Sat, 26 Sep 2015, 11:16 AM Competition Eliminator Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Dave Rowe

MADISON, Ill. - Notes from final, round 3 qualifying in Competition Eliminator at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, Fourth annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed this round, amount over/under index this round, position in order following run, best prior elapsed time, speed & over/under Index, and position in order prior to run:

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Left Lane: Tony Pontillo Runs 6.885/192.77/-0.475, Now #18; B/DA Index: 7.36, Prior Best: 6.881/192.85/-0.479, Was #18
Right Lane: Art Hodges Runs 7.312/186.59/-0.548, Now #11; C/A Index: 7.86, Prior Best: 7.300/186.48/-0.560, Was #11

9:58 a.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 74 degrees, relative humidity 59 percent, barometer 29.70 inches, adjusted altitude 1,905 feet, track temperature 88 degrees.

Pontillo and Hodges both run near their qualifying times but neither improves.

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Left Lane: Jeremy Bailey Runs 6.910/196.59/-0.450, Now #19; B/DA Index: 7.36, Prior Best: 6.931/195.05/-0.429, Was #20

Bailey makes his quickest pass of the weekend and moves up a spot in the order.

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Left Lane: Jim Greenheck Runs 7.218/187.03/-0.652, Now #2; C/AA Index: 7.87, Prior Best: 7.229/186.56/-0.641, Was #4
Right Lane: David Billingsley Runs 8.665/155.67/-0.605, Now #8; L/A Index: 9.27, Prior Best: 8.689/154.72/-0.581, Was #10

Greenheck makes his quickest pass of the weekend and moves up to the second spot for now. Billingsley improves and moves up a couple of spots in the order.

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Left Lane: Patrick Ross Sr. Runs 8.074/168.94/-0.466, Now #19; F/A Index: 8.54, Prior Best: 8.102/168.26/-0.438, Was #20
Right Lane: Travis Gusso No Time, Now #12; E/SM Index: 9.00, Prior Best: 8.441/160.23/-0.559, Was #12

Gusso has problems early and is off the throttle before he reaches the 330 foot mark. Ross improves and moves up a spot in the order.

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Left Lane: Doug Engels Runs 7.045/187.26/-0.715, Now #1; D/D Index: 7.76, Prior Best: 7.278/164.01/-0.482, Was #17
Right Lane: Greg Kamplain Runs 6.802/194.27/-0.648, Now #5; B/ED Index: 7.45, Prior Best: 6.860/192.38/-0.590, Was #10

Engels makes an impressive run and moves all the way to the top spot for now. Kamplain improves and moves up to the fifth spot.

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Left Lane: Ray Skillman Runs 7.524/178.40/-0.646, Now #4; B/EA Index: 8.17, Prior Best: 7.521/177.98/-0.649, Was #4
Right Lane: Craig Bourgeois Runs 6.908/181.37/-0.612, Now #10; B/ND Index: 7.52, Prior Best: 7.034/187.08/-0.486, Was #16

Bourgeois improves and moves up to the tenth spot. No improvement for Skillman.

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Left Lane: Keith Mawhee Runs 7.668/176.74/-0.582, Now #13; D/A Index: 8.25, Prior Best: 7.709/176.03/-0.541, Was #15
Right Lane: Todd Patterson Runs 7.790/173.45/-0.650, Now #4; A/SMA Index: 8.44, Prior Best: 7.815/173.01/-0.625, Was #7

Mawhee improves and goes up to the 13th spot. Patterson makes his quickest pass of the weekend and moves up to the fourth spot.

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Left Lane: Robert Bailey Runs 6.563/206.64/-0.647, Now #7; A/ED Index: 7.21, Prior Best: 6.608/204.70/-0.602, Was #12
Right Lane: Doug Warren Runs 6.675/209.14/-0.395, Now #22; A/DA Index: 7.07, Prior Best: 7.838/201.52/0.768, Was #23

Warren makes a big improvement but only moves up one spot in the order. Bailey makes his quickest pass of the weekend to move up to the seventh spot for now.

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Left Lane: Mark Kirkman Runs 6.597/206.80/-0.473, Now #9; A/DA Index: 7.07, Prior Best: 6.452/206.51/-0.618, Was #9
Right Lane: Frank Cervelli Runs 6.825/195.19/-0.535, Now #16; B/DA Index: 7.36, Prior Best: 6.878/192.08/-0.482, Was #17

Cervelli improves and moves up a spot in the order. No help for Kirkman.

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Left Lane: Troy Galbraith Runs 6.722/189.42/-0.638, Now #8; B/DA Index: 7.36, Prior Best: 6.716/197.48/-0.644, Was #8
Right Lane: Brian Stufflebeam Runs 9.064/101.67/1.244, Now #23; A/EA Index: 7.82, Prior Best: 7.484/155.26/-0.336, Was #23

Stufflebeam has problems late in the run and is off the throttle early. No improvement for Galbraith.

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Right Lane: Chad Voges Runs 7.731/149.86/-0.509, Now #10; K/AA Index: 8.24, Prior Best: 7.627/158.95/-0.613, Was #10

No improvement for Voges and he will stay in the tenth spot.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink