Story Courtesy Nate Van Wagnen/Drag Illustrated

Images: Geoff Sculley and Mike Gregg Jr.

An evening rain shower soaked the Bradenton Motorsports Park racing surface Sunday night, leading race officials to cancel the rest of eliminations at the 52nd Snowbird Outlaw Nationals presented by Motion Raceworks. The heads-up classes made it down to at least the semifinals. The payouts will be split among the remaining racers in competition, and racing for the trophies will take place during qualifying at the U.S. Street Nationals presented by M&M Transmission, Jan. 25-28, at Bradenton.

“This is obviously not how we wanted to cap off what’s been an incredible Snowbirds,” said Victor Alvarez, track owner and race promoter. “We got hit with a heavy rain shower right after finishing the third round of Outlaw Pro Mod. Our race operations team weighed the options and decided it made the most sense to let everyone start packing up and heading home. We’re splitting the payouts for all classes. Everyone left in competition will get the opportunity to race for the trophy in a couple months at the U.S. Street Nationals.

“We had an incredible fan turnout for our Night of Fire on Saturday,” Alvarez added. “The energy was amazing. I’m blessed to host these events with my amazing team and our family of racers and fans.”

Scott Lang, near lane,  from Charlotte NC is still in the hunt in Pro Mod

In the headlining $52,000-to-win M&M Transmission Outlaw Pro Mod presented by FuelTech and PJS Racing class, Scott Lang, Melanie Salemi, Lyle Barnett, and Mark Micke raced their way through three rounds of competition to reach the semifinals.

Micke set low E.T. of eliminations with his 3.592-second pass at 218.37 MPH in his twin-turbocharged M&M Transmission ’69 Camaro in the third round.

Melanie  Salemi put her blown Camaro in the semi finals before the rain hit

The Precision Shaft Technologies Pro 275 presented by Pro Line Racing semifinalists are No. 1 qualifier Marcus Birt, Jack Greene, Jason Collins, and Mark Woodruff.

Mickey Thompson Tires X275 presented by Precision Turbo & Engine low qualifier Eric LaFerriere made it down to the semifinals along with Mark Meiering, Ryan Milliken, and Charlie Johnson.

The semifinalists in Energy Manufacturing Limited Drag Radial presented by Callies are No. 1 qualifier Paul Gargus, Mitch Mika, Huston Dial, and Matt Bell.

TBM Brakes Outlaw 632 presented by Rife Sensors raced down to the final round, with Jake Naumann set to face Chris Holdorf in the final.

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