Sun, 23 May 2010, 01:24 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Round 2 Eliminations

By Rick Green

TOPEKA, Kan. - Results of round 2 eliminations in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 22nd annual O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals presented by Castrol GTX:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 710D Alexis De Joria                         5 Roger Bateman                
E2                   0.061  5.960 250.78     ****WINNER****  0.008  5.782 249.26
 Prior rounds:
E1    (L Van Hauen ) 0.134  5.716 251.81      (J Lombardo J) 0.049  5.761 245.94
 Qualified:             #2  5.652 257.43                       #10  5.734 247.20

Weather conditions: air temperature 81 degrees, relative humidity 69 percent, barometer 28.67 inches, adjusted altitude 3,903 feet, track temperature 99 degrees.

This is the first time De Joria and Bateman have faced each other in eliminations. Bateman went in deep, not sure if he meant to go in deep, but then had a great light. Bateman with a real nice pass for the win. DeJoria started to shake and pedaled it, but could chase him down.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    3 Sean O'Bannon                           8 Jay Payne                    
E2                   0.039  5.827 250.13     ****WINNER****  0.051  5.721 251.91
 Prior rounds:
E1    (B Carlson   ) 0.058  5.715 251.06      (S Burck     ) 0.029  5.717 252.05
 Qualified:             #3  5.656 255.87                        #6  5.691 253.90

O'Bannon is 2 - 1 against Payne in prior events. O'Bannon with the starting line advantage, but Payne chases him down by about 200 feet. Jay Payne's MOV: 0.0947 seconds (approximately 35 feet). Payne will have lane choice over Bateman in the semifinal.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    7 Chris Foster                            9 Steve Gasparrelli            
E2                   0.060  5.717 252.66     ****WINNER****  0.035  5.690 252.47
 Prior rounds:
E1    (R Kanenwishe) 0.159  5.718 251.06      (V Moats     ) 0.053  5.684 252.10
 Qualified:             #4  5.673 252.52                        #5  5.690 254.76

This is the first time Foster and Gasparrelli have faced each other in eliminations. Gasparrelli is out of the gate first and never trailed for the win by 0.0520 seconds (approximately 19 feet).

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   73 Doug Gordon                          6345 Clint Thompson               
E2                   0.045  5.708 253.66     ****WINNER****  0.019  5.661 252.80
 Prior rounds:
E1    (S Westerfiel) 0.026  5.768 250.18      (K Williams  ) 0.111  5.710 253.28
 Qualified:             #1  5.646 257.97                        #8  5.694 243.59

Thompson is 3 - 1 against Gordon in prior events. Thompson is out of the gate first and then runs the quickest pass of the round and his his quickest of the event for the win. Thompson will have lane choice over Gasparrelli in the semifinal.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink