BRADENTON, Fla. — After five thrilling Pro Modified qualifying sessions, Mark Micke claimed the $10,000 low qualifier bonus Friday night at the Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod, the final race of the DI Winter Series presented by J&A Service, at Bradenton Motorsports Park.
Micke’s 3.575-second pass from Friday’s fourth qualifying session was enough to keep him and his twin-turbocharged M&M Transmission ’69 Camaro at the top of the quickest 32-car Pro Mod field in drag racing history. Three-time PDRA Pro Nitrous champion Tommy Franklin is the No. 32 qualifier with a 3.637-second effort.
2024 NHRA Mountain Motor Pro Stock world champion and two-time PDRA Extreme Pro Stock world champion Johnny Pluchino maintained his No. 1 position in the third annual Mountain Motor Pro Stock Invitational in his Ross Environmental Services ’13 Mustang. John Carinci claimed his No. 1 spot Friday night under the lights in the second annual Pro 10.5 Challenge in his turbocharged 2004 Corvette.
After struggling unexpectedly on Thursday, Mark Micke returned to his dominating ways on Friday, jumping to the top of the qualifying sheet with a 3.575-second pass at 223.65 mph. The pass extended Micke’s No. 1 qualifying streak to an incredible 13 events in a row in his twin-turbocharged M&M Transmission ’69 Camaro.
“We got behind during testing, and Thursday we just couldn’t put it together,” said Micke, who also collected the $10,000 low qualifier bonus. “We had changed the car up a lot at U.S. Street because there’s radial prep, and we found out we couldn’t run it like that at this race. We put our heads together, looked over the data, and were pretty confident this morning.
“We ran a .61 in the morning, and that got our confidence back,” Micke continued. “Things just fell our way in the next round – we watched the weather falling and the track getting cooler, and I said, ‘Boys, I think this is our run.’ To put together 13 No. 1s in a row against the baddest Pro Mod racers in the world, I’m just really proud of our guys. Thick and thin, hot or cold, whatever the prep, we’ve been able to pull it out with the car. To be standing on top, that’s pretty badass.”
As the No. 1 qualifier, Micke was the first driver to pull a poker chip out of the bag in Friday night’s chip draw. He pulled the No. 2 chip along with No Prep Kings star and 2024 Snowbird Outlaw Nationals winner Kye Kelley, setting up what will be the marquee matchup of round one between two drivers with points championship aspirations.
Reigning back-to-back PDRA Pro Boost world champion and 2023 WSOPM semifinalist Jason Harris ran a 3.583 at 209.04 mph to take the No. 2 spot in his ProCharged Party Time Racing ’69 Camaro. He’ll take on Jay Cox in the first round on Saturday.
2017 WSOPM champion Mike Bowman returned to his previous form, taking the No. 3 position with a career-best E.T., running a 3.589 at 220.37 mph in his twin-turbo ’69 Chevelle. He drew 2025 U.S. Street Nationals runner-up Lyle Barnett in the first round.
Also running a career-best was 2025 U.S. Street Nationals semifinalist Rian Hayward, who used a 3.593 at 208.62 to put his ProCharger-powered “Code Blue” ’69 Camaro in the No. 4 spot. 2025 U.S. Street Nationals winner and current DI Winter Series points leader Ken Quartuccio rounded out the top five with 3.594 at 208.75 in his Scott Tidwell Racing screw-blown ’69 Camaro.
Tommy Franklin, a three-time PDRA Pro Nitrous world champion, ended up on the 32-car bump spot in the third iteration of his infamous “Jungle Rat” ’69 Camaro. His 3.637 at 208.36 in the final session of the night secured his spot.
John Carinci proved the potential of his turbocharged ’04 Corvette in the final Pro 10.5 qualifying session when he laid down a 3.903 at 205.69 to take the No. 1 spot from young gun Joel Wensley Jr. He steadily improved throughout the four qualifying sessions on Thursday and Friday, starting with a 5.072 followed by a 4.049 that put him in the middle of the pack going into the final session. Tuner Carl Stevens Jr., winner of the 2018 WSOPM in Denver, then sent Carinci on a chart-topping pass under the Friday night lights.Carinci continued to thank the people in his corner who contributed to his success to this point in the event.
