JUPITER, Fla. - Stephanie Eggum of Elgin, Ill., became just the second woman to win the Hot Rod class of the NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing Series at the Nitto NHRA Sport Compact Nationals.
Brad Personett (Pro RWD), Ed Bergenholtz (Pro FWD), Justin Humphreys (Modified), and Saul Salceda (Honda Tuning All Motor) were all winners of their respective categories at Moroso Motorsports Park.
Stephanie Eggum
Eggum, who came in to the elimination rounds as the No. 1 qualifier, held her quick start to beat Kenny Tran to the finish line. She drove her 2000 Honda Civic to the finish line with a time of 8.541 seconds at 177.69.
"It's awesome. It hasn't sunk in yet," said Eggum.
Personett who is the defending champion in the Pro RWD category, started the year out just like he finished last year. He stepped on the gas in his Titan Motorsports Scion tC to overtake Matt Scranton's quick reaction time in his Ride Revolution Toyota Solara. Personett finished with a time of 6.866 and 208.23.
"We knew it was going to be this way this year," said Personett. "I can't thank the guys on the team enough. We hurt an engine in the semi's running our teammate, we thrashed to change the engine between rounds and got the job done. It feels good!"
Ed Bergenholtz
Another defending champion, Bergenholtz, also protected his No. 1 qualifier by winning the Pro FWD class. He drove his Audiobahn Mazdaspeed 6 to the finish line with a time of 7.953 at 178.57. Bergenholtz knew he could ease up when his opponent Bryan Jimenez red lighted his Chevy Cobalt.
"I like the Wallys," said Bergenholtz. "As I said, it's the domestics versus the imports. Let's get them hungry. At the next race I'm just assuming I'm losing. I need stay humble and keep working harder."
Humphreys, the defending NHRA champion of the Modified category beat local favorite Elliot Rivera of Loxahatchee, Fla., when he drove his Lexus GS300 to a finish of 8.177 seconds at 170.94 mph. He got a lucky break to make it to the final when his opponent in the first round Louis Ferrer, Jr., was disqualified after beating Humphreys.
"We were getting ready for a race in Alabama next week when we found out we were still running," said Humphreys. "It's gonna take a lot of work to get back to where we were last year. It's just hard going against all these little turbos, but it's just another year."
The winner of the Honda Tuning All Motor class was Saul Salceda who set the Moroso Motorsports Park track record for speed on Saturday. He was able to drive his Clutch Masters 2000 Integra to a time of 9.953 seconds at 136.81 mph.
"I'm excited about the win," said Salceda. "The cars been running good and we've been doing good all week."
The telecast of the race can be seen on ESPN2 on Sunday, April 9 at noon (ET) and a repeat telecast on Wednesday, May 10 at 2 a.m. (ET). The Sony Xplod Stylefest will be telecast on ESPN2 on Wednesday, May 10at 2:30 a.m. (ET) and a repeat telecast on Thursday, May 11 at 2 p.m. (ET).
The NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing Series continues with the NHRA Virginia Sport Compact Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park near Richmond, Va., April 22-23.
