street-Performance class, Tim Grey (E. Millstone, NJ) made a statement by qualifying number-one with a 10.839 at 123.66 MPH. Local favorite Loan Nguyen (Burke, VA) qualified a surprising fifth with a 11.392 at 122.48 MPH. When the elimination rounds started, both Grey and Nguyen laid down some impressive 10-second passes.

As some might have anticipated, these two rivals met in the finals where this race could be decided at the tree. When the green light dropped, it looked like it could have been anyone's race but Nguyen's hood came flying off the car towards the top end of the track giving Grey the win.

Round-3 takes us the Texas Motorplex in late June where the action continues. Kenny Tran (Garland, TX) plans to make his 2009 debut as well as Bryan Jimenez (Houston, TX). The carshow action continues as the search for the Buddy Club Team Award continues.