Sat, 06 Oct 2012, 14:21 PM Top Alcohol Dragster Round 1 Eliminations

By Jim Samuel

MOHNTON, Pa. - Results of round 1 eliminations in Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 28th annual Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   13 Dan Mercier                          3422 Ken Perry                    
E1   ****WINNER****  0.115  5.488 256.16                     0.027  9.132  95.41
 Qualified:             #4  5.357 260.31                       #13  5.533 253.56

1:48 p.m. - Weather conditions: air temperature 70 degrees, relative humidity 64 percent, barometer 29.28 inches, adjusted altitude 2,182 feet, track temperature 80 degrees.

Dan Mercier won here in 2006. Perry had a slow launch and never got up to speed. Mercier will move on to the next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    1 Duane Shields                           8 Marty Thacker                
E1   ****WINNER****  0.113  5.369 265.90                    -0.027  5.509 261.52
 Qualified:             #6  5.396 266.58                       #11  5.477 259.66

Marty Thacker won here in 2008. Shields won in 2009. Thacker went red, so Shields will move on.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  596 Randy Meyer                           185 Mike Kosky                   
E1                   0.047 No Time           ****WINNER****  0.081  7.960 106.01
 Qualified:             #5  5.363 262.33                       #12  5.483 257.48

This is Mike Kosky's 26th time competing at this event. He's won here three times and is the defending event champion. He has also been runner up here three times before this race.

Meyer had the quicker start but crossed the center line at 660 feet. Kosky got the win but gave up lane choice to Mercier in the next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 1900 Dan Page                              112 Frank Schuster               
E1                   0.075  5.599 255.24     ****WINNER****  0.022  5.462 261.17
 Qualified:             #7  5.398 263.87                       #10  5.460 259.91

Arthur Gallant owns the car Page is driving. Gallant won here in 2002 and was runner up in 2005 and 2006. Both drivers had good runs, but Schuster was quicker and will move on to the next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  110 Rich McPhillips                        15 John Finke                   
E1                   0.064  5.411 259.66     ****WINNER****  0.088  5.379 257.38
 Qualified:             #8  5.401 256.36                        #9  5.450 256.65

McPhillips and Finke both had good runs, but Finke was just a bit ahead to take the win. John Finke's incremental margins (negative if behind): 60ft(-0.016), 330 ft(0.014), 660ft(0.029), 1,000ft(0.026). MOV: 0.0083 seconds (approximately 3 feet).

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 1482 Richard Bourke                        118 Ken Winward                  
E1   ****WINNER****  0.092  5.247 270.81                     0.116  5.877 201.91
 Qualified:             #3  5.348 264.08                       #14  5.574 255.53

Bourke had his lowest ET of the weekend so far to take the win and earn lane choice over Shields in round two.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    5 Chris Demke                            11 Karen Stalba                 
E1   ****WINNER****  0.047  5.263 269.73                     0.085  5.738 237.21
 Qualified:             #2  5.310 268.28                       #15  5.579 249.81

Demke had this one all the way and will have lane choice over Schuster in the next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    2 Bill Reichert                        1766 Mike Burns                   
E1   ****WINNER****  0.054  5.350 267.32                     0.066  5.430 263.05
 Qualified:             #1  5.281 266.95                       #16  5.580 260.81

Reichert has won this race in 2005 and was runner up twice. This is the fourth time he has started here in the number one qualifying position. Burns is the 161st different driver that Reichert has faced in eliminations. Burns is driving a car owned by leonard Cottrell, who won here in 1987 with John Speelman driving.

Burns led this race to 330 feet, but then Reichert took over to get the win. Reichert will have lane choice over Finke in round two.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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