Sun, 13 Oct 2002, 02:13 PM Top Alcohol Dragster Round 2 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

ENNIS, Texas - Results of round 2 eliminations in Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 17th annual O'Reilly Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec:

Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   5 Chris Ricketts      5.446 261.62  Q   13 David Wells         5.513 256.99
   (M Myers     ) 0.499  5.405 258.54  E1   (B Reichert  ) 0.504  5.539 254.23
                  0.472  7.146 117.24  E2 *****WINNER***** 0.465  5.473 258.17

12:50 PM Ricketts launched, shook a bit, then there was a POP from his car and he slowed.

Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   1 Gary Ormsby Jr      5.319 256.55  Q    8 Brandon Johnson     5.462 257.51
   (L Traugott  ) 0.549  5.366 246.37  E1   (M Niver     ) 0.412  5.464 258.32
                  0.501 31.508  14.42  E2 *****WINNER***** 0.461  5.372 261.24

Ormsby's car blew the tires away instantly, sending dense clouds of smoke in the air. Nice run by Johnson, his best of the weekend, to earn lane choice against Wells in the semifinals.

Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   3 Rick Santos         5.353 264.08  Q   11 Bruce Bowler        5.486 260.34
   (L Callaway  ) 0.494  5.402 260.71  E1   (S Howard    ) 0.502  5.678 227.15
 *****WINNER***** 0.471  5.314 265.72  E2                  0.519  5.379 264.47

Bowler was late, then ran a good lap, but Santos was on time and then ran his best lap of the weekend.

Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   2 Arthur Gallant      5.335 260.56  Q   10 Jason Cannon        5.485 258.02
   (G Snow      ) 0.606  5.472 253.66  E1   (T Datweiler ) 0.462  5.515 256.84
 *****WINNER***** 0.511  5.414 250.76  E2                  0.459  5.531 251.04

Cannon had Gallant covered, but his car fell off the pace at half track and Gallant edged by for the win, Cannon running his slowest time of the weekend. Gallant's margins (negative means he's trailing): 60ft(-0.055), 330 ft(-0.092), 660ft(-0.045), 1,000ft(0.028). MOV: 0.0654 seconds (approximately 24 feet). 2002 champion Gallant meets 2001 champion Santos in the semifinals and Santos has lane choice, by a tenth of a second!