For Immediate Release: Peoria, AZ.

Rookie Hughes Performance Pro Street racer Steve Paulauskis was on a roll at the PSCA event at The Strip at Las Vegas Motors Speedway. In the rescheduled Mickey Thompson Tires Winter Nationals Paulauskis advanced easily through the field before meeting up with arch rival Ed Thornton in the semi-finals. In a battle of the black cars Thornton took a small starting line advantage and never gave it up winning with a 6.575 to a 6.584 for a MOV of .0116. Thornton then went on to win the event. Determined not to lose ground in the championship battle Paulauskis then went into qualifying for the Deeds Performance Las Vegas Nationals and took the top qualifying spot for the third time this year. Against stiff opposition from multi time champion Ed Thornton, Paulauskis and the WFO Motorsport team waited until the sun went down early Saturday evening before uncorking a 6.539 @ 214.48 to claim the pole. An excited Paulauskis had this to say when interviewed after the run. “This is amazing, we came into Pro Street hoping to be close to the front runners, the fact we can now run with the likes of Ed Thornton and the Extreme Speed team is all down to my fantastic crew. Kelly and Deb of WFO Racing and Machine and Larry Larson of Larson Race Cars make my job easy. I just point the thing where they put me. Hopefully it will be two black cars in the final and may the best man win. The fans are in for a big treat Sunday afternoon.”

He was not wrong! The two black cars were again lined up against each other for their second PSCA final of the year. Thornton had dodged a bullet in the first round when a blown turbo seal and the resultant 8.516 second pass meant nothing when Randy Walker had already gone red. Paulauskis showed he was serious in the semis against Mary Baltzell by going .000 to win 6.759 to Baltzell’s 6.841. So it all came down to the final, late model versus shoebox, rookie versus three time champion. And what a final it was! The WFO Cavalier was out of the hole first but only by .003. At the stripe it was a hard charging Thornton who had the fans gasping at the mph numbers on the scoreboard, a 228.73 but the win light was on for the man from Peoria, AZ. Paulauskis had done the impossible, he held back an on form Thornton and taken his second win of the year. The E.T.s? 6.515 to Thornton 6.513 for a MOV of .012 which Extreme Speed crew chief Shane Tecklenburg worked out to be an amazing .250 of an inch. Paulauskis was even more excited than when he gained his third pole, “What a race! Neither Ed or I could tell who had won. I have to give all the credit to my crew, what a job they did and what about that 228 from the Extreme Speed team! That was a race and a half! Like Ed when he won yesterday I would like to dedicate the win to LVMS employee Nik Bezwerchyj who passed away recently.”

If this weekend is any indication of how close the Hughes Performance Pro Street wars will be, the fans of the PSCA are going to have a great year.

Paulauskis and the WFO Motorsport team would like to thank WFO Racing & Machine, Larson Race Cars, Details Landscape, SI Valves, Airea5150 Inc.