Kenny Lang’s weekend was filled with one disaster after another and he never managed to put together a full run in four tries, relegating him to a sixth place spot with a best time of 6.838 – well off the pace of Ed Hoover’s six flat.

With that poor performance, the matchup that many expected to see in the finals actually took place in the first round as Hoover met up with Lang in the first run of the afternoon.

To make matters even worse for the No. 1 qualifier, Hoover had to replace an engine overnight after breaking a piston during Saturday’s run.

With the points lead on the line, Lang showed why he is the defending champion as he put his troubles behind him and finally made his first successful run of the weekend, taking a holeshot victory over Hoover to all but guarantee a spot in the final round.

In the championship round, a nervous Chris Russo did what he never thought he could do – chase down and pass Lang.

Lang got a decent start off the line, but Russo was able to run him down and get the win with a 6.223 elapsed time at 230.13 miles per hour to Lang’s 6.302, 229.35 mph run.

The wild weekend saw Lang walk away as the points leader, 12 markers ahead of Hoover. Baton Rouge winner Ray Commisso dropped to third while Russo made a huge leap from 17th to 4th in the standings, 81 points back of Lang.