Sat, 13 Feb 2016, 19:17 PM Top Fuel Harley Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Larry Sullivan

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from final, round 3 qualifying in Top Fuel Harley at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 56th annual Circle K NHRA Winternationals listing lane, rider name, elapsed time/top speed this round, position in order following run, best prior elapsed time/speed, and position in order prior to run:

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Left Lane: Mike Pelrine Runs 6.866/176.53, Now #3; Best prior run: 9.412/126.97, Was #6
Right Lane: Len Darnell Runs 6.371/212.73, Now #1; Best prior run: 10.915/105.38, Was #8

4:07 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 80 degrees, relative humidity 35 percent, barometer 28.94 inches, adjusted altitude 3,044 feet, track temperature 98 degrees.

Last chance for these guys to get their setups sorted out before eliminations. So far, only Craig Pelrine has made a representative run.

This was batter, two bikes side-by-side most of the way down the track. Pelrine shut off with a puff of raw fuel well before the stripe, but Darnell ran it all the way through and jumped into the #1 spot.

Mike Pelrine's incremental times: 60ft-1.178 sec., 330ft-2.996, 660ft-4.406/176.37 mph, 1,000ft-5.653.
Len Darnell's incremental times: 60ft-1.116 sec., 330ft-2.829, 660ft-4.175/182.90 mph, 1,000ft-5.353.

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Left Lane: Ron Gledhill Runs 6.806/185.23, Now #3; Best prior run: 7.069/172.23, Was #4
Right Lane: Kevin Boyer Runs 7.906/172.01, Now #7; Best prior run: 9.399/92.74, Was #7

Both got off to good starts, but Boyer's bike started getting rough about 300 feet out and Gledhill was struggling on the top end.

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Left Lane: Craig Pelrine Runs 6.748/207.08, Now #2; Best prior run: 6.672/189.47, Was #2
Right Lane: Julian Seaman Runs 6.957/205.19, Now #5; Best prior run: 7.468/200.38, Was #5

Last pair, only six bikes answering the call for this session.

These two were side-by-side most of the way, not strong runs, but an improvement for Seaman.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink