NHRA News: Castellana wins Chicago's NHRA AMS Pro Mod Challenge (5/24/2004)

Castellana wins Chicago's NHRA AMS Pro Mod Challenge

5/24/2004

With a quick reaction time, Mike Castellana defeated No. 1 qualifier Fred Hahn to take the title of the NHRA AMS Staff Leasing Pro Mod Challenge at Route 66 Raceway.

"Shannon Jenkins (teammate and crew chief) made the right calls all weekend," Castellana said. "We did what we had to do to put this Western Beef/Speedtech Camaro in the winner's circle. Winning's always good and this one was no exception."

Castellana, from Westbury, N.Y., drove his Western Beef nitrous Camaro past Al Billes and a red-lighting Mike Ashley to reach the final.

"I saw that big red bulb as I went pass the (Christmas) Ttree," Castellana said about his match-up with Ashley, "so I let off to save parts and not do anything stupid with the car."

This was Castellana's second career win on the NHRA AMS Staff Leasing Pro Mod Challenge. His only other win came in 2003 at St. Louis.

This one was over early as Castellana gained a substantial advantage at the light and went on to record a 6.227 second elapsed time to Hahn's 6.287-second effort.

En route to the final round, Hahn, in a supercharged Corvette, defeated Von Smith with a 6.185, which was low elapsed time of the event. He also beat Zach Barklage on a holeshot. This was the second consecutive final round appearance for the West Seneca, N.Y., native.

Barklage recorded the top speed of the weekend, a 230.72 mph run, in a first round win over Thomas Patterson.

The next event for the NHRA AMS Staff Leasing Pro Mod Challenge will be contested June 17-20 at the NHRA K&N Filters Supernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J.

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