MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2008

Round-4 of the 2008 Battle of the Imports Champion Series held at Maryland International Raceway in Budds Creek, MD concluded with intense side by side racing action as Scion Racing's Kenny Tran (Houston, TX) and Leslie Armendariz (Long Beach, CA) bringing home wins in Pro-Import and Pro-Stock while Marty Ladwig (San Antonio, TX) brought home the Pro-FWD win for GM Racing in the Lucas Oils Chevy Cobalt.

Jason Hunt (Crofton, MD) qualified number-one in Pro-FWD with a 7.325 but failed to advance in the semi-final round due to a rare red light loss against Chris Rado (Reading, PA) driving the World Racing Scion tC. Gary Gardella (Howell, NJ) driving the Red Bull Chevy Cobalt also failed to advance to the finals losing the Ladwig with a 7.720 to Ladwig's 7.323. This set the showdown between GM Racing's Marty Ladwig versus Scion Racing's Chris Rado.

"It was great to see all of the Pro-FWD competitors at this event," commented Frank Choi, Battle of the Imports. "It was even better to see each of them qualifying in the sevens."

In the Pro-Import class, heavy favorite Kenny Tran (Garland, TX) qualified number two with a 8.487 behind Mike Crawford's (Eden, NC) 8.194 in the 06 Chevy Cobalt. Currently third in points, Tran knew that he could gain valueble points but had a challenge facing him in the finals against Crawford. Tran laid down a .001-second light to Crawford's .206 and found himself at the winners circle with a 8.322 against Crawford's 8.170.

In Pro-Stock, the points chase in getting tighter with half of the season almost complete. Leslie Armendariz (Long Beach, CA) dirving the Horizon Motorsports Scion tC qualified number-one with a 9.502 with Norris Prayoonto (Springfield, VA) closely behind with a 9.656. During the semi-final round, Armendariz laid down an impressive 9.481 and advanced to the finals against Grace Howell (Aiken, SC) driving the Lucas Oils Chevy Cobalt. In the other pair, Prayoonto faced off against Scott Kelley (Anaheim, CA) driving the Toyo Tires/TRD Toyota Corolla. Both drivers left the tree almost identical but Prayooto ended up going to the finals with a 9.638 to Kelly's 9.852.

The final round of Pro-Stock was set and Armendariz had lane choice. When the light dropped, Prayoonto caught Armedariz sleeping at the light but was unable to hold off Armendariz as she crossed the stripe first with a 9.442 (new national record) against Prayoonto's 9.656.

Round-4 is officially in the books and the series heads west for Round-5 at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on July 11th and 12th. Round-5 will feature qualifying on Friday evening with the big show set for Saturday night.