Brett LaSala, Eric LaFerriere and Rolando Resto Lead Winners List From 25th Annual TX2K at Texas Motorplex
After six days of racing, weather and personal best for more than just a few drivers, the 25th anniversary of TX2K is in the books, and champions have been crowned in the thirteen drag racing classes, as well as four roll racing classes.
The event, which started as an add-on to a test and tune race at Houston Raceway Park in 2000 (hence the ‘2K’ part of the event name), has become an annual proving ground to see where the mark stands in a multitude of classes, as well as engine platforms.
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Drag Racing
The drag racing segment of the event features several class ideas, broken up by engine platforms, transmissions or body style, but we have a heartfelt connection to the ‘Street Car’ classes. Broken up into four fields of sixteen cars each based on qualifying times, the top sixteen landed in the Elite class.
The quickest time and best speed was held from the very first qualifying session by two-time Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive champion Brett LaSala, putting down a 6.46 at 226 mph shot with his ‘Snot Rocket 2.0’ 2012 Ford Mustang, and Jordan Martin anchored the top field with a 7.57 pass.
LaSala rode a trio of 6-second passes, the best being a 6.47 in the semifinal round, to earn a final round spot opposite fellow Floridian and Mustang drive Jon Lund. Lund had qualified third with a 6.73 at 208 mph, and also clocked a 6-second pass in each round to reach the final, including a personal-best 6.65 in the semifinal round.
The title bout had Lund getting a slight holeshot over LaSala, but Snot Rocket would ring up a 6.38 at 222 mph to get the win over the 6.68 at 209 mph from Lund.
The second-quickest class in Street Car is Street Car Pro, would be led in qualifying by Texas resident Boyd Bumbera with a 7.61 from his 2018 Mustang, and anchored by the 7.86 from Chad Cates and his ’91 Corvette.
But neither racer would make it past round two; instead it would be Marlin Istre and his ’88 Mustang versus Charles Sidote’s 2017 Mustang in the final round. At the drop of the Christmas tree, Sidote had problems right off the starting line, while Istre made his best pass of the event, a 7.42 at 179 mph to collect the class win.
The third class under the Street Car umbrella is the Street Car Champ class, and Stacy Barnett qualified on top with a 7.87 at 172.90, while Ryan Weger anchored the field with an 8.37 at 161 mph.
The wheelstanding ’98 Camaro of James Schauer qualified at 8.10, but stepped up his games in eliminations with a trio of 7-second passes, his semifinal round 7.68 being the best, to make the final.
On the opposite would be a fellow drag-and-drive runner, Kyle Williams and his ’95 Mustang. Williams hurt his 5.3-liter based LS in qualifying, but found a fresh 383 short block at Thompson Motorsports, got it installed, and ran his first two 7-second passes managed to make it to the final round.
In the finals, the pair left with identical reaction times, and the finish was a close one, with the 7.73 of Schauer just nosing out the 7.77 from Williams to get the win.
The final Street Car class is the Sport class, led by Stacy Barnett’s Mustang with an 8.40 at 160 mph. The final would feature an all-Mustang battle, the third of four classes, between number three qualifier Charles Wilson’s ’89 Fox Mustang and number five qualifier Logan Day’s 2019 Mustang.
The final found Day jumping out to nearly a tenth of-a-second holeshot, but as the pair worked their way down the race track, Wilson was chewing away at the lead. At the finish line, the margin was just four hundredths of-a-second, with Wilson’s 8.21 edging out the 8.38 from Day.
The Stick Shift class was set to be a battleground from the word go, with the top three quickest stick shift vehicles in the world: Nick Cole-Mann, Joel Grannas and Jonathan Atkins. Two of the three qualified in the 6-second zone, with Cole-Mann on top at 6.81 at 212 mph. Atkins was second with a 6.84 at 214 mph, and Ryan Pederson third with a 6.99 at 199 mph.
Rarely does the eliminations ladder work where the number one and two qualifiers both reach the final round, but that would be the case here.
Cole-Mann and Atkins lined up in qualifying to produce the side-by-side 6.8-second passes they qualified with, and the anticipation was high for another epic battle. But it was all over at the starting line, when Cole-Mann lit the red light by a mere thousandth of-a-second, handing Atkins the win.
