The Scrappers Sisters experienced an outstanding weekend in front of their hometown crowd at the 36th annual DENSO NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway. Aboard her Valley Services Scrappers Racing Pro Stoc Motorcycle, Jianna Evaristo became the fastest woman in Pro Stock Motorcycle when she raced to a new personal best in the GETTRX NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle All-Star Callout, where she earned a runner-up finish. Her sister, Top Fuel rookie Jasmine Salinas, made the second-best pass of her career and raced with a special livery honoring Pleasanton Ready Mix. The dynamic duo from Northern California welcomed tons of fans, friends and family in the Scrappers Racing pit. To the delight of everyone in the drag racing community, their father and Scrappers racing team owner, Mike Salinas, returned to the track (alongside his wife Monica) for the first time after stepping back to deal with a health matter earlier this year.
Jianna had a phenomenal race weekend in front of her hometown crowd at Sonoma Raceway. The talented Pro Stock Motorcycle standout wowed fans when she became the fastest woman in the ultra-competitive category, achieving a new personal best speed of 204.54 mph, the second-fastest speed in NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle history.
After qualifying in the top half of the field for the GETTRX NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle All-Star Callout, Jianna got the opportunity to call out her Matt Smith Racing teammate, John Hall, in the opening ceremonies for the specialty event which took place during qualifying on Saturday. She outpaced Hall to the stripe, making the best pass of her career, 6.674 seconds at 204.54 mph.
Jianna advanced to the semifinals where she would face yet another Matt Smith Racing teammate, Angie Smith. With almost identical reaction times, Jianna and Angie battled it out in a great drag race down the quarter-mile strip. Jianna turned on her second win light of the day, moving on to the finals where she paired off against Matt Smith, her crew chief and mentor. Smith held on to his starting line advantage to win the All-Star Callout. Jianna’s performance in qualifying earned her four valuable bonus points and landed her in the No. 2 qualifier position.
In eliminations, Jianna faced Pro Stock Motorcycle newcomer Clayton Howey in the first heat of the day. Aboard her powerful Matt Smith-tuned machine she turned on the Round One win light with an impressive run of 6.699 at 204.35. She met Hector Arana Jr. in the quarterfinals. Arana got the startling line advantage and took it to the finish line for a holeshot win.
“It was really incredible to reach the second-fastest speed in Pro Stock Motorcycle, especially at DENSO’s race,” remarked Jianna. “The weekend didn’t end the way we wanted. We had the bike to beat. It’s frustrating to come out here, setting new records two weekends in a row, and fall short because of my reaction times. It’s definitely something to work for and I think I’m hungrier than ever to work on my skills so we can hit the ground running when we compete in Indy.”
Jasmine started qualifying out on a positive note with an impressive pass of 3.776 seconds at 321.35 mph in the first session on Friday. As the sun dipped below the rolling hills surrounding Sonoma Raceway, Jasmine stepped up her game with a 3.725 at 329.10. That run held up through Saturday to put Jasmine in the No. 9 qualifier position for race day where she faced No. 6 qualifier Billy Torrence in the first round.
In eliminations, Jasmine got the starting line advantage and made her best run of the weekend and the second-best of her career going 3.702 seconds at 331.94 but it was not enough to hold off Torrence who ran a 3.662 at 335.40.
“We have some work to do,” said Jasmine. “This is a tough category and I’m learning a lot with every pass we make. I really wanted to turn on some win lights here in Sonoma for our friends and family, not to mention all of our supporters from Pleasanton Ready Mix and Valley Services. But I know we are moving in the right direction overall. This crew is amazing. We are all going to dig deep and get to work so we can come back better than ever.”
The next race for Jasmine will be the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd, Minn., August 15-18. Jianna will rejoin her sister when the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series comes to Indianapolis for the NHRA U.S. Nationals, August 28 – September 2.
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