Sun, 18 May 2003, 03:09 PM Competition Eliminator Round 3 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. - Results of round 3 eliminations in Competition Eliminator at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 34th annual K&N Filters SuperNationals presented by Pep Boys:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET-- (+/-)-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET-- (+/-)
 1262 Kevin Houghtaling                    1144 Billy Griffin
E3                   0.042  8.856 -0.584     ****WINNER****  0.035  8.135 -0.635
       F/SM Index: 9.44                          F/AA Index: 8.77
 Prior rounds:
E2    (G Vignogna  ) 0.013  8.933 -0.617      (V Smeland   ) 0.058  8.665 -0.105
E1    (R Hope      ) -0.017 16.419  6.869      (D Bartucci  ) 0.224  8.262 -0.618
 Qualified:             #8  8.848 -0.702                        #4  8.126 -0.754

2:54 PM It's still overcast, 60 degrees, 37 percent relative humidity, the barometer 29.91.

Both drivers came in with -0.11 CIC adjustments in prior rounds, Houghtaling in round 2, Griffin round 1. Griffin took another huge bite out of his index to get the win here, Billy Griffin's MOV: 0.0583 seconds (approximately 12 feet).

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET-- (+/-)-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET-- (+/-)
 7406 Vinnie Deceglie                      1985 Don Eckel
E3   ****WINNER****  0.038  6.619 -0.661                     0.074  7.016 -0.594
        A/A Index: 7.28                           C/D Index: 7.61
 Prior rounds:
E2    (A Armstrong ) 0.222 10.649  3.369      (A Ackerman  ) 0.030  8.350  0.740
E1    (T Ekroth    ) 0.045  7.275 -0.005      (K Nowling   ) 0.110  7.273 -0.337
 Qualified:            #11  6.625 -0.655                       #15  6.989 -0.621

These two came in with their indexes intact. That won't be true next round, Deceglie giving up -.16 for the event and -.05 on Monday.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET-- (+/-)-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET-- (+/-)
 1981 Stephen Szupka                        170 Douglas Harris
E3                   0.097  7.343 -0.527     ****WINNER****  0.081  8.321 -0.519
       C/ED Index: 7.87                          B/TA Index: 8.84
 Prior rounds:
E2    (P Ross      ) 0.036  7.684 -0.186      (F Aragona Jr) 0.026  8.338 -0.592
E1    (J Aloisio   ) 0.117  7.361 -0.649      (J Carnascial) 0.114  8.426 -0.694
 Qualified:            #14  7.382 -0.628                        #2  8.327 -0.793

Szupka came in -0.14 in prior CIC, Harris -0.28. He won anyway, losing another hundredth.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET-- (+/-)-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET-- (+/-)
 1780 Gerry Russo                            19 Michele Costa
E3   ****WINNER****  0.035  8.705 -0.635                     0.085  8.966 -0.684
      E/SMA Index: 9.34                           G/D Index: 9.65
 Prior rounds:
E2    (C Westcott J) 0.031  8.834 -0.556      (B Rossi     ) 0.133  9.771  0.121
E1    (J Mahoney   ) 0.108  9.004 -0.386                     0.068  9.149 -0.681
 Qualified:            #13  8.751 -0.639                        #1  8.985 -0.845

Russo came in -0.05 with CICs, Costa -0.18 (on a bye run). She went -0.68 on her adjusted index in a losing effort, Russo with the better light, but Russo had to give up another -0.13 to get the win light, so he, too, will lose a bunch of index on Monday. Gerry Russo's MOV: 0.0012 seconds (approximately 3 inches). In the semifinals it's Russo vs Deceglie and Harris vs Griffin, all four drivers at least -0.15 in CIC penalties.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink