Sat, 9 Sep 2000, 04:38 PM ENGLISHTOWN - Funny Car Round 2 Eliminations

By David Rowe

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. - Results of round 2 eliminations in Funny Car at the 31st Matco Tools Spring SuperNationals presented by Racing Champions:

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   8 Scotty Cannon       5.133 294.18  Q   16 Ron Capps           7.236 264.96
   (F Pedregon  ) 0.558  5.331 233.16  E1   (J Epler     ) 0.503  5.020 304.12
                  0.536  5.446 208.07  E2 *****WINNER***** 0.517  4.947 307.72

4:17 PM The temperature is at 87 degrees now and the track is really getting slick. Capps, with lane choice, chooses the right lane. He gets a slight holeshot on Cannon and runs his best time of the weekend for the win.

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   6 Del Worsham         5.098 274.83  Q   14 Todd Paton          6.370 290.69
   (A Hofmann   ) 0.510  5.012 296.63  E1   (D Skuza     ) 0.607  5.764 174.93
 *****WINNER***** 0.523  4.987 305.98  E2                  0.502 13.153  76.60

Paton just purchased the car he is running this weekend. Worsham makes a good run, his crewchief commenting after the run "it ran better than we thought it would". Paton goes up in smoke about 100 feet out.

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   2 Jerry Toliver       4.974 298.47  Q    7 John Force          5.107 299.80
   (D Creasy Jr.) 0.562  5.268 257.28  E1   (G Densham   ) 0.496  5.191 282.84
                  0.515  5.201 275.73  E2 *****WINNER***** 0.507  4.940 310.70

A big matchup here. Toliver trying to stop the bleeding that began a few races ago, Force trying to extend his points lead. Toliver starts out on a pretty decent run but starts mixing up cylinders about half-track. Force keeps the candles lit all the down the track and will get lane choice over Worsham in the semifinals.

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
  13 Cristen Powell      6.227 162.37  Q    5 Cruz Pedregon       5.053 295.27
   (W Bazemore  ) 0.542  5.088 282.13  E1   (T Haddock   ) 0.541  5.018 297.22
                  0.524  5.033 274.66  E2 *****WINNER***** 0.474  5.026 308.14

Pedregon gets a slight hole-shot but Cristen caught him by half-track. Unfortunately for her, the car starting losing oil around 300 feet out. She is still ahead at the 1000 foot mark when the engine explodes, letting Pedregon drive by. She is late pulling the chute and crosses over in front of Pedregon after they get past the finish line. Margin of victory = 0.057 seconds (approximately 23 feet). Capps will have lane choice over Pedregon in round three.