The 2JZ class, based around the iconic engine and a 2900-pound minimum weight with the driver onboard. A trio of cars invaded the 6-second range, with heads-up veteran Eric LaFerriere rising to the top with a 6.40 at 229 mph to qualify number one.
Avninder Khangura put his Supra second thanks to a 6.59 at 218 mph blast, and the ‘Dirty Taco’ Toyota pick-up of Jose Jimenez Jr. snagged third with a 6.76 at 211 mph.
Similar to the Stick Shift class, the top two qualifiers made their way to the final stanza, and LaFerriere would leave no doubt he ruled the 2JZ roost, leaving the starting line first and rocketing to a 6.41 at 225 mph to earn victory, while Khangura slowed with problems.
The largest class at the event, DCT (Dual Clutch Transmission), is broken up into multiple sections based on performance. The top class is DCT Elite, and the quickest time belonged to Ricky Crossley with a 7.54 at 197 mph from his 2020 Audi R8.
That lined him up with number sixteen qualifier Ken Puzniak round one, and the upset occurred with an 8.02 got the win for Puzniak.
Number two qualifier Marcelo Duran wouldn’t fall into the upset pitfall, illuminating three win lights to stage the GT-R in the final round against ninth qualifier Alexander Rodriguez’s Audi R8.
At the start it was only separated by a couple hundredths of-a-second, but by halftrack Duran was ahead by a bunch when Rodriguez had problems, and a 7.67 pass locked up the win for Duran.
The second-quickest DCT class is the Pro class, and the top qualifier here would be Joe Ahumada in a 2018 Audi R8. His 7.97 at 189 mph earned him a date with Sana Dadabhoy’s GT-R in round one, and the sixteenth qualifier upset the top qualifier via a huge holeshot, 8.41 prevailing over the 7.87 from Ahumada.
Dadabhoy survived to the semifinal round before a red light ended her day opposite Tommy Kim, who would stage his 2017 Audi R8 in the finals against Patrick Chui and his Texas-based GT-R. At the flash of green, Chui jumped out to a lead he’d never relinquish, getting the win with an 8.31 over the 10-second pass of Kim.
The third and final DCT class is the Champ section, and Becca Marso completed the trifecta of Audis atop the DCT qualifying sheet, posting an 8.77 at 154 mph.
She would avoid the upsets that hit the other two DCT classes, landing a spot in the final round against Mark Cyrus Jr. in his 2021 McLaren. The start found the two leaving the line almost together, but Becca would stretch out a lead Cyrus couldn’t erase, giving Becca an 8.92 to 9.32 victory.
The Heavyweight class brought out the hefty rides, but also some impressive performances, with Zdung Ho’s 2016 Dodge Charger clocking a 7.56 at 181 mph to qualify number one.
He improved on that in the semifinal round to a 7.488 at 184 mph to snatch world record for quickest Charger, earning him a spot in the finals against fellow Mopar runner and Texas resident Casey Hoong.
Ho staged last, and when the car moved from the staging beams, it meant a red light glowing on the Christmas Tree, giving Hoong a single where he recorded his third-straight 8.12 pass to secure the victory.
The iconic GT-R gets a pair of classes to participate in at TX2K, the quicker being the GT-R Unlimited class. Half the field qualified in the 6-second range, with George Dodworth getting the top spot with a 6.74 at 223 mph from his 2009 GT-R model.
He improved on that number with a 6.62 at 228 mph in round one, and a 6.63 at 231 mph in round two to earn a final round appearance opposite number three qualifier Clay Kehrer, who was fresh from a 6.78 at 216 mph semifinal pass.
The final found Kehrer jumping out to a sizable holeshot lead, but problems slowed him and allowed Dodworth to come around and score victory with a coasting 8.09 lap.
The second GT-R based class, the GT-R 68, requires a 3550-pound minimum weight, and no larger than a 68-millimeter turbocharger. David Rohrschneider showed he mastered those restrictions better than the rest, as the only car to run a 6-second pass in qualifying, with his 6.89 at 212 mph blast claiming the top spot by over a quarter of-a-second.
Rohrschneider added three more 6-second passes, including back-to-back 6.86 passes in rounds two and three to stage in the final opposite Marcelo Duran, the number three qualifier.
