Tue, 10 Feb 2009, 05:16 PM Top Fuel Round 3 Eliminations

By David Gerard

POMONA, Calif. - Results of round 3 eliminations in Top Fuel at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 49th annual Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    7 Brandon Bernstein                       5 Antron Brown                 
E3                   0.068  9.268  80.92     ****WINNER****  0.074  3.778 312.78
 Prior rounds:
E2    (T Schumacher) 0.094  3.834 311.49      (M Strasburg ) 0.081 15.892  26.16
E1    (A Carter    ) 0.061  4.758 192.69      (S Faria     ) 0.090  4.222 279.79
 Qualified:             #4  3.866 317.42                        #1  3.708   NS  

2:07 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 64 degrees, relative humidity 25 percent, barometer 29.02 inches, adjusted altitude 1,712 feet, track temperature 81 degrees.

Bernstein gets a small advantage off the line and then has the slicks go up in smoke. He lifts and slowly drives down the track.

Brown hits a home run with a near perfect pass to run one of the quickest 1000 foot times.Antron Brown's incremental times: 60ft-0.831 sec., 330ft-2.113, 660ft-3.011/279.09 mph.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   22 Doug Kalitta                           34 Morgan Lucas                 
E3   ****WINNER****  0.098  3.825 313.95                     0.068  7.131 100.15
 Prior rounds:
E2    (C McClenatha) 0.077  3.826  27.38      (S Chrisman  ) 0.048  3.886 305.08
E1    (U Erbacher  ) 0.154  4.648 194.49      (J Hartley   ) 0.063  3.846 310.20
 Qualified:            #11  4.016   NS                         #15  4.548 270.81

Lucas makes a strong move off the line and then drops a hole and shakes the tires hard. He has to lift.

Kalitta gets the car from start to finish without any drama (or fire) for a clean win and a trip to the finals.

2:12 p.m. Brown will have lane choice.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink