Sun, 13 Oct 2002, 04:19 PM Top Fuel Round 3 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

ENNIS, Texas - Results of round 3 eliminations in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 17th annual O'Reilly Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec:

Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   3 Rhonda Hartman-Smi  4.608 318.24  Q   10 Cory McClenathan    4.651 314.46
   (J Head      ) 0.520  4.647 313.91  E1   (T Schumacher) 0.485  4.588 322.00
   (D Russell   ) 0.513  4.660 307.06  E2   (D Herbert   ) 0.508  4.602 315.01
                  0.000 No Data        E3 *****WINNER***** 0.595 10.132  82.25

3:07 PM It's 63 degrees, 60 percent relative humidity, the barometer 30.38 and falling, the track temperature 81 degrees, under overcast skies.

Cory Mac was 4-1 against Hartman-Smith in prior races this season. Making it 5-1 was easy because Hartman-Smith's car stopped on the track at the end of the burnout and she climbed over the wall to clear the track for Cory Mac's run. He launched hard, with a 0.861 60-foot time, then the engine went silent and he coasted through.

Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   5 Kenny Bernstein     4.612 322.69  Q    8 Doug Kalitta        4.625 323.74
   (J Smith     ) 0.469  4.620 320.97  E1   (C Millican  ) 0.410  4.587 320.39
   (L Dixon Jr  ) 0.452  4.601 321.54  E2   (A Cowin     ) 0.483  4.567 323.27
                  0.478  5.886 203.71  E3 *****WINNER***** 0.474  5.468 289.29

Bernstein was 5-1 against Kalitta in prior races this year, but Kalitta has been on a hot streak lately and was a clear favorite based on his first two runs today. Kalitta was lined up in the left lane, then elected to switch. The race was a good old-fashioned pedaling contest. Kalitta was up in smoke first, but recovered better and managed to get hooked back up again, while Bernstein's tires never did regain traction. Realistically, that puts a big dent in bernstein's title hopes because he now trails Dixon by 108 points with just two races left. Kalitta will have lane choice against Cory Mac in the finals.

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