Sun, 17 Feb 2013, 19:00 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Round 3 Eliminations

By Rick Green

POMONA, Calif. - Results of round 3 eliminations in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 53rd annual O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals presented by Super Start Batteries:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   78 Doug Gordon                           766 Jason Rupert                 
E3                   0.047 11.169  75.41     ****WINNER****  0.015  5.638 255.97
 Prior rounds:
E2    (J Payne     ) 0.065  5.773 256.36      (B Williamson) 0.037  5.714 255.39
E1    (T Bartone   ) 0.032  5.590 257.19      (K Ray       ) 0.025  5.640 255.39
 Qualified:            #10  5.685 256.84                       #11  5.716 253.80

Weather conditions: air temperature 68 degrees, relative humidity 37 percent, barometer 28.80 inches, adjusted altitude 2,338 feet, track temperature 89 degrees.

Gordon is 2 - 0 against Rupert in prior events. Rupert with a great light and never trailed as Gordon shook hard and clicked it off.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    5 John Lombardo Jr.                       9 Steve Gasparrelli            
E3   ****WINNER****  0.087  5.532 260.66                     0.049 No Time      
 Prior rounds:
E2    (S Westerfiel) 0.020  5.514 259.56      (B Harrington) 0.044  5.582 259.21
E1    (S Bellemeur ) 0.052  5.533 262.33      (M Woznichak ) 0.058  5.662 258.32
 Qualified:             #9  5.647 257.83                       #13  5.788 252.57

Lombardo Jr. is 4 - 1 against Gasparrelli in prior events. Gasparrelli with the starting line advantage, but then the car shook and made a move toward the centerline and he crossed over into Lombardo Jr.'s lane before driving back into his lane and collecting 1000-foot cone. Lombardo Jr. with a real nice pass and he will have lane choice over Rupert in the final.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink