Billy Torrence Rules
Billy Torrence won Sunday at Texas Motorplex, his first victory at his home track. (NHRA photo)

Texan Billy Torrence Rules His Home Turf

Greg Anderson celebrates his Pro Stock win at Texas Motorplex on Sunday. (NHRA photo)

In Pro Stock, Anderson beat longtime rival Jeg Coughlin Jr. in the final round, going 6.609 at 209.75 in his Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro to slip past Coughlin’s 6.610 at 207.56.

It gives the veteran three wins this year, 94 overall and five at Texas Motorplex, tying him with Warren Johnson for the most in class history at the facility.

Anderson reached the finals with wins against teammate Jason Line, points leader Erica Enders and Deric Kramer, meeting Coughlin for the 102nd time overall and 21st time in the final round.

“We’ve had so many titanic clashes with so much on the line, and I knew it would be close,” said Anderson, who is seventh in points. “It’s a total team effort and that’s what it takes to win a national event in Pro Stock right now. You’ve got to have perfection every time out there. We made a lot of changes this week and we hit on it. It showed it on Saturday and I knew coming into today we had a chance. Now it’s a matter of if I can drive the car well.

“I can’t tell you who’s going to win this thing because everybody right now can beat everybody else.”

Coughlin, who is now third in points, qualified No. 1 and beat Richie Stevens, Aaron Stanfield and Matt Hartford to reach the finals for the 109th time in his career.

Enders stayed in the points lead, but saw it slip to just 28 points over Matt Hartford.

Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Savoie went 6.881 at 195.90 in the final round on his White Alligator Racing Suzuki to knock off Eddie Krawiec and claim his third win in 2019 and the 12th of his career.

Savoie also earned his second win in the Countdown to the Championship, closing to within 94 points of leader Andrew Hines heading into the final two events.

The alligator farmer reached his fifth straight final in Dallas with wins against Jianna Salinas, Karen Stoffer and Hines, picking up a key victory against the points leader before knocking off Krawiec in a pivotal final round.

“It was a great day and we knew we had a good bike coming in,” Savoie said. “We said if we held our composure we could win this thing. For the most part, tracks favor certain riders and we’ve been blessed here. It’s a great place and today was great. Bottom line, I want a championship just as bad as anybody else, so whoever is in my way I’m going to do everything I can to try and beat them. I felt good and we’ve got a great team.

“To me, this win gives you more hope and means a lot. This gives you that window of opportunity where you could win a championship again.”

Krawiec reached his 47th final round thanks to wins against Ryan Oehler, No. 1 qualifier Matt Smith and Angelle Sampey. The three-time world champ remains winless in his last 10 final-round appearances dating back to last season.

Hines’ points lead also grew to 81 over Stoffer.