Steph Papadakis raced to his second No. 1 qualifying position of the season in Pro RWD Saturday at the Lucas Oil NHRA Sport Compact Fallnationals presented by Toyo Tires at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.

The $2.1 million NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing Series continued its march toward the 2005 season finale at the 10th of 11 events. Marty Ladwig (Pro FWD), Justin Humphreys (Modified), Ron Lummus (Hot Rod) and Shawn Hillier (All Motor) all earned Sony Xplod top qualifier awards in their respective categories.

Temperate autumn temperatures helped push professional racers to near national record elapsed times and record-breaking paces in the Modified and All Motor classes. In addition to the quick pace, the points chases for two more championship categories came closer to being settled with the season finale at Pomona, Calif., only weeks away.

Papadakis, of Redondo Beach, Calif., kept his season championship hopes alive by driving the AEM Driver FX Honda Civic to a qualifying best performance of 6.545 seconds at 213.10 mph to lead all Pro RWD competitors.

Tripping the timing lights with an effort of 7.569 at 195.05, Ladwig led all competitors in the Pro FWD category behind the wheel of the GM Racing Chevy Cobalt for his fourth No. 1 qualifying award of the season. Ladwig, of San Antonio, is currently second in the Pro FWD season points chase.

“It feels great to have the car running at its potential again,” said Ladwig. “This year has been an R&D year, and we’re getting close to our goals now. Resetting both ends of the category championship is one of those goals and we think we can do it at Pomona, if not here tomorrow.”

Pro FWD category points leader Ed Bergenholtz can clinch the category championship, the first of his career, by taking the starting line in his Mazdaspeed Golden Eagle Mazda6 during tomorrow’s first round of eliminations.

Humphreys, of Mt. Airy, Md., reset both ends of the Modified category national record to lead the field with his fourth No. 1 qualifying award of the season and ended the day with a leading performance of 7.711 at 175.41. Piloting his RaceRedi Lexus GS300, Humphreys can surpass suspension-idled category points leader Paul Efantis during tomorrow’s elimination rounds and clinch the Modified category championship.

Garrett Turbo Pontiac Sunfire driver Lummus added to his No. 1 qualifier award total with a series-high seventh field-topping performance in the Turbo Magazine Hot Rod category. Lummus, who has already clinched the season championship on the strength of four event victories, drove to a 7.833 at 186.69 during the last round of qualifying.

“I’m really happy the team pulled it together,” relayed Lummus. “It wasn’t easy to figure out - especially after the second round. But the team put their heads together and got this Garrett Turbos Sunfire to go within one hundredth of the national record we set in Vegas. I’m really proud to be a part of this Bothwell team; Everybody on this team is passionate about what they do.”

With the All Motor points chase going down to the wire in a five-competitor horse race, third place points holder Hillier stepped up his bid by piloting his Skunk2 Acura RSX to a 9.705 at 139.33 during the last round of qualifying. In addition to topping all All Motor competitors for the fourth time this season, Hillier’s performance eclipses both ends of the current All Motor national record - 9.81 at 136.28 by Norris Prayoonto at Atco, N.J. (May 2005) and represents the quickest and fastest category marks to date.

“We brought what we said were going to bring,” said the Encino, Calif. resident. “E-town wasn’t nice to me that last few times we were here. So it’s nice that the track is starting to learn to respect me a little. We weren’t playing around - we brought the havoc.”

Hillier will need to record another performance within (NHRA-rules mandated) 1 percent of the pass tomorrow for both numbers to stand as national records.

Eliminations start Sunday at 11 a.m.

Saturday's qualifying results for the fourth annual Lucas Oil NHRA Sport Compact Fallnationals presented by Toyo Tires. The $150,000 race is the ninth of 10 events in the $2.1 million NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing Series.

PRO RWD

1. Stephan Papadakis, Redondo Beach, Calif., '03 Civic, 6.545 seconds, 213.10 mph
2. Matt Hartford, Phoenix, Ariz., '04 Cavalier, 6.674, 208.84
3. Brad Personett, Orlando, Fla., '05 Scion, 6.684, 214.04
4. Ed Marx, Bakersfield, Calif., '05 Celica, 6.778, 207.08
5. Matt Scranton, Land O Lakes, Fla., '04 Celica, 6.809, 204.82
6. Ara Arslanian, Cresskill, N.J., '02 Solara, 6.926, 197.10
7. Vinny Ten, Westbury, N.Y., '05 350Z, 7.062, 191.02
8. Manny Cruz, Bronx, N.Y., '87 RX7, 8.169, 144.12
9. Abel Ibarra, Riverside, Calif., '04 RX-8, 8.335, 198.09
10. Jose LeDuc, Patterson, N.J., '75 RX-3, 8.629, 119.60

PRO FWD

1. Marty Ladwig, San Antonio, Texas, '05 Cobalt, 7.569 seconds, 195.05 mph
2. Ed Bergenholtz, Santa Ana, Calif., '06 Mazda, 7.790, 187.13
3. Jason Hunt, Crofton, Md., '03 Ion, 8.186, 178.73
4. Shaun Carlson, Ontario, Calif., '03 SRT-4, 9.735, 90.93

MODIFIED

1. Justin Humphreys, Mount Airy, Md., '03 GS300, 7.715 seconds, 175.41 mph
2. Luis Corujo, Glendale, Md., '85 Corolla, 8.168, 159.02
3. Jose Mendez, Paterson, N.J., '80 Corolla, 8.575, 154.67
4. Jose Ramos Jr, Richmond Hill, N.Y., '81 Corolla, 9.082, 136.19
5. Dee Karagiannis, Glenwood, Md., '00 RX7, 9.529, 146.48
6. Ken Scheepers, Flower Mound, Texas, '05 RX8, 16.388, 74.60

HOT ROD

1. Ron Lummus, Anaheim, Calif., '05 Pontiac, 7.833 seconds, 186.69 mph
2. Gary Gardella, Howell, N.J., '05 Colbalt, 7.989, 176.42
3. Kenny Tran, Garland, Texas, '93 Honda, 8.280, 181.96
4. John Shepherd, North Lawerence, Ohio, '92 Talon, 8.717, 169.49
5. Paul Bhawan, Brampton, Ont., '92 Civic, 8.924, 164.67
6. Stephanie Eggum, Elgin, Ill., '00 Acura, 8.962, 169.06
7. Mike Crawford, Eden, N.C., '04 SRT-4, 19.188, 76.76

ALL MOTOR

1. Shawn Hillier, Encino, Calif., '04 RSX, 9.705 seconds, 139.33 mph
2. Jesus Padilla, Kissimmee, Fla., '85 RX7, 9.851, 133.41
3. ) Norris Prayoonto, Springfield, Va., '04 Honda, 9.956, 133.16
4. Saul Salceda, Gardena, Calif., '00 Acura, 10.041, 132.27
5. Tony Shagday, Newark, Calif., '04 RSX, 10.082, 132.21
6. Scott Kelley, Anaheim, Calif., '69 Fastback, 10.293, 130.00
7. Lisa Feeheley, Millersville, Md., '89 Honda, 10.674, 125.99
8. Scott Mohler, Fredrick, Md., '05 Neon SRT, 10.692, 124.18
9. Vince Tiaga, Santa Ana, Calif., '05 Mazda, 10.780, 130.40
10. Thomas Borgia, Wappingers Falls, N.Y., '67 VW, 11.701, 111.94