Paul Warick Wins K&N Spring Fling at Galot Motorsports Park

Paul Warick and his team celebrate winning the K&N Spring Fling at Galot Motorsports Park

“I’ve never won at the Spring Fling,” Warick said. “In fact, this is my first Spring Fling I’ve ever raced at. Everything was top notch, everything was good to go. It’s top of the line, you couldn’t ask for no better.”

Warick, driving his Chevy Nova dragster, defeated Jason Lynch in the final round by less than one-thousandth of a second. Warick said he wasn’t sure of the outcome of the race until the win light came on in his car. He knew he beat Lynch off the line, his reaction time was 0.009 seconds to Lynch’s 0.013 seconds, and that might have been the difference in the race.

The field for the K&N Spring Fling was determined randomly. There were 32 drivers invited to the event. The first two rounds, the test and tune day, whittled the field down to eight drivers.

Warick said he won his first race comfortably. His second race was a little closer. His times were fast enough for him to advance to the final eight.

“I laid down a good lap the first round,” Warick said. “Second round I missed the tree a little bit. Right after that I said we have to tighten it up from here.”

Lee Dixon, Jeff Dobbins, Cameron Manuel, Brad Jeter, Chris Dean, John Taylor Jr. and Lynch were the other drivers to advance after the test and tune rounds.

“First round I won comfortably, I was really good on the tree,” Warick said. “Second round, it was close with the guy I had to run.”

Warick won his race against Dixon to reach the semifinals. Lynch defeated Jeter, a former Spring Fling champion. Dobbins beat Manuel and Taylor beat Dean.

Warick faced Taylor in the semifinals. All four semifinal drivers were guaranteed at least $500. The winners advanced to the final and a choice of dragsters, an American Race Car dragster or Racetech model. Warick was out front for the entire race against Taylor, but it was still a close finish.

Paul Warick beat Jason Lynch in the final round of the K&N Spring Fling at Galot Motorsports Park.

Lynch faced Dobbins in the other semifinal and won.

In the final, Warick and Lynch had very similar runs. Both had great reaction times and it was a close race down the strip. Warick nosed Lynch at the finish line and won the first Spring Fling event of his career. He also won a supply of K&N oil filters.

“It’s awesome,” Warick said. “It helps us out. It’s top notch, can’t ask for much better.”