The third time truly proved the charm for Pro Modified ace Kenny Lang Sunday evening as Lang drove to his third straight final round, finally making it pay off with a win over Ed Hoover during final eliminations at the Sooner Nationals at Tulsa Raceway Park.

Lang ran a 6.119 elapsed time at 233.56 miles per hour to get around Hoover (Gilbert, S.C.) who ran a 6.132 E.T. at 237.05 mph as Lang claimed his fourth career win and extended his points lead to 29 points over Hoover.

"We struggled early this weekend, but making it to the finals was the first step and getting around Ed was big for us," Lang said.

And the closeness of the contest made the win even that much more exciting for Lang.

"I knew the lights were going to be close and I had to be ready for that and then the car nosed over on me at about 1,000 feet," Lang said. "I didn’t see Ed at that point, but as soon as it started to nose over Ed pulled up beside me and foot by foot he started to gain on me. Going through the lights I honestly could not tell if I had him."

And what a victory it was for the Grande Pointe, Manitoba resident.

After losing in the first round of the season opener in Baton Rouge, Lang made the finals of the next two races at Rockingham and Dallas, but fell in both appearances to first time winners Tim Tindle and Chris Russo.

Sunday, Lang put his troubles behind him and returned to victory lane.

"It just seems like the last couple races we have had some stuff break which is very uncharacteristic of the car," Lang said. "We haven’t been getting our stuff together until later in the weekend. We seem to struggle early, but lap by lap I get a hand on it.

"That is the way it worked in Dallas and that is the way it worked here. It isn’t planned, but that is the way it has been working out. And today, it definitely came around for us."

Lang reached his third straight final by doing exactly what he does best – save it all for the end.

Lang qualified in the bottom half of the field last week in Dallas, but turned it on during eliminations and did it again on Sunday, knocking off No. 1 qualifier Taylor Lastor to reach the final round.

Lang absolutely destroyed Lastor at the tree with a .14 second reaction time and took the win light with a 6.06 E.T. to Lastor’s 6.10.

Kenny Lang

Hoover easily reached his first final of the year when Senft went red. Hoover ran a 6.11 at 229.74 miles per hour.

Despite the short field, the action on the track was still worth the price of admission.

Lang nipped Kirk Wilmes by inches at the line in the semifinal round to advance and Ed Hoover did the same to Oklahoma native Dave Pierce as the two drivers posted identical 6.18s. Hoover’s advantage came on the line.

In other first round action Senft pulled a huge upset in his King Kong ’69 Camaro when he cruised past Dallas winner Chris Russo. Russo had nothing but trouble off the line, shaking the tires as Senft had it won at 60 feet. Top qualifier Taylor Lastor had a free pass into the second round.

Lang and Hoover continued their dominance of the Pro Mod class this season, while Russo moved up to third, Ray Commisso slipped to fourth and Lastor rocketed to fifth.

"I wanted to thank R2B2 Motors and Al Billes for his great engine program. Without them this isn’t possible," Lang said.