Sun, 18 May 2008, 06:04 PM Top Fuel Round 3 Eliminations

By Rick Green

BRISTOL, Tenn. - Results of round 3 eliminations in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, Eighth annual O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals presented by Q:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   91 Larry Dixon                             3 Brandon Bernstein            
E3   ****WINNER****  0.047  4.555 317.05                     0.086  4.600 322.88
 Prior rounds:
E2    (T Buff      ) 0.043  4.631 300.73      (D Kalitta   ) 0.088  4.545 326.71
E1    (D Herbert   ) 0.049  4.621 316.23      (B Vandergrif) 0.094  4.586 324.44
 Qualified:            #10  4.586 321.19                        #6  4.571 328.86

Bernstein is 14 - 6 against Dixon in prior events, and Bernstein holds a three to one advantage in semifinal match ups. Dixon with the starting line advantage and never looked back to go to his third final round of the year. Dixon with his quickest pass of the weekend. Larry Dixon's incremental times: 60ft-0.845 sec., 330ft-2.162, 660ft-3.078/274.11mph, 1,000ft-3.861 Bernstein with a good pass in a losing effort.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    1 Tony Schumacher                        48 Hillary Will                 
E3   ****WINNER****  0.062  4.501 329.50                     0.077 10.925  78.27
 Prior rounds:
E2    (J Todd      ) 0.067  4.511 321.42      (A Brown     ) 0.070  4.541 319.14
E1    (A Bradshaw  ) 0.069  4.514 325.45      (C McClenatha) 0.079  4.555 320.43
 Qualified:             #1  4.502 327.43                        #5  4.570 323.50

This is a rematch of the semifinal in St. Louis two weeks ago, and Schumacher won that one. Will is up in smoke as soon as she hit the throttle. Schumacher launched hard and keep it hooked up all the down the 1320. Tony Schumacher's incremental times: 60ft-0.850 sec., 330ft-2.149, 660ft-3.054/277.37mph, 1,000ft-3.829 Schumacher with the quickest pass of the weekend and he will have lane choice over Dixon in the final.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink