Coker Claims Lufkin Victory
Clinches 2015 SWJFA Championship
Pine Valley Raceway - Lufkin, TX

The final event of the 2015 SWJFA season brought the series to Pine Valley Raceway in Lufkin, Texas for a quarter mile showdown and race for the Championship. Entering the event, Mike Millsap held a slim 15 point lead over two time defending series Champion Odie Coker. Both cars were in the house in Lufkin ready to battle it out as six cars prepared for two qualifying sessions, every available point critical for Millsap and Coker.

(Mike Millsap)

(Odie Coker)

Coker showed no mercy in his attempt to regain the lead in the standings with a stellar 7.21 at 183 mph shot, which qualified him number one for the third time this season. Brian Briggs made his first series appearance of the year in his Louisiana based entry and posted a nice 7.33 at 184 mph to secure the number two spot. Mike Millsap's 7.37 at 180 mph rounded out the top half of the field with Ron Muncy, Mike Buchanan and Bill Tumlinson picking up the bottom half heading into eliminations.

(Mike Buchanan)

Final Qualifying Order:

Final Qualifying Order:
1. Odie Coker - 7.21 @ 183
2. Brian Briggs - 7.33 @ 184
3. Mike Millsap - 7.37 @ 180
4. Ron Muncy - 7.47 @ 177
5. Mike Buchanan - 7.50 @ 175
6. Bill Tumlinson - 8.61 @ 163

Eliminations:

First round kicked off with Tumlinson taking on Millsap and what an upset as Tumlinson used a starting line advantage and 7.91 at 164 mph to knock out Millsap's quicker but loosing 7.81 at 168 mph. Briggs moved into the semi-finals with a 7.36 at 184 mph defeating Buchanan's 7.70 at 148 mph and Coker posted a 7.23 at 182 mph in a must win round to take out Muncy's 7.49 at 176 mph. Coker had gained seven points by this time, closing the Millsap points lead to eight points.

(Ron Muncy)

First Round Results

(W) Bill Tumlinson (.083 rt) 7.91 @ 164 vs. (L) Mike Millsap (.266 rt) 7.81 @ 168
(W) Brian Briggs (.083 rt) 7.36 @ 184 vs. (L) Mike Buchanan (.040 rt) 7.70 @ 148
(W) Odie Coker (.032 rt) 7.23 @ 182 vs. (L) Ron Muncy (.010 rt) 7.49 @ 176

Semi-final round action brought Briggs to the line to take on Tumlinson. Tumlinson's car lost fire after the burnout while Briggs soloed to a 7.36 at 182 mph and was final round bound. Coker benefitted from the bye run and his 7.27 at 181 mph win was enough to assume the points lead and officially be crowned 2015 SWJFA Champion. All that was left to do now was cap off his season with a win at the last event, but to do that he'd have to defeat number two qualifier Briggs in the last dance of the season.

Semi-Final Results

(W) Brian Briggs (.176 rt) 7.36 @ 182 vs. (L) Bill Tumlinson (No Time)
(W) Odie Coker (.079 rt) 7.27 @ 181 vs. (BYE)

(Brian Briggs)

In the final, the cars crept to the line as Coker and Briggs focused on the staging process and prepared for their final blast down the quarter mile this year. Coker took the jump off the line and immediately Briggs blew the tires off and had the best seat in the house to watch Coker take the win light with a 7.56 at 176 mph in the Ron Ussery owned and tuned Hemi powered dragster.

Final Round Results

(W) Odie Coker (.035 rt) 7.56 @ 176 vs. (L) Brian Briggs (.107 rt) 9.88 @ 80

(Brian Briggs - Runner Up)

(Odie Coker - Winner)

It was an intense fight to the top for the team of Ussery and Coker who pulled off the come from behind title run in Lufkin and capped it off with the win to close the season, their third event win of the year. Congratulations to the entire crew on their third straight SWJFA title. That's a wrap on 2015 and the SWJFA series would like to thank Lubrication Engineers Inc, Hilborn Fuel Injection, Hayden Enterprises and Champion Spark Plugs for their support of this year's racing season.