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Sat, 29 Oct 2016, 14:16 PM

Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By Dave Rowe

LAS VEGAS - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 16th annual NHRA Toyota Nationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time/top speed this round, position in order following run, best prior elapsed time/speed, and position in order prior to run:

Left Lane: Robert Turner Runs 5.832/239.74, Now #12; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Cody Perkins Runs 5.929/242.76, Now #14; No Prior Run

10:37 a.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 75 degrees, relative humidity 48 percent, barometer 27.89 inches, adjusted altitude 4,014 feet, track temperature 82 degrees.
Both Turner and Perkins had disqualified runs yesterday.

Turner goes right down the groove on this run and gets in the show in the 12th spot for now. Perkins makes a clean, straight pass and gets in the 14th spot for now.

Left Lane: Annie Whiteley Runs 5.631/263.87, Now #5; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Brian Hough Runs 5.676/256.45, Now #9; Best prior run: 15.241/64.39, Was #27

Whiteley broke off the line yesterday and does not have a time. Hough had traction problems on his first attempt.

No problems for either driver on this one. Whiteley goes right down the groove and goes all the way to the fifth spot. Hough makes a clean pass and gets in the ninth spot for now.

Left Lane: Clint Thompson Runs 5.589/260.71, Now #4; Best prior run: 12.438/103.37, Was #27
Right Lane: Mike Drake No Time, Now #28; Best prior run: 13.127/71.03, Was #28

Drake had one of his chutes come out before they fired the engine and he was unable to make a pass. Thompson drifted a little to the left, then back to the right, but is able to make a good pass and get in the show in the fourth spot for now.

Left Lane: Bryan Brown Runs 5.655/255.48, Now #7; Best prior run: 11.748/97.74, Was #27
Right Lane: Sean Bellemeur Runs 9.546/121.35, Now #26; Best prior run: 8.611/105.88, Was #25

Bellemeur rattles the tires at the hit, makes a little move to the right, then backs off the throttle. Brown goes right down the groove and gets in the show in the seventh spot for now.

Left Lane: Steve Gasparrelli Runs 5.833/257.09, Now #17; Best prior run: 10.449/71.65, Was #27
Right Lane: Jirka Kaplan Runs 15.041/52.99, Now #25; Best prior run: 6.232/185.92, Was #24

Kaplan rattles the tires at the hit and was off the throttle quickly. Gasparrelli has to pedal about 100 feet out, recovers, then goes on through the run. He improves but not enough to get in the show.

Left Lane: Chip Beverett Runs 6.141/251.39, Now #25; Best prior run: 8.058/114.57, Was #26
Right Lane: Mike Doushgounian Runs 5.713/255.87, Now #12; Best prior run: 6.180/244.16, Was #24

Beverett hits the throttle and heads for the wall. He has to back off the throttle, steer it back toward the groove, then stays on the throttle for the rest of the run. Doushgounian goes right down the groove and improves to the 12th spot for now.

Left Lane: Hannes Wernhart Runs 5.938/244.83, Now #22; Best prior run: 6.076/196.99, Was #24
Right Lane: Stefan Kontos Runs 18.202/48.75, Now #24; Best prior run: 6.006/203.80, Was #23

Wernhart was moving around all the way through the run and he can't get in the show. Kontos had problems right off the line and backed off the throttle.

Left Lane: Johan Lindberg Runs 5.647/255.15, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.866/250.69, Was #19
Right Lane: Greg Hunter Runs 5.677/257.33, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.992/250.09, Was #23

A couple of good runs, both right down the groove. Lindberg improves and moves up to the seventh spot, Hunter improves to 13th, for now.

Left Lane: Chris Marshall Runs 5.676/251.16, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.785/245.54, Was #17
Right Lane: Russ Parker Runs 5.825/245.32, Now #19; Best prior run: 5.936/242.58, Was #22

Marshall goes right down the groove and improves, moving up to the 13th spot for now. Parker improves but not enough to get in the show.

Left Lane: Terry Ruckman Runs 5.571/264.44, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.781/260.76, Was #17
Right Lane: Kris Hool Runs 8.886/147.33, Now #18; Best prior run: 5.816/253.33, Was #18

Hool blows the tires off at the hit and has to give up on the run. Ruckman goes right down the groove with the quickest pass of the round so far and he moves up to the fourth spot.

Left Lane: Jay Payne Runs 5.634/258.22, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.716/241.07, Was #17
Right Lane: Nick Januik Runs 5.650/259.61, Now #10; Best prior run: 5.670/256.26, Was #11

Payne was moving around for most of the run but he stays on the throttle and moves up to the eighth spot. Januik makes a decent pass and moves up a spot in the order.

Left Lane: Ulf Leanders Runs 5.619/259.71, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.671/258.07, Was #13
Right Lane: Shane Westerfield Runs 5.596/264.55, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.663/262.54, Was #12

Westerfield goes right down the groove with a good pass and gets in the top half of the field for now. Leanders improves and moves up to the eighth spot for now.

Left Lane: Doug Gordon Runs 5.547/265.12, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.601/262.08, Was #7
Right Lane: John Lombardo Jr. Runs 5.562/266.85, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.560/266.58, Was #3

A good side-by-side, both right down the groove. Gordon improves and moves up to the third spot, Lombardo drops a spot.

Left Lane: Jonnie Lindberg Runs 10.689/74.59, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.496/265.01, Was #1
Right Lane: DJ Cox Jr. Runs 5.539/262.74, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.536/263.56, Was #2

Lindberg loses traction at the hit, gets about 100 feet out and backs off the throttle.Cox goes right down the groove with the quickest pass of the round to end this session.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink