^^^ Power always starts to drop off after 7500 RPM
It sounds like both you and your friend have the same mods (intake, CBE, and TP's) then you have pulleys and the PP'd TB's and IM.
My guess is that the FI catback just makes a bit more power so you guys come out about even. Either that or some transient factor was influencing things (oil temps, air temps). I wouldn't sweat a difference of a few whp.
If you can get the drf's for each and email them to me I can make a detailed comparison chart.
EDIT: Oh, wait -- your power drops off at 7K?
That is a bit early -- not sure what's going on there. What's your rev limit set at? The ECU will pull timing and fuel as a sort of soft rev cut before 7.5K, so without bumping up the limiter (say to 7.8K), you may show a power loss after 7K. That might be it.