Sat, 4 Nov 2000, 04:32 PM DALLAS-2 - Top Fuel Round 3 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

ENNIS, Texas - Results of round 3 eliminations in Top Fuel at the 15th annual O'Reilly Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec:

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
  12 Melanie Troxel     22.000   NS    Q    1 Gary Scelzi        11.000  16.98
   (K Bernstein ) 0.481  4.657 322.27  E1                  0.470 11.902 115.01
   (D Kalitta   ) 0.449  4.636 325.37  E2   (D Lampus    ) 0.476  4.805 297.94
 *****WINNER***** 0.486  4.605 326.08  E3                  0.456  6.157 162.18

3:00 PM Scelzi came into this matchup with only one very soft run under his belt, while Melanie hit it right out of the box and then stepped up a bit in the second round. "Big Red" an underdog? Yup. The race went according to today's form, Troxel resetting the 90-percent nitro speed mark once again with her best ET of the afternoon. Scelzi left first, but started smoking the tires about 100 feet out and gave it up after pedaling it once, Troxel streaking away for an easy win.

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   6 Cory McClenathan   16.000  11.25  Q    2 Larry Dixon        12.000  14.73
   (R Hartman-Sm) 0.476  4.791 312.13  E1   (B Walsh     ) 0.494  4.733 297.94
   (M Dunn      ) 0.467  4.558 322.04  E2   (D Grubnic   ) 0.486  5.039 280.84
 *****WINNER***** 0.497  4.563 315.56  E3                  0.470  4.678 314.90

The new MBNA machine stays undefeated, seven round wins in a row, in a good drag race. Dixon made a good run, but Cory Mac just flat ran away from him to win by a margin of victory = 0.088 seconds (approximately 41 feet). The Safety Safari had to clean Dixon's lane in the lights, the engine blanket shredding as he crossed the finish line. Cory will have lane choice against Melanie in the final round.