![\"Canadian](\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Mission-NFC1.jpg\")
<\/a>Canadian class power players Tim Boychuk and Ryan Hodgson met head to head in round one of competition.<\/p><\/div>\n
The second session, with great conditions, saw just about everyone improve, with Rupert getting in the game at 5.72, Mark Sanders and Tim Nemeth with 5.80s, and Tim Boychuk into the fives at 5.92. Cottrell didn’t run, the team figuring their 5.64 was secure. Perhaps the run of the session, though was the one laid down by Nathan Sitko, as the car was pulling hard, until the blower belt made its exit. It was by far the best the car had run to that point, and the numbers low-down projected out to a mid-5.70 run. It was a 6.20 at only 148 that came up on the clocks.<\/p>\n
Once again on Saturday, it sprinkled until late afternoon and was cloudy all evening (despite the forecast saying clearing by noon), but it stayed dry and cool, resulting in fabulous racing conditions with corrected altitude in the mid-three figure range and air temperature of about 20C. A nearly-full house was ready for fast racing, and they got it with an awesome Round One in NNFC. The nitro hung heavy at the starting line, as Rupert led off with a track-record 5.62 defeating Sitko’s 5.90, and then it was the battle of Edmonton, Hodgson versus Boychuk, a reprise of their meeting in the semis last year. Hodgson avenged that holeshot loss with a good 5.75 victory, while Boychuk had issues at the top end and a 6.09. Cottrell had the bye run and ran an easy 5.78, and Mark Sanders ran a 5.69 \/ 237, loose and smokey at the finish line, to barely hold off Tim Nemeth’s charging 5.78 \/ 246, in a great duel.<\/p>\n
With the four Round One favourites all advancing into Round Two, the two match-ups would be good ones. First up, Jason Rupert took on Ryan Hodgson, with big ramifications for the NHRA points standings, and the American repeated at 5.62 \/ 258, while the Canadian lost with a good 5.66, having played catch-up with the car’s set-up after the Friday damage. The other race saw Cottrell drop the hammer with a new track and Canadian record 5.56 at 260 mph to beat Sanders’ troubled 5.83.<\/p>\n