Sun, 30 Sep 2001, 09:28 PM IMPORT -6 - Pro Round 1 Eliminations

By Michael L Jex

PONOMA, Calif. - Results of round 1 eliminations in Pro at the Mazda NHRA Import World Finals Presented by Toyo Tires:

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   7 Dan Bollschweiler  10.582 127.75  Q    2 Abel Ibarra         7.602 177.86
                  0.496  9.962 136.46  E1 *****WINNER***** 0.704  7.674 174.96

See Ya! Ibarra had way too much Mazda under the hod for Bollschweiler. Margin of victory = 2.080 seconds (more than 100 feet).

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   6 Efron Vazqauez     10.332  91.22  Q    3 R.J. Simrock        7.604 175.78
                  0.668  9.281 117.11  E1 *****WINNER***** 0.484  7.449 179.78

Vazqauez's little Mazda R-100 has had problems all weekend, but is a seven second capable car. Simrock told FastNews this morning they have been trying to preserve their clutch, but planned on hanging it all out today. The result is a career best ET and speed for Simrock, It appears Efron may have lifted when he realized he wasn't going to catch Simrock.

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   5 Adam Saruwatari     8.801 156.63  Q    4 Hiroshii Shiobara   7.938 180.46
                  0.847  8.205 164.11  E1 *****WINNER***** 0.830  7.536 181.81

Saruwatari's Acura is a wonderful show car, but trails the rest of the field in many areas. It's not been out of the eight second zone at one of the NHRA races this year, a must if you are going to be competitive in the class. Shiobara's Nissan ran much quicker than yesterday - great lap for the Japanese Driver. Ganbatte!

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   1 Jose Torres         7.583 176.92  Q        Bye
 *****WINNER***** 0.759 12.556  87.50  E1

Torres bogged off the line, and hit the popoff valves, then tried to drive it on thru. The result was a big cloud of smoke at the top end of the track. Luckily Jose had a single this round.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink