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Fri, 27 Jun 2008, 03:20 PM

Competition Eliminator Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Larry Sullivan

NORWALK, Ohio - Notes from final, round 3 qualifying in Competition Eliminator at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, Second annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed this round, amount over/under index this round, position in order following run, best prior elapsed time, speed & over/under Index, and position in order prior to run:

Left Lane: Mauri Rose Runs 7.210/183.74/-0.300, Now #40; C/D Index: 7.51, Prior Best: 7.213/185.15/-0.297, Was #40
Right Lane: Mike Farrell Runs 11.396/86.83/3.496, Now #26; A/EA Index: 7.90, Prior Best: 7.476/176.97/-0.424, Was #26

2:51 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 85 degrees, relative humidity 55 percent, barometer 28.93 inches, adjusted altitude 3,692 feet, track temperature 124 degrees.
Jeff Wright is on the bump spot at -0.363.

Farrell shook and slowed almost immediately. No help for Rose and his weekend is over.

Left Lane: Robert Bailey Runs 6.735/200.71/-0.485, Now #11; A/ED Index: 7.22, Prior Best: 6.744/201.37/-0.476, Was #14
Right Lane: Bert Dawson Runs 8.366/160.94/-0.274, Now #39; F/AA Index: 8.64, Prior Best: 8.340/161.09/-0.300, Was #39

Nice run by Bailey in the heat of the day. No help for Dawson and he is also through for the weekend.

Left Lane: Glenn Butcher Runs 7.493/185.66/0.423, Now #43; A/PM Index: 7.07, Prior Best: 7.466/185.89/0.396, Was #43
Right Lane: Sal Biondo Runs 8.354/160.00/-0.436, Now #24; I/AA Index: 8.79, Prior Best: 8.448/149.07/-0.342, Was #37

Butcher improved for the second round in a row, still came up over his index and out of the field. Biondo improved enough to get safely into the field. Now Gary Merrick is on the bump spot at -0.377.

Left Lane: Anthony Bertozzi Runs 7.987/164.61/-0.493, Now #10; B/SR Index: 8.48, Prior Best: 7.987/165.60/-0.493, Was #10
Right Lane: Lonnie Johnson Runs 7.187/192.71/-0.453, Now #15; B/AA Index: 7.64, Prior Best: 7.171/193.13/-0.469, Was #15

bertozzi made a nice move up the l;adder on his final qualifying pass.

Left Lane: Larry Morgan Runs 7.087/195.11/-0.563, Now #5; B/A Index: 7.65, Prior Best: 7.249/194.35/-0.401, Was #28
Right Lane: Brian Browell Runs 7.269/182.60/-0.551, Now #8; D/D Index: 7.82, Prior Best: 7.279/182.75/-0.541, Was #7

Morgan made a huge improvement and moved way up near the top of the list, leapfrogging Browell.

Left Lane: Russ Kelly Runs 6.927/194.77/-0.393, Now #31; A/DA Index: 7.32, Prior Best: 6.963/193.46/-0.357, Was #36
Right Lane: Al Ackerman Runs 8.176/163.16/-0.514, Now #9; F/D Index: 8.69, Prior Best: 8.184/163.18/-0.506, Was #9

Ackerman had the sair scoop on this time around and he improved slightly. Kelly made enough of an improvement to get in, barely. Now Peter Biondo is on the bump spot at -0.392.

Left Lane: Scott Chamness Runs 6.591/205.76/-0.449, Now #21; A/D Index: 7.04, Prior Best: 6.601/205.29/-0.439, Was #24
Right Lane: Greg Kamplain Runs 7.189/185.61/-0.441, Now #19; C/DA Index: 7.63, Prior Best: 7.164/185.72/-0.466, Was #19

Chamness improved a hundredth, moved up three spots. Kamplain lost three hundredths, stayed put.

Left Lane: Bill Yates Runs 6.777/201.01/-0.443, Now #15; A/ED Index: 7.22, Prior Best: 6.743/201.31/-0.477, Was #15
Right Lane: Tom Schmidt Runs 8.581/157.14/-0.389, Now #22; C/T Index: 8.97, Prior Best: 8.522/158.46/-0.448, Was #22

No improvement for either driver, but both have been very consistent across their three runs.

Left Lane: Bruno Massel Runs 7.715/161.36/-0.335, Now #1; DD/AT Index: 8.05, Prior Best: 7.437/183.84/-0.613, Was #1

Massel had a very good run last round. The 60-foot time wasn't as good this time around and he shut it off early.

