Sun, 28 Oct 2001, 07:22 PM LAS VEGAS 2 - Top Fuel Final, Round 4 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

LAS VEGAS - Results of final, round 4 eliminations in Top Fuel at the Inaugural AC Delco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals:

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   2 Kenny Bernstein     4.543 326.08  Q    4 Darrell Russell     4.576 322.11
   (D Herbert   ) 0.482  4.555 324.67  E1   (S Weis      ) 0.489  5.457 265.01
   (T Schumacher) 0.506  4.567 321.12  E2   (C Millican  ) 0.507  5.899 254.33
   (D Kalitta   ) 0.467  4.581 324.83  E3   (D Lampus    ) 0.493  4.589 319.37
                  0.445  4.689 308.78  E4 *****WINNER***** 0.476  4.602 319.67

4:13 PM Bernstein won both previous events at "The Strip," but his record against Russell this year was only 4-3 prior to this round. This was Bernstein's 11th final round appearance this season, with seven prior event wins. It's his 104th final round appearance, 56th in Top Fuel, and his 900th round of eliminations in NHRA Funny Car and Top Fuel. This was Russell's seventh final round of his rookie season, with one prior win.

Russell evened the score and the race was all you could ask, Bernstein away first with a great light, but his car was loose, getting very sideways twice during the run, and then he dropped a cylinder on the top end, while Russell's car was on all eight all the way down the groove, catching Bernstein at half track. Margin of victory = 0.056 seconds (approximately 25 feet). Bernstein leaves with a 54 point lead over Dixon, a tough hurdle with just one event left in the season.

NHRA's 505th national event is history and it was a good one.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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