Although the weather left some to be desired at the Mopar Canadian Nationals, the racing did not.
Pete Berner in his yellow and blue GXP pulled out a big number early in the day, topping the field
after the third round of qualifying with a 6.349 at 219.04. Berner was expecting to improve upon
that number by a couple hundredths in the night session, but unfortunately had to abort the run
early, giving up a stellar .979 sixty foot time, and also giving up the number one spot to Frank
Gugliotta.
"We had a great run going there in the final session," tells Berner. "Unfortunately we didn't get a
hold of the track like we wanted and had to abort. I think we could have run a 6.32 or so, but
we're still number two with our afternoon pass [6.349] so I know we have a good race day set up.
And there's still some left in this GXP. We'll see what we can do with it tomorrow.
"There was some great racing out there tonight. Congratulations to Frank [Gugliotta, 6.330 at
220.33] on grabbing the number one spot and the Quarter-Max Pro Stock Challenge honors. That was a
great run he laid down. Frank and I have been battling it out this year, keeping each other on our
toes. The entire Elite Motorsports team, Richard Freeman and all his guys, put on a great show so
far this weekend. We've got a great group of competitors out here and the level of competition is
gruesome. That's easy to see if you look at the current points battle."
Coming into the Mopar Canadian Nationals Berner trailed leader Gugliotta by a scant three points.
Oklahoma runner, Cary Goforth, wasn't far behind, only seven points out of first.
"Close doesn't even describe the points battle this year. It's intense. It's always good clean
racing with these guys, which makes things fun and makes for better competition. Right now it's
still anybody's race, with the top four in points all extremely close and very capable of making a
move. Coming into this race my team was breathing down Gugliotta's neck, but hopefully the tables
will be turned by tomorrow evening."
Eliminations commence at 11 a.m. at the Mopar Canadian Nationals as the intense Pro Stock battle
continues. The Canadian crowd should expect nothing less than an all-out throw down.
