Fri, 16 May 2003, 12:13 PM Top Alcohol Dragster Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Jim Samuel

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 34th annual K&N Filters SuperNationals presented by Pep Boys listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

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Left Lane: Steven Cantrell No Time, Now #2
Right Lane: Bruce Insinger Runs 7.129/136.94, Now #1

11:36 AM - At the start of this round, the air temperature was 53 degrees at 75 percent humidity and the barometric pressure was 30.49 and rising. Track temperature was 72 degrees.

Cantrell shook the tires and broke a blower belt as he came off the starting line, so he pulled over to the wall and stopped at 100 feet. Insinger shook the tires on his run.

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Left Lane: Rich McPhillips Runs 5.644/254.52, Now #1
Right Lane: Ken Winward Runs 5.799/251.06, Now #2

Winward's car used up a lot of the track but he kept it straight for a pretty good run. McPhillips shook a little bit at the start but drove through it.

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Left Lane: David De Angelis Runs 6.123/181.28, Now #3
Right Lane: Karen Benkovich Runs 6.261/173.72, Now #4

DeAngelis used up a lot of track on this run and came close to crossing the center line several times. He took out the speed start block so this run will be disqualified. Benkovich left the starting line quickly but shook the tires hard.

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Left Lane: Mark Albert Runs 6.462/193.07, Now #6
Right Lane: Mike Kosky Runs 5.637/239.14, Now #1

Albert was delayed getting started when the team's first starter did not work. He got it started but shook the tires at about 100 feet and pedaled it. Kosky drifted far to the right and came close to hitting the wall. The track at Englishtown has a white line as an outer boundary and Kosky crossed that line so this run will be DQ'ed.

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Left Lane: Tony Bartone Runs 9.607/81.57, Now #9
Right Lane: Fran Monaghan Jr Runs 5.615/228.34, Now #1

Bartone shook the tires hard and backed off of this run. Monaghan had a good run going but his engine popped the blower between 1,000 feet and the finish line.

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Left Lane: Bruce Horner Runs 10.235/83.10, Now #11
Right Lane: Richard Bourke Runs 5.464/270.70, Now #1

Horner shook the tires, then smoked them and then started to go sideways before he backed off of this run. Bourke had a smooth run from start to finish.

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Left Lane: Douglas Foley Runs 5.608/242.41, Now #2
Right Lane: Arthur Gallant Runs 5.759/255.92, Now #6

Gallant shook the tires at 60 feet, backed off and got back on the throttle. Foley had a smooth run going but started to smoke the tires at mid-track.

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Right Lane: Sheila Tafur Runs 5.691/224.14, Now #6

Tafur had a smooth-looking run.

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Right Lane: Robert Leverich No Time, Now #17

Leverich did his burnout but could not back up to stage so he had to just cruise the rest of the way down the track.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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