Rohrschneider left the starting line first in the final round, but the car made a move to the center line, and while Rohrschneider corrected, Duran was straight and true to the finish line, crossing first with his best run of the event, a 7.02 at 210 mph to deny Rohrschneider’s 7.43 at 198 mph effort.
The A90 class, based around the shared components between the Mark five Supra and the BMW, last staged as a class at FL2K with low 8-second performances. But by TX2K, four cars had clocked a 7-second pass during qualifying, with Mikey Botti’s Massachusetts-based 2020 Toyota Supra the best of the bunch with a 7.82 at 180 mph run for the top spot.
The 16-car field would require an 8.933 to get in, and that time slip belonged to John Visconti. The lone 7-second car to survive to the final round would be Justin Lazarus, and Knole Mitchell would provide competition for the final battle in the class.
Lazarus got the holeshot in the title bout, but stumbled just past the starting line, giving Mitchell a lead he would not give up, scoring an 8.13 to 8.64 victory.
Roll Racing
TX2K also hosts roll racing, and gets a healthy turnout for it. The event has seen some solid performances, including 2023 Elite winner Billy Sitaras nailing a 237 mph blast.
For 2024, many wondered if the move to Texas Motorplex would have a positive reflection in performance. By the end of qualifying, the answer was a resounding yes, as 27 cars made a legal lap above 200 mph (the previous record for a single event was seven).
This meant BOTH the Elite 8 class and the sixteen-car Unlimited class would require a run above 200 mph to get in, a first for TX2K.
In total, 56 cars would get the chance to play in eliminations, but you needed a lap of 188.08 mph or better to do so. Robert Werner’s 2010 GT-R held the bump spot, and Billy Sitaras would top the field courtesy of his 225.95 mph qualifying lap.
The Elite 8 class was anchored by Yandy Marrero’s 208.94 mph blast, earning him a date with Sitaras in round one, and although he improved to a 213 mph run, Sitaras laid out a 229 mph shot to take the win.
Sitaras unfortunately could not make the call for the semifinals, which gave Rolando Resto a single to the final round where he’d face number two qualifier Marcelo Duran.
The GT-R had dispatched Frederico Gregory’s Audi R8 and the 3000 horsepower Viper of Aaron Miller to earn his final round slot, but Duran had problems just after the start, giving Resto’s 219 mph run from his 2015 Lamborghini the win for Elite 8.
The next 16-car class would be the Unlimited class, and a record-field full of 200 mph cars had Tyler Mixon’s 2022 Lamborghini was the best of the bunch at 208.86 mph. Mixon would fall in round one at the hands of Sebastian Robles, who would then be defeated by Nick Booth’s 2018 Lamborghini in round two.
Booth dispatched fellow Lamborghini owner Sandy Murany in the semifinal round to earn a final round berth opposite number two qualifier Ricky Crossley, who guided his Audi R8 through three rounds of competition with a best speed of 201 mph.
But in the final, Booth had problems early, and Crossley show he was ready with a 212.48 mph blast from his green 2020 Audi R8 to capture the class trophy.
The Super Sport class had 16 cars within 4-1/2 mph in qualifying, with Chris Bixler on top of the sheet with his Audi R8 clocking a 200.37 mph blast. Bixler survived to round two, where a side-by-side 200 mph-plus battle ensued with Ken Puzniak, with Puzniak getting the win via his 205.07 mph run over the 200.20 mph run of Bixler.
Puzniak’s 2020 Audi R8 survived to the final round to face Joseph Santos, the first Porsche to make a final round in TX2K history.
At the finish line, Santos and his Porsche arrived first, but his 207.97 mph run would be disqualified for being faster than the 205.37 break out speed (top qualifier speed of 200.37 mph plus 5 mph), swinging the win to Puzniak.
The final class in roll racing is the Sport class, with Manny Costales at the helm thanks to a 195.76 mph result, and the sixteenth spot earned by Robert Werner’s 188.08 mph, a new record bump spot speed for TX2K.
Costales would be the lone number one qualifier in roll racing to survive to the final round, and his 2020 Lamborghini would be met there by Aaron Kramer and his 2017 GT-R.
Based on their semifinal round results, the cars were separated by just 1 mph, so the final round was anyone’s guess as to who would win. At the green Costales jumped in front, and stayed there for the duration to get the final win light at 195.93 mph over Kramer’s 191.49 mph effort.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Motion Raceworks and Sean Chartier Media.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com