Fri, 11 Nov 2016, 18:42 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #2 |
By David Gerard |
POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 52nd annual Auto Club NHRA Finals 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: Chris Marshall Runs 6.108/166.99, Now #14; No Prior Run
3:02 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 87 degrees, relative humidity 20 percent, barometer 28.90 inches, adjusted altitude 3,354 feet, track temperature 113 degrees.
DJ Cox Jr.
is on the bump spot at 9.946.
Marshall has a strong leave and then has the blower go BANG
before half track. It's still good enough to temporarily get him into the field in #14.
Left Lane: Cody Perkins Runs 5.726/250.23, Now #12; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Johan Lindberg Runs 9.884/86.42, Now #18; No Prior Run
Steve Gasparrelli is on the bump spot at 8.502.
Lindberg has a strong 0.948 sixty foot time and them is off the throttle and coasting
Perkins makes his first attempt and it gets him into the field for now in the #10 spot. He was coasting early too.
Cody Perkins' incremental times: 60ft-0.965 sec., 330ft-2.536, 660ft-3.772/200.47 mph, 1,000ft-4.828.
Left Lane: Stefan Kontos Runs 6.538/215.44, Now #17; Best prior run: 19.383/55.42, Was #24
Right Lane: Robert Turner Runs 5.981/236.42, Now #15; Best prior run: 20.110/40.62, Was #25
Kontos shakes, spins, pumps and drives on down to put a number on the boards. Not good enough...
Turner gets to the finish line under power and just gets into the field for now.
Stefan Kontos' incremental times: 60ft-1.158 sec., 330ft-3.198, 660ft-4.480/197.31 mph, 1,000ft-5.548.
Robert Turner's incremental times: 60ft-1.009 sec., 330ft-2.590, 660ft-3.904/184.70 mph, 1,000ft-5.036.
Left Lane: Doug Gordon Runs 5.553/265.59, Now #5; Best prior run: 10.167/86.09, Was #23
Right Lane: Brian Hough Runs 5.655/261.02, Now #12; Best prior run: 11.262/78.70, Was #25
Chris Marshall is on the bump spot at 6.108.
We finally get a pair to the finish line under power.
Gordon is away first and pulls steadily ahead to move up the ladder all the way to the #5 position.
Hough is right behind him and move into #12.
Doug Gordon's incremental times: 60ft-0.950 sec., 330ft-2.506, 660ft-3.700/208.68 mph, 1,000ft-4.706.
Brian Hough's incremental times: 60ft-0.961 sec., 330ft-2.544, 660ft-3.766/204.45 mph, 1,000ft-4.794.
Left Lane: Chip Beverett Runs 5.786/258.52, Now #16; Best prior run: 9.986/105.96, Was #24
Beverett has a strong leave, but the car starts a steady move towards the wall with a little shake. He slaps the pedal and drives on down to get in on the current bump spot.
Chip Beverett's incremental times: 60ft-0.944 sec., 330ft-2.622, 660ft-3.871/201.76 mph, 1,000ft-4.913.
Left Lane: DJ Cox Jr. Runs 5.515/265.80, Now #2; Best prior run: 9.946/75.63, Was #24
Right Lane: Steve Gasparrelli Runs 5.541/263.77, Now #5; Best prior run: 8.502/154.56, Was #22
Two strong passes well into the top half of the field.
Cox get a full pass this time and misses the top spot by just 0.015 seconds.
Gasparrelli gets his full pass too and drives into the #5 spot.
DJ Cox Jr.'s incremental times: 60ft-0.944 sec., 330ft-2.478, 660ft-3.664/208.71 mph, 1,000ft-4.668.
Steve Gasparrelli's incremental times: 60ft-0.948 sec., 330ft-2.475, 660ft-3.665/207.11 mph, 1,000ft-4.685.