It was a validating performance for Carinci, who has competed in Outlaw 10.5 for years. He was one of the 24 participants in the first Pro 10.5 Challenge last year, and now he’s leading the 25-car qualifying order at the second running of the $25,000-to-win race.
“It’s fun, it’s exciting,” Carinci said. “I drove 30 hours to come down here [from Canada]. I’ve been doing 10.5 for a long time, and when they opened up the 10.5 in the World Series of Pro Mod, I said, ‘We’ve got to be part of that because that’s what we love.’ The 10.5 tire is the wildest tire – the cars look cool and people love them.”
While 25 drivers made qualifying attempts, only the quickest 16 will race on Saturday. Small-tire veteran Rob Valden, driving for Charlie Cooper in his turbocharged ’22 Mustang, qualified second with a 3.914 at 204.39 in the final session. Wensley Jr., whose 3.925 at 194.32 gave him the provisional No. 1 spot on Thursday, slipped to third in his ProCharged ’14 Camaro.
The late Lizzy Musi’s fan-favorite, nitrous-fed “Bonnie” ’69 Camaro, now driven by Blake Denton out of the Tommy Franklin Motorsports camp, qualified fourth with Denton’s 3.952 at 191.73. Second-generation Outlaw 10.5 driver Ty Kasper wheeled his family’s turbocharged Victus Sports “Sinatra” ’05 Mustang to a 3.953 at 199.76 to round out the top five.
Pluchino made his best qualifying run in Thursday’s night session, but he also looked strong in Friday’s two Mountain Motor Pro Stock sessions, which included a day session and one in the evening. He secured the No. 1 position on the strength of a 4.061 at 177.60 in the Kaase-powered Ross Environmental Services ’13 Mustang that he drove to two PDRA Extreme Pro Stock world championships and the first-ever NHRA Mountain Motor Pro Stock world championship last season.
“We’ve made four really good runs all weekend, but our No. 1 run was good,” Pluchino said. “I’m honestly more impressed with what we did in the heat. Both of our runs during the daytime were low for the session and very impressive runs. As happy as I am to be No. 1, I’m really happy that we have a car that’s capable of going out in the heat and going .09, .10 when the conditions are difficult.”
Pluchino’s performance would typically net him a first-round match with the No. 16 qualifier, but like the Pro Mod and Pro 10.5 classes at WSOPM, the $25,000-to-win MMPSI also uses random chip drawings to determine matchups in eliminations. Pluchino drew Dennis Firkus, who threw down a 4.069 at 178.99 in his Done Rite Auto ’07 Cobalt in the final qualifying session to qualify No. 2.
After Pluchino and Firkus, two-time and reigning PDRA Extreme Pro Stock world champion Chris Powers used a 4.074 at 178.10 in his Sonny’s Racing Engines/ATI Performance ’21 Camaro to qualify third. Multi-time world champion John Montecalvo, who won the 2023 MMPSI, stepped up to a 4.08 at 178.00 in his Kaase-powered JM Racing ’19 Mustang in the final session to end up fourth. Longtime MMPS wheelman Tony Gillig took advantage of the opportunity to fill in for 2023 PDRA Extreme Pro Stock world champion Alan Drinkwater, steering the Drinkwater family’s Kaase-powered Flatout Gaskets ’08 Mustang to the No. 5 spot with a 4.096 at 176.93.
Nitrous-assisted hot rods led the way again in Top Sportsman’s second and final qualifying session on Friday after topping the Thursday chart. Glenn Butcher, who won the 2024 PDRA Elite Top Sportsman world championship, locked in the No. 1 position with a 3.835 at 196.13 in his Albert-powered ’69 Camaro. Virginia’s Thomas Brown moved up to second in his Camaro with a 3.967 at 190.35. Longtime Top Sportsman proponent Bruce Thrift took his “Color Me Gone” GTO to the third spot with a 4.006 at 183.54.
The top three in Top Dragster remained unchanged from Thursday’s lone qualifying session after the second and final session on Friday. Russ Whitlock clinched the No. 1 position in his ProCharged ’08 Race Tech dragster with his 3.885 at 188.96. Les Feist, who made the trip down from Minnesota, followed with a 3.888 at 184.93 in his ’13 Miller dragster. Multi-time NHRA national event winner Matt Sackman in the supercharged SB Metal Fab ’10 Spitzer qualified third with a 3.889 at 185.21.
