Torrence, DeJoria, Anderson, Krawiec No. 1 at zMax
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| Alexis DeJoria |
| Mike Mercurio/AR1 |
Alexis DeJoria rocketed to her first no. 1 qualifier position of the season with a record-breaking run in Saturday's final qualifying session for Sunday's seventh-annual NHRA Four Wide Nationals at zMax Dragway in Concord, N.C.
Steve Torrence (Top Fuel), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also picked up top qualifying honors in Saturday's two afternoon sessions.
Fresh off her first victory of the season three weeks ago at Las Vegas, DeJoria covered the 1,000-foot distance in 3.939 seconds at 316.52 mph, knocking Matt Hagan from the top spot and shattering the track ET record. She then went out and did one better in the final session, running a 3.934, 321.04 to hold onto the top spot and collect the fourth pole position of her career.
"This is one track I'd really love to win at," said DeJoria. "I feel pretty good going into tomorrow with a car that's so consistent. The Four Wide's are so exciting. You're not just racing one other car, you're racing three other cars, so to get a win here would be huge."
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| Alexis DeJoria (second from bottom) goes four-wide against (top to bottom) Matt Hagan, Jack Beckman and Chad Head. |
| Mike Mercurio/AR1 |
Hagan, who reset both ends of the track record in Friday' session, took second with a 3.941 at 323.50 mph, holding onto the track speed record. John Force posted a 3.946 at 323.50 mph to take third, followed by Courtney Force (3.960, 320.66) and Del Worsham (3.963, 317.57).
Dave Richards and Dale Creasy, Jr. failed to make the field for Sunday's event, while Jeff Diehl took the bump spot and will face DeJoria in the first round.
Steve Torrence claimed the no.1 position in Top Fuel after his qualifying time of 3.736 seconds at 326.48 mph from Friday held up through both of Saturday's sessions.
Despite timing out at the staging line in Saturday's final session, but no one was able to best Torrence's qualifying time from Friday, earning him his second straight top qualifier and third of the season.
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| Steve Torrence |
"I'm glad we stayed No. 1," said Torrence, who will face Terry Haddock in the opening round of eliminations on Sunday. "J.R. [Todd] threw a pretty good lap at it there by going [3.74] in that last session. I feel confident going into tomorrow, we've got a really good race car right now."
J.R. Todd rebounded after failing to make a run on Friday to post the quickest time of Saturday final session, jumping up nine spots to qualify second with a time of 3.743 seconds at 324.28 mph. Brittany Force held onto third with a 3.751 at 319.90, followed by Doug Kalitta (3.752, 325.92) and Clay Millican (3.759, 323.12).
Local favorite Greg Anderson had the field covered in the Pro Stock division, leading all three rounds of qualifying to post his second top qualifying effort of the season and 82nd of his career. He'll open Sunday's first-round eliminations against Shane Tucker.
Anderson turned in a time of 6.577 seconds on Friday then backed it up in Saturday's final qualifying session with a 6.576 at 210.41 mph to lead besting Drew Skillman, who backed off the line before he could make a final run. Skillman took second with 6.583 at 209.72. Jason Line (6.584, 211.10) Bo Butner (6.584, 210.47) and Shane Gray (6.602, 208.68) made up the rest of the top five.
[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"] Anderson has led four of the last seven qualifying sessions and has started in the top three in all five events this season, notching two victories along the way. He and teammate Jason Line have combined to lead 13 of the 19 qualifying sessions, score top qualifier in four of the five events and have won all of the Pro Stock events so far this season.
It's a run of good fortune Anderson has enjoyed, but hasn't let it go to his head.
"I'm not only wondering when it's going to end but I'm expecting it to end. I guess I'm a bit of the ‘half-empty glass' kind of guy," said Anderson. "I'm not that positive all the time and I look sometimes for the negatives that I shouldn't look for – I'm always looking for everybody to catch us and to beat us. When we do go ahead and find a way to do better than everybody and win the race, it's a fantastic felling because I guess somehow I don't really expect it. I expect the other guys to whoop me everytime I go up there and I think that's a good attutitude to have, if you go up there too confident, too cocky, you usually end up going home.
"I go up there feeling like an underdog, if you go up there thinking ‘you're the man' and that nobody can beat you, you're going home early, so I don't have that mindset."
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| Eddie Krawiec |
Eddie Krawiec picked up a clean sweep in Pro Stock Motorcycle for his second no. 1 qualifier of the season, clocking in with a low ET of 6.818 seconds at 192.85 mph for his 29th-career pole.
Matt Smith qualified second with a 6.832 at 195.76 mph. Angelle Sampey (6.837, 194.46), Andrew Hines (6.837, 192.19) and Jerry Savoie (6.841, 197.62) rounded out the top five
Krawiec has had an impressive perfect record so far in Pro Stock Motorcycle, which have run just one event so far this season – topping all seven qualifying sessions held so far and all four rounds at Gainesville.
"I've got a bad to the bone Harley-Davidson right now and I'm excited to be riding it," said Krawiec. "Ultimately I want to be in the media center on Sunday after a bunch of win lights. The No. 1 qualifier is just a bonus to that and give those accolades to the team because they are the ones who give me a fast bike. For me, I want to hold a Wally on Sunday."
Melissa Surber claimed the 16th and final spot in the field, sending eight riders home early, including Hector Arana, Jr. and Angie Smith.
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