RAIN
WASHES AWAY QUALIFYING ROUNDS THREE AND FOUR; FINAL ELIMINATIONS SUNDAY
Story by NHRA
Photos by Les Welch
BAYTOWN,
Texas -- The final two rounds of qualifying at the O'Reilly NHRA Spring
Nationals were washed away by persistent rains in the Houston area
Saturday.
Still, two rounds of qualifying were completed Friday and that was
sufficient to set the ladder for final eliminations, which will be run
as scheduled Sunday, beginning at 11 a.m.
The No. 1 qualifiers are Whit Bazemore (Top Fuel), Cruz Pedregon (Funny
Car), Jeg Coughlin (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle).
“We’re disappointed not to have ran on Saturday,” said Bazemore, who
pilots the Matco Tools dragster. “We’d much rather have lost the top
spot and gotten the track time. We’re excited though. It was the perfect
run for those conditions. We’ll be ready for Sunday. We have the option
to run further back in the order. Hopefully, we can continue winning
rounds and improve on our results.”
Bazemore became the 15th driver to earn No. 1 qualifiers in both Top
Fuel and Funny Car and it came in Bazemore's fourth career race in Top
Fuel.
Bazemore will face No. 16 qualifier Cory McClenathan in the first round
of final eliminations.
Some other intriguing first-round matchups in Top Fuel include Tony
Schumacher vs. Brandon Bernstein and Larry Dixon vs. Doug Kalitta.
In Funny Car, Kenny Bernstein qualified for his second consecutive race
in his Monster Energy Dodge Charger at No. 11 and he will face Gary
Scelzi in the first round.
* * *
BAYTOWN, Texas -- First-round pairings for professional eliminations
Sunday for the 20th annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by
Pennzoil at Houston Raceway Park, the fourth of 23 events in the NHRA
POWERade Drag Racing Series. Pairings based on results in qualifying,
which ended Saturday.
Top Fuel -- 1. Whit Bazemore, 4.514 seconds, 326.87 mph vs. 16. Cory
McClenathan, 4.689, 276.86; 2. Melanie Troxel, 4.530, 323.89 vs. 15.
Alan Bradshaw, 4.670, 313.58; 3. Rod Fuller, 4.533, 326.56 vs. 14. Bruce
Litton, 4.658, 312.78; 4. Morgan Lucas, 4.538, 317.27 vs. 13. David
Grubnic, 4.650, 309.91; 5. Tony Schumacher, 4.558, 312.50 vs. 12.
Brandon Bernstein, 4.649, 310.34; 6. Larry Dixon, 4.597, 313.44 vs. 11.
Doug Kalitta, 4.633, 315.27; 7. J.R. Todd, 4.618, 313.37 vs. 10. Clay
Millican, 4.632, 314.61; 8. Hillary Will, 4.630, 310.41 vs. 9. Joe
Hartley, 4.631, 312.42.
