Water from the sky and the ground attempted to prevent Friday qualifying action at the Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) Sunshine State Shootout presented by Mel Bush Motorsports, but the PDRA track crew fought back to allow the stars of the all-eighth-mile series to record some of the quickest elapsed times of the season.

After two sessions of qualifying at Bradenton Motorsports Park, Jason Scruggs (NAS Racing Pro Extreme), Tommy Franklin (Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous presented by MoTeC), John Strickland (GALOT Motorsports Park Pro Boost), and Chris Garner-Jones (Drag 965 Pro Extreme Motorcycle) lead the fields in the professional classes.
 
In the PDRA’s sportsman classes, Billy Albert leads the field in Ronnie Davis Top Sportsman presented by MagnaFuel, and Paul Daigrepont tops the Lucas Oil Top Dragster list. South Carolina’s Hailey Hawkins is the provisional number one qualifier in Talbert Pro Junior Dragster with her 7.903 et, while local racer Jason Stewart used a .006 reaction time to top the field in MegaCorp Top Junior Dragster.
 
Palm Beach racer Troy Blake’s 4.45 at 162.71 mph is the current best performance in Outlaw 632, a locally popular class that is joining the PDRA’s touring regulars for this race. All but two drivers on the 24-car qualifying order hail from the Sunshine State.

FRIDAY QUALIFYING