Left Lane: Hannes Wernhart Runs 12.269/70.32, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.783/251.06, Was #17
Right Lane: Bryan Brown Runs 9.801/89.26, Now #23; Best prior run: 6.713/150.88, Was #23
Two broken runs.
Wernhart goes into hard shake, pumps it to no avail, and lifts.
Brown gets a little further and has the slick smoking too.
Left Lane: Jonnie Lindberg Runs 5.440/269.73, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.660/257.43, Was #15
Right Lane: Sean Bellemeur Runs 5.789/255.29, Now #19; Best prior run: 5.802/255.92, Was #19
Lindberg snakes his way all the way down the track, but has the power to drive pass the whole field and into the top spot by a bunch. Say Hello to your new #1 qualifier.
Bellemeur continues to struggle and is just a tad quicker to stay #19.
Jonnie Lindberg's incremental times: 60ft-0.951 sec., 330ft-2.458, 660ft-3.622/213.16 mph, 1,000ft-4.608.
Sean Bellemeur's incremental times: 60ft-0.976 sec., 330ft-2.595, 660ft-3.856/198.90 mph, 1,000ft-4.906.
Left Lane: Clint Thompson Runs 5.566/262.90, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.631/248.11, Was #14
Right Lane: Nick Januik No Time, Now #14; Best prior run: 5.608/255.68, Was #13
Januik's engine RPM go to the moon at the green and the car just rolls to a stop off the line.
Nice improvement for Thompson, just missing the top half of the field.
Clint Thompson's incremental times: 60ft-0.975 sec., 330ft-2.502, 660ft-3.696/207.46 mph, 1,000ft-4.710.
Left Lane: Jay Payne Runs 8.909/99.79, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.598/256.80, Was #13
Right Lane: Greg Hunter Runs 9.225/87.78, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.585/261.78, Was #11
Cody Perkins is on the bump spot at 5.726.
Both cars start to shake and then spin after the 60 foot lights.
Left Lane: Mike Doushgounian Runs 5.686/217.39, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.598/261.88, Was #12
Right Lane: Terry Ruckman Runs 10.164/85.34, Now #10; Best prior run: 5.578/265.43, Was #10
Ruckman has the better 60 foot time, but is up in smoke right after that.
Doushgounian was on a strong pass until the engine started to smoke near the top end and there was a BIg Bang!
Mike Doushgounian's incremental times: 60ft-0.970 sec., 330ft-2.487, 660ft-3.685/207.15 mph, 1,000ft-4.713.
Left Lane: Ulf Leanders Runs 5.555/263.98, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.550/264.44, Was #7
Right Lane: John Lombardo Jr. Runs 5.507/270.16, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.540/264.34, Was #5
Lombardo is second off the line, but has all of the number going down the track to move up two positions and run the second fastest pass, so far. It is expensive, as there is a lot of smoke from the engine in the lights.
Leander's plays bracket cat, running almost the same as session one.
Ulf Leanders' incremental times: 60ft-0.972 sec., 330ft-2.505, 660ft-3.692/209.72 mph, 1,000ft-4.703.
John Lombardo Jr.'s incremental times: 60ft-0.961 sec., 330ft-2.509, 660ft-3.682/211.99 mph, 1,000ft-4.672.
Left Lane: Annie Whiteley Runs 5.523/270.16, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.522/270.92, Was #5
Right Lane: Shane Westerfield Runs 5.565/267.32, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.500/253.37, Was #2
Two nice passes to wrap up session two.
They run together right from start to finish and stay in their current positions.
Annie Whiteley's incremental times: 60ft-0.974 sec., 330ft-2.523, 660ft-3.701/211.59 mph, 1,000ft-4.690.
Shane Westerfield's incremental times: 60ft-0.967 sec., 330ft-2.526, 660ft-3.717/209.33 mph, 1,000ft-4.721.
3:36 p.m. Jonnie Lindberg is number one at 5.440 and Cody Perkins is on the bump spot at 5.726.
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