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Fri, 14 Nov 2008, 03:34 PM

Top Alcohol Dragster Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By David Gerard

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 44th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time/top speed this round, position in order following run, best prior elapsed time/speed, and position in order prior to run:

Left Lane: Larry Miersch Runs 5.602/246.03, Now #14; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Brandon Lewis Runs 5.416/249.03, Now #7; Best prior run: 12.603/59.77, Was #20

11:49 a.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 74 degrees, relative humidity 36 percent, barometer 28.89 inches, adjusted altitude 2,693 feet, track temperature 91 degrees.
Brandon Johnson is on the bump spot at 5.821.

All right! Both cars make full pulls after problems yesterday. Lewis' car was dropping cylinders in the lights and still moves in to the top eight spots.

Left Lane: Michael Manners Runs 5.860/251.86, Now #20; Best prior run: 15.908/70.51, Was #22
Right Lane: Mark Niver Runs 5.459/264.65, Now #10; Best prior run: 8.436/147.62, Was #20

Mike Austin is on the bump spot at 5.611. Both A/FD cars smokes the tires yesterday. Manners leaves hard, shakes the tires, pumps it, and flies on down the track to miss the bump. Niver had a clean pass to the lights and moves well up the ladder to the new #10 spot.

Left Lane: Joey Severance Runs 5.424/264.08, Now #8; Best prior run: 9.200/79.34, Was #22
Right Lane: Cody Perkins Runs 14.339/52.13, Now #22; Best prior run: 6.052/175.37, Was #21

Justin Davis is on the bump spot at 5.609. These two blown cars had problems yesterday too. Perkins just cooks the tires at the green, whileSeverance gets a clean pass to take over the new #8 spot. Nice run!

Left Lane: Justin Davis Runs 5.500/261.42, Now #15; Best prior run: 5.609/222.91, Was #17
Right Lane: Brandon Johnson Runs 5.568/257.48, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.821/253.52, Was #20

Larry Miersch is on the bump spot at 5.602. Both cars had good passes for Thursday and find themselves out of the field today. Holes out for Johnson. He got there first and qualified and then was bumped by Davis' better ET.

Left Lane: Shawn Cowie Runs 5.418/263.36, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.556/262.08, Was #16
Right Lane: Johnny Ahten Runs 5.279/260.86, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.637/252.71, Was #20

Shawn Cowie is on the bump spot at 5.556 after winning the Vegas LODRS event on Monday. Shocker! Ahten goes to the top of the ladder with career best ET and MPH. The engine gave up in the lights, but no oil on the track. Cowie gets his power to the track to move up and just miss the top half of the field.

Left Lane: Del Cox Jr. Runs 5.433/266.85, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.499/257.24, Was #16
Right Lane: Mike Austin Runs 5.577/257.24, Now #19; Best prior run: 5.611/254.38, Was #20

Del Cox Jr. is on the bump spot at 5.499 after dropping cylinders yesterday. Outside of a little puff of smoke in the lights,he makes a good pass into the number eleven spot. Lots of shake for Austin and he will not qualify in this session.

Left Lane: Marty Thacker Runs 5.447/263.92, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.443/258.52, Was #12
Right Lane: Randy Eakins Runs 10.511/73.74, Now #16; Best prior run: 5.492/250.69, Was #16

WOW! Thacker has a 0.935 sixty foot time with the front wheels in the air to near the 330 lights. Eakins is done by 100 feet out.

Left Lane: Brittany Force Runs 5.526/261.93, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.416/265.80, Was #7
Right Lane: Bobby Mirizio Runs 5.471/263.10, Now #15; Best prior run: 5.476/262.23, Was #15

Another near career best for Mirizio, but Brittany's engine isn't happy and slows on the top end.

Left Lane: Chris Demke Runs 5.395/261.27, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.340/261.88, Was #4
Right Lane: Duane Shields Runs 5.529/267.85, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.457/271.24, Was #13

Shields has traction problems again and slows. Demke gets the full pull to run close to his prior times.

Left Lane: Bill Reichert No Time, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.340/273.55, Was #3
Right Lane: Jim Whiteley Runs 5.488/260.36, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.408/265.74, Was #6

Hmmm... Reichert's car is shut off at the end of the burn out and they push him back behind the line. Whiteley hits the Rev limiter at the shift and doesn't improve.

12:18 p.m. The track cleaner is out to suck up Reichert's mess.

Left Lane: Courtney Force Runs 5.561/254.23, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.282/263.62, Was #2
Right Lane: Kimmelyn Buff Pesz Runs 5.427/269.08, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.392/266.16, Was #5

12:29 p.m. ...and we are back. Two ladies get to qualify this time. The field is set and this will be the last pair of the session. Both cars are shaking off the line and Pesz's engine is dropping cylinders down track. Randy Eakins is on the bump spot at 5.492.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink