Sun, 30 Jul 2006, 06:45 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Round 3 Eliminations

By Rick Green

SONOMA, Calif. - Results of round 3 eliminations in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 19th annual FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 6237 Roger Bateman                          76 John Weaver                  
E3   ****WINNER****  0.066  5.637 254.38                     0.099  5.720 252.19
 Prior rounds:
E2    (B Hough     ) 0.175  5.617 255.63      (J Payne     ) 0.095  5.656 254.90
E1    (D Gordon    ) 0.093  5.637 255.39      (B Austin    ) 0.351  5.693 252.28
 Qualified:             #3  5.611 254.52                        #7  5.650 253.90

Bateman is out of the gate first and never looked back to take the win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   64 Clint Thompson                          3 Steve Gasparrelli            
E3   ****WINNER****  0.058  5.641 253.47                     0.064  5.649 257.53
 Prior rounds:
E2    (S Bellemeur ) 0.057  5.606 257.28      (R August Jr ) 0.096  8.648 104.09
E1    (D Taylor    ) 0.067  5.636 256.80      (K Kraus     ) 0.118  5.646 257.92
 Qualified:            #13  5.722 254.14                        #8  5.663 257.58

Thompson with a slight starting line advantage and real nice pass to take home the win by 0.0147 seconds (approximately 6 feet). Thompson will give up lane choice to Bateman in the final.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink