The bottle rockets were flying on Thursday during Day One qualifying for the No Mercy 9 drag radial event at South Georgia Motorsports Park in Valdosta, Ga. The nitrous-injected cars accounted for the top two spots after three sessions.

Despite not yet running his nitrous-boosted '69 Camaro out the back door at No Mercy 9, Houston, Tex.-based Naiser led the way through all three rounds of Radial vs. the World (RvW) qualifying on Thursday at South Georgia Motorsports Park. 
His 3.84 at 182.01 mph from the opening session held up as number one through Q2, and despite shutting down early in the evening session, Naiser improved to 3.76 at 190.35 to lead 36 entries vying for a spot in the 32-car RvW field.

"We would've gone all the way last night," Naiser said. "But it laid over, so I shut it off."

It led to a late night in the Naiser pit, where the team discovered a damaged piston and opted to tear the Naiser Racing Components 954 cubic incher all the way down to a bare block.

"After we discovered one bad hole, we took every piston out to take a look so we didn't have to do it all over again today. But we've got a back-up motor, too, just in case we need it."

Running in the No. 2 provisional position was Jamie Hancock, who stopped the timers with a 3.787, 196.36 miles per hour.

Fox-bodied Mustang superstar Marty Stinnett made a quantum leap into the third spot with a 3.791 elapsed time at 202.48 miles per hour.

Sweet Sixteen champion Mark Micke was fourth with a 3.795, 211.63.

Shane Fisher topped the X275 division, recording a 4.428 elapsed time at 173.99 miles per hour. Former Pro Modified headhunter Thomas Patterson anchors the field with a 5.47. There are 39 cars in competition this weekend.

Other low qualifiers included Daniel Pharris (Limited Drag Radial), Rodney Ragen (Ultra Street), Jason Anderson (DXP 235), and Don Lamana (PRO 275).

Friday qualifying begins at 10 AM, picking up with Ultra Street, with each category expected to receive three more qualifying sessions.