Sat, 3 May 2008, 07:08 PM Pro Modified Round 1 Eliminations

By Dan Bennett

MADISON, Ill. - Results of round 1 eliminations in Pro Modified at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 12th annual O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals presented by Castrol:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  272 Roger Burgess                           3 Jay Payne                    
E1                   0.162  6.021 240.00     ****WINNER****  0.037  5.920 240.29
 Qualified:             #8  6.101 236.92                        #9  6.107 236.80

Payne's experience in high horsepower cars comes through here as he moves the car back into the groove at least twice. He cards a stellar light and the race is never closer than a tenth.

Stout ET, huh?

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 1941 Eddie Ware                           1211 Mike Ashley                  
E1   ****WINNER****  0.091  6.005 236.71                     0.073  6.476 165.19
 Qualified:             #7  6.097 236.30                       #10  6.146 235.10

Ashley provided all the excitement here as the car made a hard move towards the centerline. After the second swoop to the left, he came very close to crossing the line but the car got really upset (as in up on two wheels) when he yanked it back to the right. Somehow, he managed to get it straightened out without hitting anything.

In the meantime, Ware lays down a nice one and goes to the next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  763 Kirk Kuhns                              6 Tim Tindle                   
E1   ****WINNER****  0.146  6.043 232.83                     0.078  6.125 231.56
 Qualified:             #5  6.050 234.78                       #12  6.211 229.27

For Pro Mods, this was a pretty calm race. Tindle left first but couldn't hold on at the finish line.

Kirk Kuhns' incremental margins (negative if behind): 60ft(-0.025), 330 ft(0.005), 660ft(0.011), 1,000ft(0.011).

MOV: 0.0146 seconds (approximately 5 feet).

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 2103 Joe Baker                             402 Taylor Lastor                
E1   ****WINNER****  0.065  6.324 232.55                     0.082 11.905  77.14
 Qualified:            #11  6.204 229.55                        #6  6.064 227.54

Lastor's tires were never under control and he finally has to lift.

Baker gets an easy one into Round 2.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   38 Danny Rowe                            501 Mike Knowles                 
E1   ****WINNER****  0.095  6.734 225.86                     0.230  7.223 182.28
 Qualified:             #4  5.987 241.02                       #13  6.345 222.29

Both cars went wonky early, with Rowe recovering quicker and winning the pedalling contest. Rowe was completely off the throttle at one point.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 1152 Tony Pontieri                          49 Dan Saitz                    
E1   ****WINNER****  0.170  5.980 234.37                     0.097  6.358 220.48
 Qualified:             #3  5.969 239.53                       #14  6.364 224.21

For this one, it's turbo versus blower. This is Saitz's home track and he's looking pretty good this weekend. The car is a gorgeous black Shelby 500.

That was a pretty good race until the last part of the track. Both cars were straight and true but Pontieri made it across the line first, trailing a cloud of white smoke.

Pontieri will have lane choice over Baker next time around.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 1212 Scott Ray                               7 Harold Laird                 
E1   ****WINNER****  0.128  6.301 184.90                     0.047  7.981 124.33
 Qualified:            #15  6.384 180.02                        #2  5.958 238.30

Neither car looked good leaving, but Laird's car was upset the most.

Ray loses lane choice to Ware next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    1 Joshua Hernandez                      348 Brad Personett               
E1   ****WINNER****  0.078  6.006 239.48                     0.054  6.561 206.42
 Qualified:             #1  5.955 241.89                       #16  6.437 219.94

Here's another turbo car stepping up to challenge the blower cars.

Personett has looked pretty good this weekend and his turbo experience is showing.

Hernandez is a tough cookie, though, and returns to race Payne next round. Payne gets to choose the lanes.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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