Upsets, Underdogs Rock NHRA Sonoma Finals

Shawn Langdon (Top Fuel), Vincent Nobile (Pro Stock) and Hector Arana Jr. (Pro Stock Motorcycle) were also winners of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event, the 15th of 24 in the 2013 season.Capps powered his NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger to his fourth win at the Bay Area track with a holeshot performance of 4.085 seconds at 307.79 mph to hold off the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang of 15-time world champion John Force in the final round. It marked the 40th career win for the California native.

"You're not just racing any car in the final - you're racing John Force,” said Capps, who has won at Sonoma Raceway three of the last four seasons. “It can be intimidating to a lot of people."

Capps outran Del Worsham, Jeff Arend, and Courtney Force to reach the final round. He leaves the event No. 2 in the Mello Yello points standings, his highest ranking since he left the Gainesville event tied for first in mid-March.  Event top qualifier Matt Hagan, who was upset in the opening round by Alexis DeJoria, continues to lead the series standings by 27 points over Capps.

DeJoria, the low qualifier, stunned No. 1 qualifier Matt Hagan in the first round, then eliminated John Force driver Robert Hight in the quarterfinals.

In Top Fuel, points leader Langdon claimed his fourth win of the season and fifth of his career by defeating former high school classmate Morgan Lucas in the final round. Langdon powered his Al-Anabi Racing dragster to a performance of 3.920 at 240.47 to hold off Lucas’ GEICO/Lucas Oil dragster, which slowed near mid-track.

“This is a dream season,” Langdon said. “To get four wins at this point in the season feels like we have a strong car. Racing Morgan was pretty cool because we grew up together and went to high school together. A lot of memories racing with friends.”

With the win, his first at Sonoma, Langdon extends his series points lead to 102 over second place Spencer Massey. Langdon outran Houston winner Bob Vandergriff, veteran Doug Kalitta and defending world champion Antron Brown to advance to the final round.

In Pro Stock, Nobile and his Mountain View Tire Dodge Avenger team picked up their second win of the season. In the final round, Nobile drove to victory with a performance of 6.572 seconds at 208.58 mph against four-time world champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. whose JEGS.com/Mopar Avenger shook the tires and shut off.

The victory is Nobile’s second of the season and seventh of his career, moving him to fifth in points. Nobile defeated Jason Line, points leader and event top qualifier Mike Edwards and Greg Anderson to reach the final round.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Arana Jr. claimed his fourth win of the season, riding his Lucas Oil Buell to a performance of 6.878 at 195.45 to beat event top qualifier and Viper Motorcycle Company Buell rider Matt Smith in the final round. It is Arana Jr.’s seventh career victory and first at Sonoma.

Arana Jr. beat Scotty Pollacheck, Jerry Savoie and Katie Sullivan to reach the final round. With the victory, Arana Jr. remains the series points leader.  With the runner-up finish, Smith clinched a berth into the Countdown to the Championship, NHRA’s six-race postseason playoffs.

The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series continues Aug. 2-4 with the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways near Seattle.