Left Lane: Rick Brown Runs 8.387/158.11/-0.543, Now #9; B/TA Index: 8.93, Prior Best: 8.466/157.43/-0.464, Was #20
Right Lane: Charlie Greco Runs 7.780/173.12/-0.500, Now #12; D/AA Index: 8.28, Prior Best: 7.797/172.52/-0.483, Was #13

"Boom Boom made another nice run and moved off the "lucky" 13th spot. Brown made a huge improvement and moved all the way to ninth.

Left Lane: Gary Merrick Runs 13.061/90.22/5.191, Now #33; C/ED Index: 7.87, Prior Best: 7.493/175.32/-0.377, Was #33
Right Lane: Donald Ksiezyk Runs 7.082/189.90/-0.108, Now #42; A/AA Index: 7.19, Prior Best: 7.053/190.14/-0.137, Was #42

Merrick was bumped from the field earlier in this session and his car died on the burnout, leaving him one spot out of the field. Wait - the engine is still running, but won't back up (and the trans-brake probably won't work either). Yup, the car came off the line early and then slowed. Ksiezyk needed a big step up, did not get it.

Left Lane: John Peto Runs 8.245/158.32/-0.155, Now #41; J/AA Index: 8.40, Prior Best: 8.243/158.46/-0.157, Was #41
Right Lane: Blake Alexander Runs 8.469/110.91/1.149, Now #38; A/AP Index: 7.32, Prior Best: 7.016/195.22/-0.304, Was #38

Alexander's car looked like it was going to do the job, but he slowed around half track. Peto's car was slow off the line, failed to improve. Both are done for the weekend.

Right Lane: Terry Smith No Time, Now #29; D/ED Index: 7.99, Prior Best: 7.592/173.87/-0.398, Was #29

Smith made the burnout, backed up, then pulled behind the wall.

Left Lane: Frank Affronti Runs 12.966/85.77/4.946, Now #35; C/AA Index: 8.02, Prior Best: 7.657/175.18/-0.363, Was #35
Right Lane: David Rampy Runs 7.637/144.40/-0.263, Now #4; A/EA Index: 7.90, Prior Best: 7.335/179.88/-0.565, Was #4

Affronti's car launched, headed for the wall, and he lifted. Rampy m,ade what looked like a planned half-pass.

Right Lane: Steven Kent Runs 7.988/169.42/-0.372, Now #26; E/A Index: 8.36, Prior Best: 7.926/171.18/-0.434, Was #26

No improvement for Kent.

Left Lane: Craig Bourgeois Runs 7.164/161.50/-0.486, Now #2; B/ND Index: 7.65, Prior Best: 7.045/184.65/-0.605, Was #2
Right Lane: Doug Doll Jr. Runs 8.389/156.17/-0.441, Now #25; F/ED Index: 8.83, Prior Best: 8.400/156.37/-0.430, Was #27

Doll ran it all the way through, moved up a couple spots. Bourgeois shut it off early, may have planned it that way.

Left Lane: Frank Cervelli No Time, Now #11; C/DA Index: 7.63, Prior Best: 7.126/185.84/-0.504, Was #11
Right Lane: Pat Ross Runs 8.292/162.14/-0.388, Now #23; F/A Index: 8.68, Prior Best: 8.232/162.27/-0.448, Was #23

Cervellis' car made the burnout, then stalled twice as he prepared to stage and he was pushed away.

Left Lane: Larry Pritchett Runs 9.071/116.72/0.391, Now #15; B/SM Index: 8.68, Prior Best: 8.198/166.74/-0.482, Was #15
Right Lane: Frank Aragona Runs 8.482/152.87/-0.408, Now #24; G/EA Index: 8.89, Prior Best: 8.445/152.35/-0.445, Was #24

Pritchett shut it off just half track. Aragona mran it all the way through, failed to improve.

Left Lane: Stephen Szupka Runs 8.351/157.43/-0.479, Now #16; F/ED Index: 8.83, Prior Best: 8.363/158.24/-0.467, Was #18

Szupka squeaked into the top half on his final effort.

Left Lane: Arnie Martel Runs 7.899/166.52/-0.581, Now #3; B/SR Index: 8.48, Prior Best: 7.924/165.52/-0.556, Was #6

Martel stepped up a couple hundredths-and-a-half and moved up three spots.

Left Lane: Peter Biondo Runs 8.022/169.78/-0.318, Now #32; B/SR Index: 8.34, Prior Best: 7.948/168.81/-0.392, Was #32

Last car - Biondo survived on the bump spot and stayed there - he will race Szupka in the first round.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink