The annual IHRA Nitro Jam Palm Beach Nationals Presented By Sunoco Race Fuels concluded tonight at Palm Beach International Raceway in Jupiter, Florida.

Pro-category winners included:Florida’s Jimmy Keen (Crower Pro Mod), Mike McIntire Jr. (AMSOIL Nitro Funny Car Presented By Aeromotive), John Montecalvo (U.S. Bounty Hunters Pro Stock), Jay Turner (Nitro Harley) and Marisha Falk (Jet Dragster).

Keen, of Parish, Florida, defeated Dina Parise in the first round of Crower Pro Mod eliminations, then topped Bill Lutz in the semi-final to face Bradenton Nitro Jam winner Isaias Rojas. Rojas’ 2006 Cobalt suffered mechanical failure at the starting line and Keen singled for the win.

“I want to thank IHRA for bringing Pro Mod back,” said Keen. “We appreciate PBIR for having a good track to race on.  It was a hot day. Making runs all day, we’re happy for the win. The air was not good but there’s nothing you can do about it. We just kept making adjustments. We finally got it worked out for the final and it worked pretty good.”

John Montecalvo dispatched Kevin Bealko and Trevor Eman in order to face Matt Bertsch in the U.S. Bounty Hunters Pro Stock final. Montecalvo posted a slightly better reaction time and reached the finish line first at just over 222 miles per hour.  Montecalvo traveled back to New York State after winning the Bradenton Nitro Jam to tend to his paving business and then flew to West Palm Beach for this weekend’s contest.

“Two for two! It’s unbelievable to win back to back,” Montecalvo exclaimed. “It’s hard enough to win one race, but to win back to back, it just takes a tremendous amount of focus, a tremendous amount of focus from the team. We’re gonna ride this thing out.”

Montecalvo was asked which was more difficult, winning tonight or capturing the victory last week.

“I think, really, last week.  We haven’t raced in IHRA since 2009 when we won the world championship. We were still adjusting to running the quarter mile. It just felt so good to get that win.  Getting that one out of the way made this one a little bit easier. It built confidence. It built momentum. That goes a long way.”

Mike McIntire Jr. and his tangerine-hued Camaro have become regular visitors to IHRA Nitro Jam victory lane. McIntire talked about his father, who recently underwent heart surgery and did not make the trip to Palm Beach.

“My dad wasn’t here this weekend but he was watching the live TV feed,” said McIntire. “He was pretty jacked up. I called him right away and the emotions were flying and he’s getting yelled at by nurses to relax. Everybody’s happy. He’s very proud. We worked our tails off for him. We said last week was for him but this was ‘way more important to get this for him.

“It was nice having more than eight cars. It brings out the competition. It steps everybody’s games up. It was a good weekend.”

With the next Nitro Jam race nearly a month away, McIntire was asked what he planned to do with his so-called down time.

“We’ve been through two races and we’ve got a lot to freshen up,” McIntire explained. “We’re going to work really hard so we can come out at Cordova and keep this streak going.”

Jay Turner defeated Bradenton bike winner Randal Andras in the first round of Nitro Harley eliminations. He took on Alvin Kobernusz in the semi-final and took out fellow North Carolinian Tracy Kile in the final round.

“It was a good win. We ran good first round and then we struggled. The air got really bad. The track was tight. We’re really happy to come down here. We have a lot of friends and family here so it feels like our second home track.

“We’re looking for some time off, and getting caught up on some parts. We’re going to build another bike. We’re gonna build Lucky Seven. “

Marisha Falk scored her first Jet Dragster victory of the 2015 campaign over a five-car field.

“It’s been a long road for us in the Applied Racing Components Jet Dragster but we finally took our first win here at West Palm. It was a tough weekend and we were worried coming in but Mikey and Brian took apart the entire engine. We’ve been having trouble all season. We’ve been qualifying low and we knew with the five-car field that we were going to have to qualify in the top four. We took Kat (Moller) out in the first round with the hole shot and took Elaine with the red light.”

U.S. Bounty Hunters Pro Stock driver Cale Aronson crashed while competing against Matt Bertsch in the second round of eliminations. He was transported to a local hospital for evaluation.

FINAL-ROUND ELIMINATIONS, INDICATING DRIVER/RIDER, HOMETOWN, VEHICLE, REACTION TIME, ELAPSED TIME AND TOP SPEED:

CROWER PRO MOD

Winner: Jimmy Keen (Parrish, Florida) 1963 Corvette  .071  6.330 sec./166.37 mph

Runner-up: Isaias Rojas (San Juan, Puerto Rico) 2006 Cobalt  broke

U.S. BOUNTY HUNTERS PRO STOCK

Winner: John Montecalvo (Center Moriches, New York) 2014 Camaro  .038  6.317 sec./222.91 mph

Runner-up: Matt Bertsch (Tecumseh, Michigan) 2007 Mustang  .043  6.366 sec./220.30 mph

NITRO HARLEY

Winner: Jay Turner (Julian, North Carolina) .059  6.926  201.07 mph

Runner-up: Tracy Kile (Asheville, North Carolina) .082  8.128 sec./200.53 mph

JET DRAGSTERS

Winner: Marisha Falk (Port Orange, Florida) .158  5.862 sec./272.61 mph

Runner-up: Elaine Larsen (West Melbourne, Florida) -.031 (foul)  5.876 sec./273.77 mph

AMSOIL NITRO FUNNY CAR PRESENTED BY AEROMOTIVE

Winner: Mike McIntire Jr. (Mentor, Ohio) 1970 Camaro “McAttack” .085  5.940 sec./108.33 mph

