For the second race in a row and for the fifth time this season it was Kenny Lang and Ed Hoover in the final of an IHRA Pro Modified national event.

No matter the car counts, the talent level and no matter how you look at it, two of best quarter-mile Pro Modified drivers in the world have put on quite a show this season and the pair continued their bitter rivalry on Sunday with yet another head-to-head final at the IHRA President’s Cup Nationals Sunday at Maryland International Raceway.

For the second race in a row and for the fifth time this season it was Kenny Lang and Ed Hoover in the final of an IHRA
Pro Modified national event.

No matter the car counts, the talent level and no matter how you look at it, two of best quarter-mile Pro Modified drivers in the world have put on quite a show this season and the pair continued their bitter rivalry on Sunday with yet another head-to-head final at the IHRA President’s Cup Nationals Sunday at Maryland International Raceway.

Lang and Hoover maneuvered their way through one of the toughest fields of the year on one of the most racer-friendly tracks seen all year, but on Sunday it was Lang who was once again left standing.

Lang, in his eighth consecutive final round, was able to drive around Hoover with a 5.934 elapsed time at 242.54 miles per hour to pick up his third win in a row and fourth total this season. Hoover went red on his run, but still put down a blistering lap of 5.998 seconds.

“Everything went well this weekend. The rain wreaked havoc on everybody, but we had a real good solid run on Friday and everything fell into place after that,” Lang said. “Eight finals in a row, three wins in a row and wrapping up a second championship – you really can’t beat this”

With the victory Lang (Grande Pointe, Manitoba) put even more ground between himself and Hoover (Gilbert, S.C.) in the championship bout as Lang has all but clinched his second consecutive IHRA Pro Modified championship heading into the World Finals next month in Rockingham. Entering the final race of the season Lang now holds a 132-point lead over Hoover.

“Just getting a championship is tough, but getting back-to-back world championships is just incredible. It is a hard thing to do and something we were definitely shooting for and to get that done is just impressive,” Lang said.

Lang also walks out of Maryland with a new IHRA World Record elapsed time of 5.884 seconds wrapping up one of the best races of the year during one of the most impressive seasons in Pro Modified history.

“Obviously last year was really competitive and our first year we got a national event win and now to go to eight finals in a row and have the season we are having is great,” Lang said. “This ranks right up there if not as good as last year.”

Lang received his toughest test of the season on Sunday to pick up the win, almost being knocked off on three different occasions on his way to his seventh career victory.

Along with barely edging Hoover, Lang also survived against the man with the fastest recorded pass in Pro Mod history Andy Jensen and had to hold on against Fred Scriba by three thousandths of a second.

“There were definitely no easy rounds. In the second round he cut a light on me and I knew that one was going to be close and then having the turbo car in the semifinals I knew I would have my hands full,” Lang said. “Every round was tough and then to have Ed again in the final, I knew he would throw everything at it and we were able to come out on top.”

Lang has been able to run away with the title thanks to his fifth victory over Hoover in seven tries – including two wins in final rounds.

In the quarterfinals Jensen put down the lap heard round the world at 5.954 seconds at 243.63 miles per hour in his supercharged Camaro in the quickest lap ever recorded in an IHRA Pro Mod to move on to the semis.

Lang survived his quarterfinal run against Freddie Scriba by three thousandths of a second to move on to the semifinals and Alfonso defeated Pete Farber and Hoover defeated Steve Bareman in other quarterfinal action.

There were few surprises in the opening round of Pro Modified as nearly all of the high qualifiers moved on to the quarters. The lone exception was a big upset by Alfonso who took out No. 2 qualifier Tony Pontieri. Hoover also squeaked out a win over the third qualifier Ike Maier.

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