A severe rain shower that included a brief hailstorm halted the Winternationals today at In-N-Out Burger Dragstrip at Pomona as the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series was entering the semifinals. Points leader and No. 1 qualifier Mark Pawuk, Stephen Bell and David Davies remain in the competition. The race will be completed during the upcoming Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, April 12-14.
“This is a tough break for sure,” said Pawuk, who opened the season with a win at the NHRA Gatornationals. “I was looking forward to getting the race in, but Mother Nature had other plans. I want to thank the NHRA for doing everything they could to get the race in today. My Dodge Drag Pak was making good runs and I felt great behind the wheel. We’ll just have to see when we can get the race done.”
In the first round there were several huge races including Scott Libersher taking a solid starting line advantage and leading 2023 championship runner-up Bell until 1,000 feet when Bell chased him down for the win. Bell posted low E.T. of the event on the run with a blistering 7.799 seconds at 173.38 mph run in his red Chevrolet COPO Camaro. Two pairs later, Tony Scott Jr. had 0.005 reaction time combined with an 8.252 second at 149.65 mph run to try and take out Gatornationals winner Mark Pawuk and win the Flexjet $1,000 Bounty. Unfortunately for Scott, Pawuk’s Dodge Drag Pak had more power at the top end and defeated Scott’s Chevrolet COPO Camaro to advance to the quarterfinals with a winning run of 7.875 seconds at 179.16 mph.
In the second round, Davies made his best run of the weekend, 7.828 seconds at 175.82 mph, to advance to the semifinals, outrunning No. 3 qualifier David Janac. No. 1 qualifier Pawuk earned a competition bye and he stepped his performance up with a 7.831 second run at 175.21 mph. Bell and Doug Hamp were racing with the chance to secure a guaranteed appearance in the final round. Bell made the most of his run getting off the line first with a 0.029 reaction time and posting a 7.800 second pass, the quickest run of the session.
The Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series is scheduled to return at the Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals, April 12-14 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
This story was originally published on March 25, 2024. 
