Sat, 6 Oct 2001, 09:19 PM READING - Pro Stock Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Larry Sullivan

MOHNTON, Pa. - Notes from final, round 4 qualifying in Pro Stock at the 17th annual Pep Boys NHRA Nationals presented by Greased Lightning listing lane, driver name, elapsed time/top speed this round, position in order following run, best prior elapsed time/speed, and position in order prior to run:

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Right Lane: Jim Cunningham Runs 7.414/187.05, Now #30; Best prior run: 7.314/185.72, Was #30

4:37 PM It's 62 degrees, 50 percent relative humidity, so the records set last round could easily fall again this time around. Cunningham went through the clutch, the RPMs way up and the car not responding.

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Left Lane: Kenny Koretsky Runs 6.885/199.17, Now #24; Best prior run: 6.915/198.17, Was #27
Right Lane: Kenny Delco Runs 6.989/197.02, Now #29; Best prior run: 7.025/195.76, Was #29

Koretsky runs a career-best ET and falls short of Rickie Smith's 6.860 bump time. Delco also breaks into the sixes, but is still more than a tenth short.

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Left Lane: John Nobile Runs 6.865/201.28, Now #21; Best prior run: 6.913/200.05, Was #27
Right Lane: Larry Morgan Runs 6.831/202.21, Now #14; Best prior run: 6.884/200.23, Was #23

Last round Nobile rolled the beams. Here he ran a career-best ET and still came up short. Nice run by Morgan to bump Smith. Now the bump is Ron Krisher's 6.857.

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Left Lane: Allen Johnson Runs 6.888/199.70, Now #26; Best prior run: 6.904/201.46, Was #27
Right Lane: Mike Thomas Runs 6.862/200.00, Now #20; Best prior run: 6.874/198.99, Was #23

Nope. Thomas matches his career-best ET and still can't crack the door.

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Left Lane: Bo Nickens Runs 7.008/199.94, Now #27; Best prior run: 6.889/200.65, Was #27
Right Lane: Bob Benza Runs 6.870/200.80, Now #23; Best prior run: 6.868/200.32, Was #23

Nickens lost a bunch of elapsed time in the first 330 feet.

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Left Lane: Roger Jenkins Runs 6.852/200.02, Now #17; Best prior run: 6.875/201.55, Was #24
Right Lane: Jeg Coughlin Runs 6.778/202.64, Now #2; Best prior run: 6.863/200.26, Was #21

Jeg posts a 0.998 60-foot time and rockets into the seventies, the fifth driver to do so. he's quicker than KJ's record, but doesn't have a backup yet.

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Left Lane: Mark Pawuk Runs 6.864/199.88, Now #21; Best prior run: 6.861/200.77, Was #21
Right Lane: Hurley Blakeney Runs 6.840/201.58, Now #16; Best prior run: 6.861/201.25, Was #20

Pawuk fails to improve and will be a spectator tomorrow, but Blakeney reached deep and replaced Krisher on the bubble. Now this is the quickest field ever, quicker than last weekend's 6.844 bump.

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Left Lane: Troy Coughlin Runs 6.825/201.31, Now #13; Best prior run: 6.831/202.58, Was #14
Right Lane: Rickie Smith Runs 6.842/201.67, Now #17; Best prior run: 6.860/200.59, Was #20

Smith comes up just two thousandths of the record bump and Troy moves up the ladder, but just one spot.

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Left Lane: V. Gaines Runs 6.839/201.19, Now #15; Best prior run: 6.830/201.76, Was #14
Right Lane: Ron Krisher Runs 6.797/202.91, Now #6; Best prior run: 6.857/201.13, Was #20

Krisher bumps Blakeney and becomes the sixth member of the seventies club. The bump is now Morgan's 6.831.

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Left Lane: George Marnell Runs 6.817/201.04, Now #13; Best prior run: 6.823/202.06, Was #13
Right Lane: Robert Patrick Runs 6.874/200.44, Now #19; Best prior run: 6.851/199.64, Was #19

Patrick is the last car with a shot at bumping Morgan. Nope, he fails to improve and the field is locked in, the rest of the cars running to determine the final pairings. Marnell improves, but not enough to move up the ladder.

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Left Lane: Bruce Allen Runs 6.803/201.13, Now #9; Best prior run: 6.814/201.58, Was #12
Right Lane: Tom Martino Runs 6.810/202.79, Now #11; Best prior run: 6.814/201.67, Was #11

Allen just misses the seventies and moves up a few spot, getting an "easier" first round opponent.

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Left Lane: Tom Hammonds Runs 6.806/202.21, Now #11; Best prior run: 6.814/201.73, Was #12
Right Lane: Mike Edwards Runs 6.799/202.18, Now #7; Best prior run: 6.807/201.46, Was #10

Now there are seven. Edwards moves into the top half and should be able to stay there for lane choice in the first round.

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Left Lane: Brad Jeter Runs 6.809/201.43, Now #9; Best prior run: 6.802/202.55, Was #9
Right Lane: Warren Johnson Runs 6.827/202.00, Now #8; Best prior run: 6.801/202.21, Was #8

These two fail to improve and will meet in round one, WJ with lane choice.

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Left Lane: Jim Yates Runs 6.799/201.88, Now #5; Best prior run: 6.794/202.79, Was #5
Right Lane: Darrell Alderman Runs 6.794/202.88, Now #4; Best prior run: 6.788/202.39, Was #4

Two more seventies, but no new members in the club. There have been nine runs in the seventies so far this weekend.

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Left Lane: Kurt Johnson Runs 6.806/201.82, Now #3; Best prior run: 6.779/203.74, Was #3
Right Lane: Mark Osborne Runs 6.798/202.82, Now #1; Best prior run: 6.771/202.70, Was #1

Ozzie posts a 0.998 60-foot time and our tenth seventy of the weekend, taking the national elapsed time record from KJ in the process. Now Osborne's 6.771 is the national record.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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