Sun, 11 Apr 2010, 02:14 PM Top Fuel Round 2 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

BAYTOWN, Texas - Results of round 2 eliminations in Top Fuel at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 23rd annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    5 Brandon Bernstein                      34 Morgan Lucas                 
E2                         No Time           ****WINNER****  0.100  9.202  83.89
 Prior rounds:
E1    (T Schumacher) 0.038  4.004 309.06      (S Torrence  ) 0.123  3.965 305.29
 Qualified:            #14  4.040 298.47                       #11  3.939 296.63

1:00 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 78 degrees, relative humidity 54 percent, barometer 30.17 inches, adjusted altitude 1,690 feet, track temperature 116 degrees.

Bernstein is 8 - 6 against Lucas in prior events, but it's 2-4 in Bernstein's favor in round two meetings.

There's luck, and there's bad luck. This was bad luck for Bernstein, unable to back up after the burnout, but good luck for Lucas. Bernstein drove it out the other end to clear the track, then watched helplessly as Lucas went up in smoke immediately.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    4 Cory McClenathan                       22 Doug Kalitta                 
E2   ****WINNER****  0.074  3.857 321.12                     0.042  4.279 286.80
 Prior rounds:
E1    (T Zizzo     ) 0.085  3.878 315.05      (B Lagana    ) 0.113  4.209 298.67
 Qualified:             #5  3.837 317.27                        #4  3.829 322.34

Kalitta is 24 - 15 against McClenathan in prior events, 10-5 in round 2 meetings.

Kalitta left first, but only led for about 100 feet before going up in smoke while Cory Mac sailed down the track once again on a smooth, strong run.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    3 Antron Brown                          333 Shawn Langdon                
E2   ****WINNER****  0.077  3.964 303.37                     0.051  4.806 166.39
 Prior rounds:
E1    (S Massey    ) 0.065  3.858 315.27      (T Buff      ) 0.055  5.325 196.47
 Qualified:             #2  3.777 318.09                        #7  3.860 314.24

Brown is 2 - 1 against Langdon in prior events, but is 01 against him in round two.

Brown's RPMs spiked way up on the burnout, almost like the throttle stop fell off (or wasn't there at all). As usual, Langdon was first off the line, but he, too, lost traction about 200 feet out while Brown went right down the track - a little off his usual pace, but more than enough to win and earn lane choice against Lucas in the semifinals.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    2 Larry Dixon                            44 David Grubnic                
E2   ****WINNER****  0.113  3.854 314.68                     0.114  6.910  88.12
 Prior rounds:
E1    (D Cox       ) 0.008  3.853 316.15      (T McMillen  ) 0.079  3.871 318.92
 Qualified:             #1  3.772 323.19                        #9  3.916 312.71

Dixon is 23 - 9 against Grubnic in prior events, 9-3 in round two. Both drivers made good runs in the first round, so this had the makings of a good race.

Grubnic's car was a little sluggish on the launch, then lost traction, while Dixon made another nice run, low ET of the round, to get lane choice against Cory Mac (who had the second-quickest run) in the semifinals.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink