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GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Notes from final, round 2 qualifying in Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 36th annual MAC Tools NHRA Gatornationals 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: Left Lane: Mark Albert Runs 5.521/257.28, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.408/259.29, Was #8 Right Lane: Dave Hedges Jr. No Time, Now #26; No Prior Run 5:38 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 69 degrees, relative humidity 46 percent, barometer 29.92 inches, adjusted altitude 859 feet, track temperature 87 degrees.
Tim Bowgren is on the bump spot at 5.763 as the final qualifying session opens. Hedges made his
burnout, left a trail of oil, and was shut off, the track crew pushing him back behind the line
so Albert could run. Albert made a good run, but failed to improve and is in danger of losing
lane choice in the first round. Then the Safety Safari went to work in the right lane, cleaning
up the oil. Left Lane: Arthur Gallant Runs 5.390/263.92, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.304/270.92, Was #3 Right Lane: Jeff Veale Runs 5.575/232.97, Now #14; Best prior run: 10.306/77.96, Was #21 These two cars were darting all over their lanes, but both stayed within the lines and Veale bumped Bowgren from the field. Wayne Morris is now on the bump spot at 5.704. Left Lane: Wayne Morris Runs 5.673/255.31, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.704/255.46, Was #16 Right Lane: Artie Allen Runs 5.496/258.54, Now #13; Best prior run: 15.296/98.80, Was #23 By contrast, both cars in this pair went right down the groove, smooth and straight. Morris improved, but not enough to keep Allen from bumping Morris from the field. Left Lane: Karen Benkovich Runs 7.147/124.89, Now #19; Best prior run: 6.142/172.87, Was #19 Right Lane: Bill Reichert Runs 5.345/267.53, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.181/276.07, Was #1 Jeff Wilson was now on the bump spot at 5.650. benkovich failed to improve and will not be in the field tomorrow. Reichert made a good run, but was well off the pace of his first pass. Left Lane: Ken Perry Runs 5.384/262.77, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.350/263.85, Was #5 Right Lane: Robin Samsel Runs 6.145/240.64, Now #20; No Prior Run Samsel dropped at least one cylinder on the left side and his engine labored on the top end. Nice run by Perry, straight and smooth. Left Lane: Rich McPhillips Runs 5.424/258.02, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.525/262.16, Was #14 Right Lane: John Finke Runs 6.775/144.99, Now #22; Best prior run: 9.798/78.44, Was #23 Finke came >< that close to hitting the wall after getting crossed up at half track. his car went left, almost crossed the centerline, then darted back to the right and he did a good job of barely clearing the wall. Meanwhile, McPhillips stepped up a tenth of a second and moved up to the middle of the ladder. Left Lane: Jeff Wilson Runs 6.004/246.57, Now #16; Best prior run: 5.650/252.10, Was #16 Right Lane: Daniel Mercier Runs 5.405/266.19, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.463/265.56, Was #12 Wilson had problems getting off the starting line, killing his elapsed time. Nice run by mercier, stepping up to the middle of the field. Left Lane: Ron Griffis Runs 6.571/217.81, Now #21; Best prior run: 6.535/227.27, Was #21 Right Lane: Jason Cannon Runs 10.645/74.01, Now #23; Best prior run: 9.760/84.42, Was #23 Griffis dropped two or three cylinders almost immediately. Cannon launched, shook, and slowed. Left Lane: Aaron Olivarez Runs 5.372/262.69, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.440/262.92, Was #11 Right Lane: Robert Leverich Runs 10.958/84.61, Now #25; No Prior Run leverich shook and threw in the towel. Nice pass by Olivarez, right down the groove. Left Lane: Gene Snow Runs 5.330/260.04, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.338/266.82, Was #4 Right Lane: Darryl Hitchman No Time, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.469/262.31, Was #13 Hitchman broke on the burnout and did not run. Nice run by "The Snowman," almost a duplicate of his first run. Right Lane: Ashley Force Runs 5.295/270.67, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.396/267.37, Was #8 This was a pretty pass, right down the groove, all eight cylinders clean and firing to move way up in the field. Right Lane: Randy Meyer Runs 5.574/257.28, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.458/257.06, Was #12 Meyer's car lost a lot of ground early in the run and never made it up. Right Lane: Dave Hirata Runs 5.475/253.37, Now #14; Best prior run: 10.564/78.05, Was #24 This is the final car in qualifying, another Division 3 racer shooting at Division 3 racer Jeff Wilson's 5.650 to get into the field. One of the two Division 3 racers will not be racing tomorrow. It will Be Hirata racing and Wilson packing up the truck, Hirata making a somewhat crooked run down the track and into the field. Hirata will face Ashley Force in the first round.
That's it for TAD qualifying, Bill Reichert atop the field at 5.181 and Jeff Veale on the bump
spot at 5.575.
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