Battle in Bradenton

The quickest EcoBoost Fords fought to the finishÂ at the NMRA opener

By Steve Turner

At last yearâ€™s NMRA World Finals in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Livernois Motorsports joined forces with the NMRA and your friends at SVTP to host the first-ever EcoBoost Battle. The response was so overwhelmingly positive, that all the parties involved decided it was worthy of expanding into three events this season and the first of 2016 went down at the season opener in Bradenton, Florida.

One of the quickest stock turbo/stock engine EcoBoost Mustangs around, Bill Putnamâ€™s 2015 qualified in the second spot with an 11.14 at 122 and he took out Erik Vogel and Josh Beasley en route to a final-round clash with Brad Gusler. That was a repeat of the final at the inaugural race in Bowling Green last year. Bill got the jump and Brad had issues, so Bill took his second EcoBoost Battle win in a row with a blister 10.87 at 125 passâ€”his best yet. — One of the quickest stock turbo/stock engine EcoBoost Mustangs around, Bill Putnamâ€™s 2015 qualified in the second spot with an 11.14 at 122 and he took out Erik Vogel and Josh Beasley en route to a final-round clash with Brad Gusler. That was a repeat of the final at the inaugural race in Bowling Green last year. Bill got the jump and Brad had issues, so Bill took his second EcoBoost Battle win in a row with a blistering 10.87 at 125 passâ€”his best yet.

â€œWe decided to expand EcoBoost Battle into three events due to demand. For the past three years we have worked very hard to stay in constant contact with NMRA enthusiasts and keep an eye on the market in order to make decisions that make sense. The response leaving Bowling Green last year was overwhelming for this class and that buzz continued through the winter,â€ NMRA Event Director Rollie Miller recently told us.

That buzz was readily apparent as 11 EcoBoost Fordsâ€”including a Focus ST and a Taurus SHOâ€”arrived at Bradenton Motorsports Park to battle for the title of quickest EcoBoost machine in the land.

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