With bright sun shining down on the packed house at Infineon Raceway, the top qualifying times turned in by fuel racers J.R. Todd and Matt Hagan on Friday night remained intact.
Greg Anderson and Eddie Krawiec took advantage of optimum conditions and a dramatically reduced head wind on Saturday to grab the lead in Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle, respectively, during the 22nd annual Fram Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. The event is the 15th of the 24-race 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series schedule and final event of the annual three-race Western Swing.
J.R. Todd
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Todd, who is subbing for David Baca in the Mach 1 dragster, will enter Sunday’s final eliminations as the top seed following his 3.811 on Friday night. Todd smoked the tires on both runs Saturday but his time was not bettered. He will be paired with Steve Chrisman in Sunday’s opening round.
“We were working on out race day set up today but we didn’t make it down the track so we know what won’t work,” said Todd, whose last pole came at the 2007 Dallas event. “The track is obviously good out here and hopefully we can put four good runs together on Sunday. My goal every week is just to get the thing in the show and make good clean runs. I’ve only run three events this year so [qualifying No. 1] is a bit of a surprise for me. There is no better place to start from than the No 1 spot and I’m expecting to go rounds on Sunday.”
The rest of the top eight qualifiers from Friday, which include Larry Dixon, Cory McClenathan, Antron Brown, Spencer Massey, Shawn Langdon, Morgan Lucas, and Tony Schumacher, maintained their positions. One of Sunday’s most intriguing match ups will pit Schumacher against Brandon Bernstein’s Budweiser entry while Brown, who is attempting to sweep the annual Western Swing, will have to get past opening-round opponent Troy Buff in order to do so.
Matt Hagan
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Funny Car rookie Hagan has also earned his first pole after his career best 4.06 effort Friday. Hagan was also one of the quickest drivers on Saturday with a best of 4.19.
Mike Neff’s 4.069 from Friday remained second while Ashley Force Hood (4.099) and Tim Wilkerson (4.129) are seeded third and fourth. The rest of the top half qualifiers are a tightly bunched group that includes Bob Tasca III (4.133), Jack Beckman (4.133), Del Worsham (4.136), and John Force (4.138). Force Hood and Tasca might be the favorites after they both ran 4.17 in the heat on Saturday afternoon.
"This is huge right now," said Hagan. "I'm not so much warred about the rookie of the year deal as I am trying to get into the [Countdown to 1]. This is a big stepping stone in my career and it's good for my whole team. My crew guys all had big smiles this morning. We wanted to go down the track today and we did that on all four laps. With all the changes in the weather, we got to see how smart these crew chiefs are. To watch them work is pretty amazing.
"The track temperature started to warm up today and they made right call. We used more of a race day set-up today and we went down the track and that's great for our confidence. The [first-round] match with Cruz is make or break. If we can win that round and go a couple more, will put us in a good position for the Countdown."
There was plenty of jockeying for position in the bottom half of the field on Saturday afternoon as Ron Capps entered the session on the bump. Capps made a solid 4.232 run in his NAPA Dodge for the 14th spot, bumping Cruz Pedregon from the field. Pedregon, who is fighting to secure a spot in the Countdown to One, rallied with a 4.344 that was good for the bump spot. Jeff Diehl, the only driver remaining who could bump Pedregon from the field, smoked the tires at half-track, slowing to a 4.90. Pedregon will now be paired with low qualifier Hagan in round one in a match that could well decide the final spot in the Countdown.
Greg Anderson
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Anderson drove his Summit Pontiac to the top spot for the fourth time this season and 73rd time in his career with a 6.571 on Saturday morning that was not bettered during the afternoon run. Anderson, who locked up his spot in the Countdown to the Championship simply by qualifying in Sonoma, is still seeking his first win of the season.
“This is the biggest day I’ve had this year,” said Anderson, who backed up his earlier run with a 6.594 later in the afternoon. “I don’t know if anyone has noticed but I haven’t had a lot of bright spots lately. If we can put this Summit Pontiac through four rounds tomorrow it will change whole season for me. I just needed a few good things to happen to get my confidence back. I’m a bit of a pessimist and I thought that Mike [Edwards] could possibly have run better than us but he missed it a little and we got the pole. I think we have a great chance of going the distance tomorrow. Jason [Line] is qualified second so we have the deck stacked just the way we want it; we can’t race until the final. I feel better than I have all year so we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
Anderson’s Summit teammate, Jason Line, is seeded second with a 6.572 and recent Denver winner Allen Johnson and Friday’s leader Ron Krisher are both just a thousandth behind with matching 6.573 runs. Johnson, who also clinched his spot in the Countdown to one, got the higher spot by virtue of his faster speed. The rest of the top eight include Mike Edwards (6.574), Jeg Coughlin (6.579), Johnny Gray (6.581) and Kurt Johnson (6.590). Kurt will be part of an interesting pairing in Sunday’s opening round as he will be paired with his father, Warren, who is the ninth seed in his K&N Pontiac. In 64 career meetings, Warren holds a 43-21 advantage over Kurt.
Ben Watson made the field on the bump spot with a 6.677 while Vinnie DeCeglie, who is making his first start of the season in the Mountain View Dodge, qualified 14th with a 6.629 and will be paired with Allen Johnson in Sunday’s opening round.
Eddie Krawiec
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With the aid of a brisk late afternoon tailwind, nearly early every Pro Stock Motorcycle rider in the field made their best run of the weekend in the fourth session but reigning champ Krawiec, who led the field after Friday’s two runs, was able to maintain the leader after running a 6.915 on his Screamin’ Eagle Harley. Krawiec, who is looking to reach the final for the seventh straight race, will face Junior Pippin in Sunday’s opening round.
“This is my first No. 1 of the season and I’m pretty excited about it,” said Krawiec. “A lot of people made great runs. Matt Smith showed that a Suzuki could run with everybody and it’s too bad Hector [Arana] broke because he was probably going to run really fast as well. When I saw Matt’s 6.91, I was figuring that I’d be second or third but maybe we underestimated the tail wind. I also think I made a nice clean straight run and that was the difference.”
After struggling early in the weekend, Matt Smith and the Nitro Fish team made a dramatic improvement, running a 6.915 to qualify second, ahead of Andrew Hines, who is third with a 6.931. Karen Stoffer, who was the top qualifier last year, also made a dramatic improvement going from a 7.01 to a 6.960 to qualify fourth. Rookie contender Douglas Horne also joined the six-second parade with a 6.970 while Hector Arana (7.002.), Craig Treble (7.006) and Shawn Gann (7.012) round out the top half of the field.
Another rider who made a dramatic improvement is Jim Underdahl, who posted a career-best 7.052 for the 10th spot. David Hope also found the conditions to his liking with a 7.056 aboard John Hammock’s Vroom Racing Buell for the 11th spot.
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Friday: Todd, Hagan, Krisher, Krawiec lead early qualifying in Sonoma