Sun, 29 Oct 2017, 12:19 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Round 1 Eliminations

By Dave Rowe

LAS VEGAS - Results of round 1 eliminations in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 17th annual NHRA Toyota Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    4 Shane Westerfield                       6 Kris Hool                    
E1   ****WINNER****  0.054  5.580 265.80                     0.132  5.588 261.02
 Qualified:             #8  5.555 263.98                        #9  5.597 259.81

8:54 a.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 69 degrees, relative humidity 30 percent, barometer 27.73 inches, adjusted altitude 3,537 feet, track temperature 73 degrees.

Westerfield is 5 - 3 against Hool in prior events.

Westerfield gets out of the gate first, has to pedal about 300 feet out, then recovers and goes on through with a good pass. Hool goes down the groove with his quickest pass of the weekend but was falling behind all the way through the run.

Shane Westerfield's incremental margins: 60ft(0.092), 330 ft(0.050), 660ft(0.057), 1,000ft(0.072). MOV: 0.0864 seconds (approximately 33 feet).

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   65 Brian Hough                            77 Jay Payne                    
E1   ****WINNER****  0.066  5.617 262.69                     0.127  5.589 263.92
 Qualified:             #7  5.549 264.29                       #10  5.603 262.54

Payne is 10 - 3 against Hough in prior events.

Hough gets a big holeshot and starts to pull away. Payne leaves the line and starts making up ground and makes his quickest pass of the weekend. Hough was moving around in the middle of the run but hung on and took the win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    3 John Lombardo Jr.                    6180 Jirka Kaplan                 
E1   ****WINNER****  0.047  5.582 267.00                    -0.001  8.197 112.22
 Qualified:             #6  5.525 266.16                       #11  5.605 260.46

Lombardo Jr. is 1 - 0 against Kaplan in prior events.

Kaplan leaves a little too soon and goes red. He rattles the tires, pedals once, then gives up on the run. Lombardo has to pedal early in the run but makes a decent pass.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  800 Ulf Leanders                          799 Sean Bellemeur               
E1   ****WINNER****  0.051  5.498 264.08                     0.008  5.655 259.71
 Qualified:             #3  5.497 262.95                       #14  5.668 258.52

Leanders and Bellemeur have each won 2 times against the other in prior events.

Bellemeur gets out of the gate first, stays in front past the sixty foot mark, then Leanders goes around him and starts to pull away. Leanders makes a little move to the right, then back to the groove, and he goes on through to take the win.

Leanders will have lane choice over Lombardo in the next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    8 Annie Whiteley                        729 Nick Januik                  
E1                   0.088  5.480 269.83     ****WINNER****  0.028  5.487 264.75
 Qualified:             #2  5.491 268.71                       #15  5.684 259.06

Whiteley is 2 - 1 against Januik in prior events.

Januik gets the holeshot and starts pulling away. Whiteley is able to start making up ground past the 330m foot mark but quickly runs out of race track. Whiteley makes the quickest pass of the weekend in the loss.

Januik will have lane choice over Hough in the next round.

Nick Januik's incremental margins: 60ft(0.072), 330 ft(0.101), 660ft(0.093), 1,000ft(0.071). MOV: 0.0536 seconds (approximately 21 feet).

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  791 Larry Dixon                            10 Steve Gasparrelli            
E1   ****WINNER****  0.080  5.470 265.33                     0.054 No Time      
 Qualified:             #4  5.508 263.41                       #13  5.651 259.66

This is the first time Dixon and Gasparrelli have faced each other in eliminations.

Gasparrelli hits the throttle, rattles the tires and gives up on the run. He comes to a stop before the finish line and does not receive a time.

Dixon made a move to the right, then back to the left, then goes on through with the quickest pass of the weekend to take the win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  636 Ray Martin                           676M Chris Marshall               
E1   ****WINNER****  0.080  5.598 260.61                     0.095  5.881 237.84
 Qualified:            #12  5.626 258.71                        #5  5.523 263.10

This is the first time Martin and Marshall have faced each other in eliminations.

Martin gets the holeshot and goes right down the groove with his quickest pass of the weekend. Marshall had problems near the end of the run and was off the throttle early.

Dixon will have lane choice over Martin in round two.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  721 Chip Beverett                           2 Doug Gordon                  
E1                   0.031  5.665 256.84     ****WINNER****  0.081  5.518 265.53
 Qualified:            #16  5.737 256.41                        #1  5.488 267.75

Gordon is 1 - 0 against Beverett in prior events.

Beverett gets out of the gate first, drifts to the left, then back to the right. Gordon goes right down the groove, gets around Beverett just past the sixty foot mark and pulls away for the win.

Doug Gordon's incremental margins (negative if behind): 60ft(-0.008), 330 ft(0.019), 660ft(0.034), 1,000ft(0.067). MOV: 0.0973 seconds (approximately 37 feet).

Gordon will have lane choice over Westerfield in the next round.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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