Fri, 07 Feb 2014, 18:15 PM Competition Eliminator Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By David Gerard

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Competition Eliminator at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 54th annual Circle K NHRA Winternationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed this round, amount over/under index this round, position in order following run, best prior elapsed time, speed & over/under Index, and position in order prior to run:

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Left Lane: Scott McClay Runs 12.761/53.86/4.931, Now #18; C/ED Index: 7.83, Prior Best: 15.055/50.23/7.225, Was #18
Right Lane: Tom Mettler Runs 7.398/184.19/-0.592, Now #2; PST Index: 7.99, Prior Best: 7.363/184.45/-0.627, Was #2

2:56 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 64 degrees, relative humidity 51 percent, barometer 29.01 inches, adjusted altitude 1,874 feet, track temperature 87 degrees.

No Bump Spot!

McClay has a better leave and then has the car move out of the groove at the shift. He slows right after that.

Mettler makes a strong pass, but doesn't improve.

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Left Lane: Mark Lelchook Runs 7.904/128.92/-0.016, Now #14; D/DA Index: 7.92, Prior Best: 7.423/176.72/-0.497, Was #14
Right Lane: John Edwards Runs 7.325/186.05/-0.585, Now #7; C/AA Index: 7.91, Prior Best: 7.319/185.87/-0.591, Was #7

Lelchook slows down track.

No improvement for Edwards.

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Left Lane: Aaron Strong Runs 8.160/164.83/-0.590, Now #4; B/T Index: 8.75, Prior Best: 8.132/165.99/-0.618, Was #4
Right Lane: Dean Carter Runs 7.100/186.85/-0.460, Now #13; B/ND Index: 7.56, Prior Best: 7.006/188.25/-0.554, Was #13

Looks like the slightly warmer weather is impacting the field a little.

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Left Lane: Tyler Hogan Runs 7.071/187.68/-0.489, Now #12; C/DA Index: 7.56, Prior Best: 7.002/189.31/-0.558, Was #12
Right Lane: Ralph Van Paepeghem Runs 8.023/123.56/0.183, Now #10; A/EA Index: 7.84, Prior Best: 7.267/180.43/-0.573, Was #10

Van Paepeghem's altered drives towards the wall down track and he has to work to keep it off the wall. He finally gives it up.

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Left Lane: Dale Giroux Runs 6.996/197.19/-0.574, Now #10; B/AA Index: 7.57, Prior Best: 7.003/198.32/-0.567, Was #11
Right Lane: Tony Mandella Runs 8.986/152.71/-0.594, Now #7; I/SMA Index: 9.58, Prior Best: 8.996/152.24/-0.584, Was #8

These two are the first to improve this session. Two clean and straight passes.

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Left Lane: Joshua Lee Runs 9.072/145.06/-0.538, Now #14; A/SR Index: 9.61, Prior Best: 9.136/145.41/-0.474, Was #15
Right Lane: Alan Ellis Runs 6.591/204.20/-0.629, Now #2; A/AP Index: 7.22, Prior Best: 6.624/204.73/-0.596, Was #6

Two very different ways to go altered racing: 141 ci four cylinder vs. 513ci V8!

Another pir of strong passes and the both improve. Ellis gets the best of it with a sixty under pass into the #2 spot.

Joshua Lee's incremental times: 60ft-1.267 sec., 330ft-3.684, 660ft-5.734/119.26 mph, 1,000ft-7.529.
Alan Ellis' incremental times: 60ft-0.999 sec., 330ft-2.739, 660ft-4.207/166.37 mph, 1,000ft-5.491.

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Left Lane: Jeff Lane Runs 8.058/166.56/-0.672, Now #1; C/SMA Index: 8.73, Prior Best: 8.110/166.25/-0.620, Was #4
Right Lane: Doug Lambeck Runs 8.309/161.32/-0.631, Now #2; D/SMA Index: 8.94, Prior Best: 8.308/161.50/-0.632, Was #1

Lane finds some power and takes his Cobalt up to the new top spot.

Lambeck slows just 0.001 to move down to #2.

Jeff Lane's incremental times: 60ft-1.145 sec., 330ft-3.283, 660ft-5.113/133.47 mph, 1,000ft-6.706.
Doug Lambeck's incremental times: 60ft-1.176 sec., 330ft-3.377, 660ft-5.283/125.44 mph, 1,000ft-6.913.

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Left Lane: Scott Hedlund Runs 7.704/175.82/-0.646, Now #2; A/SM Index: 8.35, Prior Best: 10.051/95.29/1.701, Was #17
Right Lane: Ron Weems No Time, Now #19; A/A Index: 7.11, No Prior Run

Weems had a major engine problem last round and is a No Show.

Hedlund did his homework and makes a huge move up the ladder on a strong pass to the new number two spot on the ladder.

Scott Hedlund's incremental times: 60ft-1.108 sec., 330ft-3.177, 660ft-4.917/140.71 mph, 1,000ft-6.426.

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Left Lane: Mike DePalma Runs 8.152/157.43/-0.658, Now #2; C/T Index: 8.81, Prior Best: 8.234/146.54/-0.576, Was #10
Right Lane: Dan Fletcher Runs 8.008/167.86/-0.612, Now #8; C/EA Index: 8.62, Prior Best: 8.009/168.03/-0.611, Was #7

It's DePalma's turn for the coveted number two spot and he pushes Fletcher down a spot to boot. Fletcher picks up 0.001 to no avail.

Mike DePalma's incremental times: 60ft-1.151 sec., 330ft-3.309, 660ft-5.152/132.78 mph, 1,000ft-6.763.
Dan Fletcher's incremental times: 60ft-1.110 sec., 330ft-3.264, 660ft-5.090/134.67 mph, 1,000ft-6.668.

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Left Lane: Ed Sigmon Runs 8.584/130.86/-0.406, Now #17; C/SR Index: 8.99, Prior Best: 8.561/133.76/-0.429, Was #17

Single for Sigmon and he slows a little.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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