Sun, 28 Sep 2003, 01:53 PM Top Alcohol Dragster Round 2 Eliminations

By Jonathan Adams

JOLIET, Ill. - Results of round 2 eliminations in Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, Third annual CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   10 John Haley                            312 Keith Stark
E2                   0.075  5.441 261.88     ****WINNER****  0.011  5.319 269.89
 Prior rounds:
E1    (M Thacker   ) 0.068  5.354 265.64      (S Howard    ) 0.041  8.140  87.36
 Qualified:            #11  5.463 243.94                        #3  5.266 268.22

Current weather conditions: 54 degrees, 66 percent relative humidity, the barometer 29.96 inches.

12:37 p.m. Haley in the blown car comes in with lane choice. Stark with the awesome light and a great run to put away the former Indy champ.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    9 David Wells                           391 Bill Reichert
E2   ****WINNER****  0.017  5.297 268.44                     0.061  5.491 267.32
 Prior rounds:
E1    (T Datweiler ) 0.041  5.294 267.91      (R Samsel    ) 0.067  5.280 275.17
 Qualified:            #10  5.434 239.95                        #2  5.257 276.52

Wells made the best run of his life in round one and still lost lane choice. This is the second of three A/FD vs. B/AD pairings in this round.

Wells with back-to-back 5.29's, and he'll have lane choice over Stark in the semi's. Reichert dropped a cylinder or two almost immediately and was out of it early.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   51 Alan Bradshaw                        7438 Morgan Lucas
E2                   0.036  5.375 262.28     ****WINNER****  0.037  5.229 271.41
 Prior rounds:
E1    (F Monaghan  ) 0.077  5.289 269.94      (M Myers     ) 0.034  5.259 262.13
 Qualified:             #5  5.338 261.02                        #4  5.306 270.64

The top two in points tangle here in a monster match-up between two injected-nitro machines. Keep an eye on reaction time in this one, as Lucas is usually first out of the gate.

Not this time, but it doesn't matter as Lucas runs just .002 off the national record.

Morgan Lucas' MOV: 0.1456 seconds (approximately 56 feet).

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  200 Tony Bartone                           65 Mike Cofini
E2                   0.068 No Time           ****WINNER****  0.005  5.442 261.07
 Prior rounds:
E1    (M Gunderson ) 0.031  5.276 270.97      (D Hirata    ) 0.012  5.359 263.10
 Qualified:             #1  5.255 275.51                        #8  5.425 259.51

Cofini will try to pull off the big upset here, as Bartone is the number one qualifier and the national record holder.

And he does it! Cofini with another great light, and Bartone breaks at the hit. Cofini will race Lucas in the semi's, Lucas with lane choice. That gives us two blown cars and two nitro cars in the semi's, and both races are A/FD vs. B/AD.

12:48 p.m.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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