Washington-state based racer Mark Sanders certainly loves racing in Eastern Canada!

Sanders, affectionally known as “Mr. Explosive” who also won the 2015 Mopar Canadian Nationals at Grand Bend Ontario, once again prevailed for the 2016 Mopar Canadian Nationals AMSOIL Nitro Funny Car title.

(Mark Sanders completed a successful event title defence at IHRA Grand Bend last weekend)

He used a final round lap of 5.725 secs to score — when his scheduled finalist and No. 1 qualifier Jason Rupert broke on the starting line and was unable to make the run.  In fact this year marked the third-consecutive year that Sanders and Rupert met in the Mopar Canadian Nationals final round.

“The car was right down the boardwalk here at the IHRA Canadian Nationals,” Sanders said. “We made five runs in the 5.70s and never hurt anything. It was a great crowd at a great place and a great win. Our car went down the left lane, but I know everybody was picking the right lane. If they say, ‘what lane do you want?’ I look at the crowd, and I want to be closest to the crowd. That Ford Mustang’s gonna go right down Broadway, and it did this weekend.”

Sanders (who is based from Maple Valley WA) had defeated the Mopar-bodied cars raced by Greg Jacobsmeyer and Shawn Bowen in rounds one and two after he qualified #2 at 5.725 secs.

(Defending IHRA World Champion Jason Rupert roared to both low ET and top speed)

Rupert – racing his cool looking Littlefield & Rupert tribute/U.S. Thunderbirds themed car — had been the odds on favourite prior to race day before his final round malfunction.  He had paced the field by over a tenth – hitting a 5.602 secs at 255.82 mph during qualifying which was low ET and top speed of the event.

(Canada’s Tim Boychuk made his Canadian debut with his new Happy Hour Racing/NitroMoose Camaro at Grand Bend)

(Shawn Bowen’s ’70 Challenger was a fan favourite at the Mopar sponsored event)

Posted with files by Bruce Biegler and Rob Goodman

Photos by Bruce Biegler & Brennan Shortall