Pro Mod: Englishtown Sunday summary

Billes wins third of 2004

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. (June 20, 2004) -- Al Billes won the NHRA AMS Staff Leasing Pro Mod Challenge, an NHRA exhibition class, at the NHRA K&N Filters SuperNationals presented by Strauss Discount Auto defeating Danny Rowe in the final round.

For Billes, from Barrie, Ont., it was his third final round in five events in 2004 and third win. He has won at Gainesville, Bristol and now Englishtown. For Rowe, from Laguna Hills, Calif., it was his first final round since Indy in 2001. He now has one win (St. Louis, 2001) in three final rounds.

En route to the final round, Billes defeated Shannon Jenkins in the opening round and Zack Barklage in the semifinals. Rowe turned back Jim Halsey in the first round and teammate Mike Ashley in the second round when Ashley was unable to run due to ignition problems..

Billes, in a '53 Corvette with backing from Stratford Motor Products, was out first at the green light leading all the way down the Old Bridge Township Raceway Park quarter-mile. He crossed the finish line in 6.253 seconds with a speed of 228.58 mph. Rowe, in an Infinet/Unique Performance-backed '63 Corvette from the two-car Pro Mod team of Mike Ashley's Gotham City Racing, trailed slightly and recorded an elapsed time of 6.257 seconds.

"This is a habit you want to keep," said Billes. "This is awesome. I didn't expect to win one race this season, much less three. These eight-car fields are unbelievably tough to get into and they're stressful. To actually get into them is half the battle; to win three in one season is outstanding.

"From a performance standpoint consistency is the difference this year. The car is not the quickest but it does well enough to get in the field. We been working on the consistency and will continue to do so. We don't want to be known as one run wonders.

"The points are the carrot and we're going to do all we can to get a taste at the end of the year."

The next event on the NHRA AMS Staff Leasing Pro Mod Challenge schedule is next weekend in St. Louis when the eighth annual NHRA Sears Craftsman Nationals unfolds, June 25-27, at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill.

Sunday's final results from the fifth of 10 events on the NHRA AMS Staff Leasing Pro Mod Challenge, an NHRA exhibition class, being held at the 35th annual K&N Filters SuperNationals presented by Strauss Auto at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park:

ROUND ONE
Zach Barklage, Pontiac Grand Am, 6.257, 232.27
    def. Von Smith, Ford Mustang, 17.047, 47.47
Al Billes, Chevy Corvette, 6.240, 229.66
    def. Shannon Jenkins, Chevy Camaro, 18.766, 90.37
Dan Rowe, Corvette, 6.184, 228.61
    def. Jim Halsey, Corvette, 7.330, 137.65
Mike Ashley, Shelby Mustang, 6.214, 228.23
    def. Rickie Smith, Corvette, 6.292, 224.92;

SEMIFINALS
Billes, 6.260, 228.61
    def. Barklage, 6.494, 225.48
Rowe, 8.721, 99.69
    def. Ashley, broke;

FINALS
Billes, 6.253, 228.58
    def. Rowe, 6.257, 228.92.

-nhra-