Sun, 11 Feb 2007, 07:16 PM Top Alcohol Dragster Round 2 Eliminations

By David Gerard

POMONA, Calif. - Results of round 2 eliminations in Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 47th annual CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  712 Larry Miersch                        7438 Morgan Lucas                 
E2   ****WINNER****  0.021  5.307 267.85                     0.063  5.307 267.91
 Prior rounds:
E1    (S O'Bannon  ) 0.022  5.363 263.15      (J Veale     ) 0.076  5.263 274.16
 Qualified:             #9  5.356 262.03                        #1  5.124 277.09

3:56 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 62 degrees, relative humidity 49 percent, barometer 29.04 inches, adjusted altitude 1,429 feet, track temperature 72 degrees.

Miersch does it again with a much better RT to take the win. Both cars run the same ET, but Lucas is 17 feet behind at the strip. That's a career best ET and MPH for Miersch.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  777 Mark Niver                             77 Cody Perkins                 
E2   ****WINNER****  0.065  5.389 265.80                     0.019  6.067 236.96
 Prior rounds:
E1    (J Isbell    ) 0.073  6.342 194.58      (C Demke     ) 0.029  5.352 265.43
 Qualified:             #4  5.316 271.08                        #5  5.333 264.86

Perkins is away first and has a lot of shake. Niver just thunders on past before the 330 lights and takes the easy win. Miersch will get lane choice next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 7402 Randy Eakins                           63 Brandon Johnson              
E2                   0.129  5.675 233.20     ****WINNER****  0.078  5.284 261.07
 Prior rounds:
E1    (D Shields   ) 0.117  5.556 235.89      (G Tacke     ) 0.090  5.384 258.47
 Qualified:            #15  5.569 239.02                        #7  5.342 266.79

Wire to wire win for Johnson with a career best ET. Looks like they are likely to stay with the new A/FD combination for a while . Eakins misses the tree and can't run his prior best.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   62 Garrett Bateman                      7310 Chris Perl                   
E2   ****WINNER****  0.181 13.920  72.69                           No Time      
 Prior rounds:
E1    (B Pierce    ) 0.083  5.534 248.93      (D Hitchman  ) 0.061  5.750 261.32
 Qualified:            #11  5.397 258.86                        #3  5.272 266.32

Perl gets the yips after a long wait for Bateman to stage and double pumps the throttle and leaves before the tree. Bateman adds insult to injury by smoking the tires at the hit! I guess he won't get lane choice over Johnson next round.

4:11 p.m.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink