Courtesy of ADRL Communications 

Ennis, TX - It was late on Tuesday and Spiro Pappas had just finished a long, exhausting day. But there was a hint of energy and a bit of a spark in his voice, and it was almost like he wasn’t ready for the night to end. Pappas, though, will be plenty pleased if his latest string of testing success carries over to Friday’s Speedtech “Battle For The Belts” at the LenMar Motorsports ADRL World Finals VI.

After a season filled with struggles - some that were admittedly his own doing - Pappas, the No. 6 qualifier in the eight-car field, finally feels ready to defend his Extreme 10.5 2009 World Championship. The excited tone in his voice despite the late hour simply gave further evidence to that notion. “We were testing to see if things are back to where we want to be and it went better than we expected,” said Pappas, who tested Tuesday in Wisconsin. “Things went really, really well. “As a driver, I’m ready and my team is ready. Everything is coming together and it’s coming together at the prime time. (Tuesday) proved to us that we have what it takes to keep the belt one more year.”

That’s an encouraging sign for Pappas, who won Simpson Dragstock VII in September to create some momentum heading into Friday’s festivities at Texas Motorplex. Pappas and his team had focused everything on the final two months of the season, but it was an eye-opening process to get here - and it included a lot more work than Pappas initially expected.