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Sat, 11 Nov 2017, 14:04 PM

Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By David Gerard

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from final, round 3 qualifying in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 53rd 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: Robert Turner No Time, Now #18; Best prior run: 11.658/75.66, Was #18
Right Lane: Nick Januik Runs 5.541/265.90, Now #6; Best prior run: 7.484/107.20, Was #15

10:34 a.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 68 degrees, relative humidity 60 percent, barometer 28.91 inches, adjusted altitude 2,394 feet, track temperature 84 degrees.

Annie Whiteley is number one at 5.414 and Jay Payne is on the bump spot at 8.246.

Turner leaves before the green and won't get a time. He shakes hard after that.

Januik has to do a quick pedal slap and still moves up nne positions into the top half of the field in the #6 spot.

Left Lane: Terry Ruckman Runs 5.524/269.24, Now #5; Best prior run: 10.630/80.99, Was #17
Right Lane: Steve Gasparrelli Runs 5.502/269.89, Now #4; Best prior run: 7.015/183.10, Was #15

Gasparrelli finally gets a full pass and its a good one. He drives through a little shake and powers up to #4.

Ruckman was right behind him and slides into #5. He had some shake too.

Terry Ruckman's incremental times: 60ft-0.959 sec., 330ft-2.511, 660ft-3.690/211.56 mph, 1,000ft-4.686.
Steve Gasparrelli's incremental times: 60ft-0.981 sec., 330ft-2.510, 660ft-3.679/212.66 mph, 1,000ft-4.668.

Left Lane: Jay Payne Runs 5.581/266.69, Now #10; Best prior run: 8.246/108.47, Was #17
Right Lane: Bret Williamson Runs 5.641/254.09, Now #15; Best prior run: 5.772/253.71, Was #15

Payne was just bumped out. Hannes Wernhart is on the bump spot at 6.074.

Payne uses a lot of race track getting to the finish line, but he gets his full pass and moves up to #10 for now.

Nice improvement for Williamson, but he stays #15.

Left Lane: Hannes Wernhart Runs 10.901/108.97, Now #17; Best prior run: 6.074/238.26, Was #17
Right Lane: Sean Bellemeur Runs 5.669/262.69, Now #16; Best prior run: 5.768/259.61, Was #16

Sean Bellemeur is on the bump spot at 5.768 and Wernhart was just just bumped out.

Bellemeur drives through a ton of shake and picks up almost a tenth, but will stay on the bubble for today.

Wernhart is slow off the line and then has the blower go BANG!

Sean Bellemeur's incremental times: 60ft-0.952 sec., 330ft-2.573, 660ft-3.790/204.48 mph, 1,000ft-4.811.

Left Lane: Ray Martin Runs 5.649/256.75, Now #14; Best prior run: 5.636/253.90, Was #14
Right Lane: Doug Gordon Runs 9.957/88.44, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.584/268.87, Was #11

Gordon has a new set of tires this session and does a half track burnout. The car shakes off the line and he clicks it right away.

Clean pass for Martin. He is just a tad off his prior ET and speed to stay #14.

Ray Martin's incremental times: 60ft-0.970 sec., 330ft-2.530, 660ft-3.740/205.38 mph, 1,000ft-4.774.

Left Lane: Chris Marshall Runs 5.527/265.74, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.616/265.43, Was #13
Right Lane: Chip Beverett Runs 6.052/155.83, Now #10; Best prior run: 5.563/263.46, Was #9

Marshall makes a strong pass to the finish line and moves into the top half of the field into the #6 spot. Nice!

Beverett had better numbers until after half track and then has a backfire near the 1000 foot lights and slows. He gets pushed back to #10.

Chris Marshall's incremental times: 60ft-0.964 sec., 330ft-2.492, 660ft-3.671/210.47 mph, 1,000ft-4.679.
Chip Beverett's incremental times: 60ft-0.955 sec., 330ft-2.470, 660ft-3.647/210.41 mph, 1,000ft-4.783.

Left Lane: Kris Hool Runs 5.599/263.20, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.603/263.31, Was #13
Right Lane: Shane Westerfield Runs 5.491/269.08, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.531/268.54, Was #8

Hool's Camaro leaves hard and powers towards the center line. He drives it back into the groove and just improves his ET to stary #13.

Westerfield shows some more power and jumps up four positions into the #4 spot.

Kris Hool's incremental times: 60ft-0.951 sec., 330ft-2.510, 660ft-3.721/206.76 mph, 1,000ft-4.742.
Shane Westerfield's incremental times: 60ft-0.949 sec., 330ft-2.480, 660ft-3.656/211.69 mph, 1,000ft-4.653.

Left Lane: John Lombardo Jr. Runs 5.409/272.83, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.490/270.43, Was #3
Right Lane: Brian Hough Runs 5.675/209.01, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.530/266.79, Was #8

WHOA! Lombardo is second off the line and chases down Hough to move right into the new top spot with ease. Big ET and speed.

Hough was right with him most of the way, but has the blower sneeze way down track. he stays #8.

John Lombardo Jr.'s incremental times: 60ft-0.943 sec., 330ft-2.456, 660ft-3.609/215.51 mph, 1,000ft-4.584.
Brian Hough's incremental times: 60ft-0.940 sec., 330ft-2.466, 660ft-3.640/211.13 mph, 1,000ft-4.661.

Left Lane: Annie Whiteley Runs 8.845/115.60, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.414/273.27, Was #2
Right Lane: Ulf Leanders Runs 8.434/118.57, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.482/267.00, Was #3

These two just got pushed back a spot and will be looking to get back to the top.

Nope! Duel tire shakers and the almost shut off together to wrap up the round.

10:59 a.m. John Lombardo Jr. is number one at 5.409 and Sean Bellemeur is on the bump spot at 5.669.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink