Mon, 7 Sep 2009, 09:46 PM Bateman Moves Into 2nd Place after "The Big Go"

Courtesy of Jeffrey Porth

CLERMONT, Ind. -- No one wants to race for second place. The only person that is remembered is the champion and second place is usually just a footnote in the record books. Roger Bateman and the DocsHoliday.com Top Alcohol Funny Car team are moving into that spot after this weekend's MAC Tools US Nationals presented by Lucas Oil. Unfortunately, they will not catch the perennial front-runner and class juggernaut, Frank Manzo for first, but can take solace in the fact that they have a very good racecar; the second best racecar in the nation. "We gained some points this weekend and are now solidly in second place", car chief Todd Murray stated. He also continued to say, "The car is running well on the different tracks that it sees".

Roger and crew ran a 5.620 second elapsed time at over 254 mph to qualify the car fifth Friday but were ultimately bumped down to seventh after Saturday's final session. "With no runs (due to rain) for us Sunday morning, at least we still have lane choice", Car owner Dr. Brian Friesen commented. As mentioned the team held the all important lane choice going into the first round of eliminations Sunday evening. Roger would face Cheswick, PA native Brian Harvanek who was in the program as an alternate in place of Roger's original opponent Steve Bruck.

Roger and crew set the car up to run "A to B", and took the win, defeating the Pennsylvanian 5.603/ 253.42 to a slower 5.762/ 247.11. The team made the fastest run of their weekend and had the third fastest run of that round of eliminations. The team held the choice of lanes Monday afternoon where they would face Steve Harker. Monday was a different story for the team as the track was hotter as the midday sun was shining down on the fabled facility. The team has faced off against the transplanted Australian that now resides in Gainesville, GA on numerous occasions in the past. They have a fairly even record, so there is no bad blood between the two competitors. "We have a great deal of respect for Steve and his team" Roger commented. "They are a great bunch of people!"

Roger and Steve staged and the Calgarian got the jump off of the starting line. All things seemed to be in the Friesen Motorsports favor until the car nosed over just near the finish line and Harker took the narrow win. Roger ran a respectable 5.622/ 249.35 but Steve ran a better 5.602/ 255.92 pass for the win. "We burnt a spark plug on that run and that is why the car nosed over", Murray stated. "We were leading everywhere in that race but where it counted". The team had one of those fluky parts failures that just happen in racing. Now the team will pack up and head west for the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event in Earlville, IA next weekend that will wrap up the West Central Division's schedule for the season. Hopefully Roger and crew will add to their point totals in both the division and national standings.