Runner-up: Mike Smith (Boynton Beach, Florida) 1975 Vega “Jungle Jim” .132  12.672 sec./64.57 mph

IHRA NITRO JAM PALM BEACH NATIONALS PRESENTED BY SUNOCO RACE FUELS FINAL QUALIFYING RESULTS

CROWER PRO MOD

1.     Isaias Rojas (San Juan, Puerto Rico) 2006 Cobalt 5.983 sec./239.06 mph
2.     Jimmy Keen (Parrish, Florida) 1963 Corvette 6.030 sec./236.01 mph
3.     Ruben Tetsoshvili (Wesley Chapel, Florida) 6.177 sec./227.00 mph
4.     Bill Lutz (Canal Winchester, Ohio) Camaro 6.285 sec./233.12 mph
5.     Dina Parise (New Freedom, Pennsylvania) 6.442 sec./213.30 mph
6.     Mike Pruss (West Palm Beach, Florida) 1951 Chevrolet 7.434 sec./132.31 mph

AMSOIL NITRO FUNNY CAR PRESENTED BY AEROMOTIVE

1.     Jason Rupert (Yorba Linda, California) 1969 Camaro “Black Plague” 5.669 sec./258.42 mph
2.     Mike Smith (Boynton Beach, Florida) 1975 Vega “Jungle Jim” (red car) 5.723 sec./249.58 mph
3.     Paul Romine (Fishers, Indiana) 1979 Mustang “Man O’ War” 5.741 sec./248.93 mph
4.     Mike McIntire Jr. (Mentor, Ohio) 1970 Camaro “McAttack” 5.753 sec./252.99 mph
5.     Steve Nichols (Newark, Delaware) 1970 Camaro 5.835 sec./241.93 mph
6.     Mark Sanders (Maple Valley, Washington) 1970 Mustang “Mr. Explosive” 5.840 sec./246.71 mph
7.     Bruce Litton (Indianapolis, Indiana) 1974 Vega “U.S. Male” 6.057 sec./220.94 mph
8.     Rick Krafft (Chesterton, Indiana) Chesterton, Indiana) 1974 Vega “Jungle Jim” (blue car) 6.927 sec./132.70 mph

Did not qualify:

Tim Boychuk (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) 1977 Trans-Am “Hawaiian”

Jordan Pawlick (Alberta, Canada) Plymouth Duster

U.S. BOUNTY HUNTERS PRO STOCK

1.     John Montecalvo (Speonk, New York) 2013 Camaro 6.252 sec./223.99 mph
2.     Cary Goforth (Holdenville, Oklahoma) 2013 Camaro 6.3008 sec./222.29 mph
3.     Dean Goforth (Holdenville, Oklahoma) 2014 Camaro 6.342 sec./212.56 mph
4.     Trevor Eman (Pos Chiquito, Aruba) 2011 Mustang 6.343 sec.//221.27 mph
5.     R. Carr (Pasco, Washington) 2015 Camaro 6.352 sec./219.04 mph
6.     Cale Aronson (Chillicothe, Missouri) 2010 Mustang 6.356 sec./221.20 mph
7.     Matt Bertsch (Tecumseh, Michigan) 2007 Mustang 6.388 sec./219.90 mph
8.     Kevin Bealko (Bridgeport, West Virginia) 2013 Camaro 395 sec./221.23 mph.

Did not qualify:

John Konigshofer (Otterville, Ontario, Canada) 2013 Mustang 6.399 sec./220.73 mph

John Pluchino (Commack, New York) 2006 Escort 6.401 sec./219.12 mph

John DeFlorian Jr. (Arnold, Missouri) 2015 Camaro 6.404 sec./214.01 mph

Scott Hintz (Odessa, Texas) 2013 Mustang 10.118 sec./110.80 mph

NITRO HARLEY

1.     Rickey House (Humble, Texas) 6.334 sec./217.77 mph
2.     Tii Tharpe (East Bend, North Carolina) 6.409 sec./215.48 mph
3.     Tracy Kile (Asheville, North Carolina) 6.434 sec./211.43 mph
4.     Jay Turner (Julian, North Carolina) 6.464 sec./211.46 mph
5.     Randal Andras (Amelia, Louisiana) 6.505 sec./216.76 mph
6.     Jim Fagan (Valley City, Ohio) 6.731 sec./199.40 mph
7.     Larry “Drums” Brancaccio (Nutley, New Jersey) 6.781 sec./206.80 mph
8.     Alvin Kobernusz (Manly, Iowa) 6.782 sec./203.12 mph

Did not qualify:

Lyle Newton (Naniamo, British Columbia, Canada) 7.339 sec./00.00 mph

Chris Streeter (Cleveland, Ohio) 9.041 sec./108.55 mph

JET DRAGSTER

1.     Katarina Moller (Osprey, Florida) 5.719 sec./280.49 mph
2.     Elaine Larsen (West Melbourne, Florida) 5.842 sec./271.30 mph
3.     Allison West (Coral Springs, Florida) 5.877 sec./272.94 mph
4.     Marisha Falk (Port Orange, Florida) 5.991 sec./271.46 mph

Did not qualify:

Shea Holbrook (Groveland, Florida) 6.065 sec./264.23 mph

NEXT IHRA NITRO JAM DRAG RACING SERIES EVENT:

May 29-30 — IHRA Nitro Jam Summer Nationals, Cordova International Raceway – Cordova, Illinois

Nitro Jam classes include: Crower Pro Mod, AMSOIL Nitro Funny Car, U.S. Bounty Hunters Pro Stock, Nitro Harley-Davidson, Jet Dragster.