POMONA 1 - Top Alcohol Dragster Qualifying Notes, Session #1

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Thu, 11 Feb 2016, 19:31 PM

Top Alcohol Dragster Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By David Gerard

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 56th annual Circle K NHRA Winternationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

Left Lane: Krista Baldwin Runs 5.495/229.55, Now #2
Right Lane: Alan Bradshaw Runs 5.268/274.44, Now #1

3:56 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 83 degrees, relative humidity 27 percent, barometer 28.97 inches, adjusted altitude 3,113 feet, track temperature 104 degrees.

The Alcohol Funny Car session just completed brought some great times. Hopefully, these guys will be as good!

Krista Baldwin is making her debut in TAD today. She is Chris Karamesines' grand-daughter. She makes a clean pass without drama into the field for now.

Bradshaw throws down the gauntlet to the rest of the field with a stellar pass right into the near mid-twenties to start the session. Strong!

Krista Baldwin's incremental times: 60ft-0.973 sec., 330ft-2.489, 660ft-3.616/222.18 mph, 1,000ft-4.577.
Alan Bradshaw's incremental times: 60ft-0.930 sec., 330ft-2.407, 660ft-3.519/225.45 mph, 1,000ft-4.458.

Left Lane: Derik Milanesio Runs 15.894/75.09, Now #4
Right Lane: Don St. Arnaud Runs 5.181/285.05, Now #1

Milanesio is up in smoke at the hit and slows.

St. Arnaud starts the season with a career best ET and almost a better speed. That's good enough for the new top spots. That was the second fastest speed in TAD history. That's going to be hard to beat!

Don St. Arnaud's incremental times: 60ft-0.917 sec., 330ft-2.377, 660ft-3.475/229.66 mph, 1,000ft-4.395.

Left Lane: Casey Grisel Runs 9.106/92.68, Now #5
Right Lane: Gord Gingles Runs 5.234/276.35, Now #2

Grisel has to pedal off the line and is off the throttle early.

Gingles leaves with the wheels up and carries them out a long way. That career best numbers for him too. A strong pass into the new #2 spot.

Gord Gingles' incremental times: 60ft-0.949 sec., 330ft-2.381, 660ft-3.490/226.77 mph, 1,000ft-4.426.

Left Lane: Johnny Ahten Runs 5.712/251.53, Now #6
Right Lane: Ashley Sanford Runs 5.285/271.73, Now #4

Ahten's dragster wrap is really great looking, but the engine isn't happy with a bunch of pipes wet from right off the line.

Great pass for Sanford, another career best ET, and a spot in the top four for now.

Johnny Ahten's incremental times: 60ft-0.981 sec., 330ft-2.586, 660ft-3.793/206.57 mph, 1,000ft-4.825.
Ashley Sanford's incremental times: 60ft-0.929 sec., 330ft-2.409, 660ft-3.522/225.03 mph, 1,000ft-4.467.

Left Lane: Cameron Ferre Runs 15.236/77.70, Now #9
Right Lane: Bill Litton Runs 5.447/262.23, Now #5

Ferre strikes the tires at the green.

Litton drops a hole or two near the lights and still runs into the number five spot.

Bill Litton's incremental times: 60ft-0.942 sec., 330ft-2.478, 660ft-3.635/216.76 mph, 1,000ft-4.606.

Left Lane: Megan McKernan Runs 5.374/266.95, Now #5
Right Lane: Garrett Bateman Runs 28.522/30.71, Now #12

Bateman's engine sounded terrible in the burnout. The crew chief takes a long time fiddling around, before the car goes up to stage. No joy though, as the the car stumbles off the line and coasts on down the track to the first turnout.

McKernan had to wait a long time, but still gets a representative pass into the #5 spot.

Megan McKernan's incremental times: 60ft-1.006 sec., 330ft-2.503, 660ft-3.614/225.41 mph, 1,000ft-4.556.

Left Lane: Shawn Cowie Runs 5.349/270.70, Now #6
Right Lane: Duane Shields Runs 5.236/271.13, Now #3

Cowie will be the first blown alcohol dragster of the session. He is off the line first and runs hard, but Shields drives on by on a better pass.

This was a great looking race.

Shawn Cowie's incremental times: 60ft-0.967 sec., 330ft-2.407, 660ft-3.543/216.90 mph, 1,000ft-4.519.
Duane Shields' incremental times: 60ft-0.914 sec., 330ft-2.365, 660ft-3.468/226.20 mph, 1,000ft-4.413.

Left Lane: Chris Demke Runs 5.263/275.11, Now #5
Right Lane: Joey Severance Runs 5.255/272.39, Now #4

They leave close together and run close together, right on down the track to wrap up qualifying for today.

Two strong passes and they end up number 4 for Severance and number 5 for Demke.

Chris Demke's incremental times: 60ft-0.924 sec., 330ft-2.358, 660ft-3.484/220.08 mph, 1,000ft-4.446.
Joey Severance's incremental times: 60ft-0.901 sec., 330ft-2.342, 660ft-3.466/219.58 mph, 1,000ft-4.431.

4:23 p.m. Don St. Arnaud is number one at 5.181 and Garrett Bateman is on the bump spot at 28.522.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink