FORCE HOOD AND SCHUMACHER HOLD ON THE TOP SPOTS; KRISHER AND ARANA TAKE NO. 1’S AT RAIN SHORTENED SUPERNATIONALS
Tony Schumacher kept the top position in Top Fuel while Ron Krisher and Hector Arana were able to move in to the top spots in their respective categories before rain showers hit at the 11th of 24 events on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.
Courtesy: NHRA Media Relations
ENGLISHTOWN,
Force Hood continued her No. 1 qualifier success, as her Friday pass of 4.071-seconds at 303.37 mph in her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang stay strong to give Force Hood her fourth No. 1 qualifier in the past six races.
“Thankfully, all three of our runs were good runs,” said Force Hood, who clocked a 4.202 on Saturday’s run. “We’ll take any of our qualifying runs on race day. We would have liked to have gotten a fourth run, but we are just as content to go into race day with three runs. We’ll see what we can do here at Englishtown tomorrow.”
Current points leader Ron Capps starts 10th in the field while defending event winner Tim Wilkerson will start seventh.
In Top Fuel, Schumacher’s Friday run in his U.S. Army dragster of 3.818 at 314.46 stayed strong to give the driver his first No. 1 qualifier of the season and 57th of his career.
“We’re certainly happy to have our first No. 1 of the year, especially considering we have a first-round bye,” said Schumacher. “We can always use the free 20 points whenever we can get them.”
Four-time Englishtown winner Larry Dixon took the second spot heading into Sunday’s eliminations while points leader Antron Brown took the fifth spot.
Ron Krisher took advantage of the cool weather on shortened session and grabbed the No. 1 qualifier in Pro Stock. Krisher drove his Valvoline Chevy Cobalt to a 6.583 at 209.30. It’s Krisher’s first No. 1 qualifier of the season and 15th of his career.
“We’ve got the same motor we’ve had in all year; we’ve just been having trouble with the car and the clutch,” said Krisher. “But we learned a lot of things this weekend. We knew what we were looking at, and we knew what we had to do to fix it, and when we went out this morning, it was fixed. We were picking it up on every run, but Allen [Johnson] snuck past us last night.”
Current points leader and defending world champion Jeg Coughlin took the 8th spot while defending event winner Greg Anderson will start the race in the third spot.
In Pro Stock Motorcycle Hector Arana was able to move past Craig Treble and take the top spot. Arana drove his Lucas Oil Buell to a 6.965 at 189.87 to pick up his first No. 1 qualifier of the season and only second in his 165-race career.
“This is the first time in a long time that I’ve been No. 1 and it feels pretty good,” said Arana. “I’ve been close a couple of times but someone, usually Matt Smith, comes along and knocks me down at the last minute. I did my rain dance so nobody got that chance today. Seriously, I think we were going to be okay even if we had run because that 6.96 was pretty good.”
Top Fuel -- 1. Tony Schumacher, 3.818 seconds, 314.46 mph vs. Bye; 2. Larry Dixon, 3.836, 314.24 vs. 15. Rit Pustari, broke; 3. Cory McClenathan, 3.844, 315.34 vs. 14. Steven Chrisman, 7.697, 284.56; 4. Morgan Lucas, 3.858, 308.07 vs. 13. Terry Haddock, 4.098, 293.47; 5. Antron Brown, 3.871, 315.05 vs. 12. Joe Hartley, 4.062, 292.14; 6. Shawn Langdon, 3.882, 306.67 vs. 11. Terry McMillen, 4.061, 293.60; 7. Brandon Bernstein, 3.884, 302.48 vs. 10. Spencer Massey, 3.985, 294.11; 8. Clay Millican, 3.885, 311.05 vs. 9. Doug Kalitta, 3.959, 305.15.
Funny Car -- 1. Ashley Force Hood, Ford Mustang, 4.071, 303.37 vs. 16. Jack Beckman, Dodge Charger, 8.043, 73.56; 2. Mike Neff, Mustang, 4.110, 295.14 vs. 15. Jerry Toliver, Chevy
Pro Stock -- 1. Ron Krisher, Chevy Cobalt, 6.583, 209.30 vs. 16. V. Gaines, Dodge Stratus, 6.667, 206.04; 2. Mike Edwards, Pontiac GXP, 6.598, 209.46 vs. 15. Rodger Brogdon, GXP, 6.654, 207.05; 3. Greg Anderson, GXP, 6.600, 209.23 vs. 14. David Beckley, Stratus, 6.642, 208.10; 4. Kurt Johnson, Cobalt, 6.605, 208.52 vs. 13. Justin Humphreys, GXP, 6.639, 208.33; 5. Allen Johnson, Stratus, 6.607, 208.94 vs. 12. Larry Morgan, Stratus, 6.636, 207.46; 6. Warren Johnson, GXP, 6.613, 208.84 vs. 11. Johnny Gray, Stratus, 6.632, 208.65; 7. Greg Stanfield, GXP, 6.618, 208.68 vs. 10. Rickie Jones, Stratus, 6.629, 207.30; 8. Jeg Coughlin, Cobalt, 6.620, 208.91 vs. 9. Jason Line, GXP, 6.629, 208.88.
Did Not Qualify: 17. Dave Northrop, 6.674, 206.70; 18. Ryan Ondrejko, 6.688, 205.38; 19. Ronnie Humphrey, 6.716, 205.88; 20. Bob Benza, 6.734, 205.35; 21. Erica Enders, 6.764, 203.65; 22. John Gaydosh Jr, 6.825, 202.42.
Pro Stock Motorcycle -- 1. Hector Arana, Buell, 6.965, 189.87 vs. 16. Bailey Whitaker, Buell, 7.187, 182.97; 2. Matt Guidera, Buell, 6.985, 187.96 vs. 15. Joe DeSantis, Suzuki, 7.179, 187.57; 3. Craig Treble, Suzuki, 7.008, 190.43 vs. 14. Mike Berry, Buell, 7.149, 183.89; 4. Eddie Krawiec, Harley-Davidson, 7.011, 188.65 vs. 13. Wesley Wells, Suzuki, 7.129, 182.50; 5. Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 7.012, 186.33 vs. 12. Junior Pippin, Buell, 7.102, 185.61; 6. Karen Stoffer, Suzuki, 7.023, 188.73 vs. 11. Shawn Gann, Buell, 7.069, 186.69; 7. Michael Phillips, Suzuki, 7.042, 191.35 vs. 10. Matt Smith, Suzuki, 7.065, 184.98; 8. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 7.049, 188.20 vs. 9. Douglas Horne, Buell, 7.049, 186.43.
