The lights were turned on at Shangri-La II Motor Speedway at exactly 8:44 p.m. on Saturday night, and a couple of hours later Jimmy Zacharias became the winner of the first night Modified race at the Concrete Castle. It was his second straight victory and vaulted him into the point lead. Two other point leaders, Scott Nurmi (ASA Late Models) and Lee Sharpsteen (Street Stocks) also triumphed for the second week in a row. Meanwhile, J.R. Kent scored his first Shangri-La II win in the Sportsman Modified feature and Matt Janisch edged Paul Lotier Jr. in the visiting SpeedSTRs, who had the honor of being the first class to actually race under the lights on "Day of Thunder Night", which shared the stage with a jet car exhibition at Skyview Drags next door..

Jimmy Zacharias started sixth in the Modified 35-lapper and surged past defending champion John Markovic for the lead on the fourth lap. He was never headed, despite several strong restart challenges from teammate J.R. Kent in the closing laps. Markovic was third and former NASCAR Busch North Series star Bryon Chew had his best open-wheel finish in fourth. Both Kent and Chew made excellent use of the outside lane on restarts made available by the "pick your lane" restart rule currently under trial at Shangri-La II.

Jim Storace, who entered the night tied with J., Zacharias for the point lead, also played Mr. Outside for much of the race but settled for fifth. Daren Scherer, Dean Rypkema, Ken Canestrari, Scott Conover, and  Chris Ostrowsky completed the top ten.

Kent and Zacharias raced as opponents, not teammates, in the Sportsman Modified race, and reversed their finish from the Modified contest and last week's Sportsman event. Kent, driving his own car this time, quickly passed T.J. Zacharias from his third starting spot and stayed safety in front as the second half of the race went caution-free. Jimmy Zacharias padded his already solid Sportsman point lead with his runner-up finish. Bryan Sherwood was third, John Wilber fourth in his first appearance of the year, and points runner-up Russ Brown fifth.

Scott Nurmi made a clean restart pass on leader Jerry Dineen with two laps remaining to win the marathon ASA Late Model feature, which was shortened to 20 laps when only five cars remained on the track. Jim Lamoreaux, Joe Beretta, and Dr. Dave Rigan were the other survivors. The most serious of several incidents saw Chris Zacharias and Travis Fisher make contact on the back straight while battling for the lead, with Zacharias crashing in turn 3. He complained of shoulder pain and was transported for evaluation.

Lee Sharpsteen just checked out on the Street Stock field, leaving Chad McDonald to fight his way back to second after an early spin. Tom Cundy crossed the line third but was disqualified for an unapproved tire change, leaving Scott Reagan, Billy Coyle, and Chris Zacharias to complete the top five. C. Zacharias, who raced in three classes, was driving the No. 61 Richie Evans Tribute car.

The open-cockpit SpeedSTR field was strengthened by a large contingent from Quebec, but it was a pair of Keystone State TQ midget stars who provided the show. Paul Lotier Jr. led until Matt Janisch passed him just past the halfway point, only to see the only caution of the race put Lotier back on top. Janisch repeated his pass on the restart and held off Lotier's constant assault the rest of the 20-lap distance. Third place Gabriel Richer was best of the invaders from French Canada, trailed by D.J. Macri and Yannick Porier.