Sun, 29 Oct 2017, 12:51 PM Top Alcohol Dragster Round 1 Eliminations

By Rick Green

LAS VEGAS - Results of round 1 eliminations in Top Alcohol Dragster 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
    6 Duane Shields                         706 Ashley Sanford               
E1   ****WINNER****  0.070  5.429 264.75                     0.091  5.448 271.79
 Qualified:             #5  5.316 270.27                       #12  5.379 270.92

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

Shields is 1 - 0 against Sanford in prior events.

Shields Started to shake and had a quick pedal job and then dropped a hole on the top end, but held on for the win. Duane Shields' MOV: 0.0407 seconds (approximately 16 feet).

Sanford with a clean pass in losing effort.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 1211 Justin Ashley                          17 Dan Mercier                  
E1   ****WINNER****  0.015  5.348 274.27                     0.065  5.331 270.81
 Qualified:             #7  5.359 270.16                       #10  5.377 270.37

This is the first time Ashley and Mercier have faced each other in eliminations.

Ashley with a great light and runs his quickest pass of the weekend for the win. Justin Ashley's MOV: 0.0334 seconds (approximately 13 feet).

Mercier with his quickest pass of the weekend in the losing effort.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    1 Joey Severance                         57 James Stevens                
E1   ****WINNER****  0.045  5.246 272.39                     0.066  5.413 239.87
 Qualified:             #2  5.281 269.46                       #15  5.436 262.69

Severance is 1 - 0 against Stevens in prior events.

Severance with the starting line advantage and then runs the quickest pass of the weekend for the win. He will have lane choice over Ashley in the next round.

Stevens with his quickest pass of the weekend in the losing effort.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    9 Jackie Fricke                        6843 Ken Webster                  
E1   ****WINNER****  0.088  5.329 264.91                     0.068  6.434 152.33
 Qualified:             #3  5.294 265.22                       #14  5.435 259.91

This is the first time Fricke and Webster have faced each other in eliminations.

Webster with the starting line advantage and then just before half track haze the tires and Fricke drove around him to take the win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    5 Chris Demke                          7402 Randy Eakins                 
E1   ****WINNER****  0.013  5.348 268.33                     0.061  5.404 264.23
 Qualified:             #4  5.312 268.38                       #13  5.413 266.79

Demke is 2 - 1 against Eakins in prior events.

Demke with a great light and never trailed for the win. Demke will have lane choice over Shields in the next round.

Eakins with his quickest pass of the weekend in the losing effort.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  450 Kirk Wolf                            7777 Bill Litton                  
E1   ****WINNER****  0.018  5.316 272.39                     0.099  5.423 275.39
 Qualified:             #6  5.336 270.27                       #11  5.378 273.00

This is the first time Wolf and Litton have faced each other in eliminations.

Wolf with a great light and runs his quickest pass of the weekend for the win...he never trailed. He will have lane choice over Fricke by 0.013 seconds in the next round.

Litton with a clean pass in the losing effort.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 725K Krista Baldwin                          7 Garrett Bateman              
E1   ****WINNER****  0.110  5.314 264.75                     0.059  5.384 260.66
 Qualified:             #8  5.361 266.21                        #9  5.366 269.13

Bateman is 1 - 0 against Baldwin in prior events.

Bateman with the starting line advantage, but Baldwin chases him down just before 1000 feet and takes the win in a close one. Krista Baldwin's MOV: 0.0190 seconds (approximately 7 feet). She runs her career quickest pass for the win.

Bateman with a good clean pass in the losing effort.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  724 Casey Grisel                            3 Shawn Cowie                  
E1                   0.053 18.689  63.84     ****WINNER****  0.094  5.282 273.27
 Qualified:            #16  5.439 258.02                        #1  5.273 270.37

This is the first time Grisel and Cowie have faced each other in eliminations.

Grissel with the starting line advantage, but is up in smoke right at the hit and clicks it off.

Cowie launched hard and kept it hooked up to take the win. He will have lane choice over Baldwin in the next round.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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