Brown, Capps, Anderson, Savoie On Pole At Pomona
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| Antron Brown |
Antron Brown (Top Fuel), Ron Capps (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Jerry Savoie (Pro Stock Motorcycle) captured the top qualifying positions in Saturday's final qualifying sessions for Sunday's NHRA Mellow Yello Drag Racing Series season finale at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona.
With the Top Fuel and Pro Stock titles already decided, the Funny Car and Pro Stock Motorcycle champions will be crowned following the final eliminations on Sunday, with the Funny Car battle coming down right to the wire in the Countdown to the Championship.
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| Ron Capps |
Capps picked up his first no.1 qualifier of the season in record fashion, beating out his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Jack Beckman with a track-record ET of 3.886 seconds at 326.87 mph to take the top spot. The pole-winning effort was a career-best for Capps and earned him his 17th top qualifier of his career and third at Pomona, where he has two victories and three runner-up finishes.
Beckman, who held on for second, trails third-place qualifier Del Worsham by 36 points in the championship hunt, while fifth-place qualifier Tommy Johnson, Jr. – who held the no. 1 qualifying spot after the opening round on Saturday – sits 96 points back in third, setting up a three-way battle for the title during Sunday's eliminations.
"It's an unbelievable time to be a fan of nitro Funny Car," Beckman said. “I really like the position that we are in. It's nerve racking because we aren't leading the points, we have to be two rounds better than another car to capture the championship. And this is the scenario where it's fourth down, the clock has almost run out and you're going to get the ball again and you have to be perfect. And I think we can be perfect."
Matt Hagan took the fourth qualifying spot after setting the track speed record with a run of 3.910 at 330.15 mph. Jeff Arend took the bump spot and will face Capps in the first round.
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| Jerry Savoie |
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Jerry Savoie raced to hi third-straight no. 1 qualifier and fourth of the season as he tries to close the gap on points leader Andrew Hines coming into the final race of the season.
Savoie, who comes into Sunday's race 38 points behind Hines, jumped from fourth to first in the final round with a pass of 6.803 seconds at 197.51 mph to power past Karen Stoffer for the pole.
“Things are clicking really well," said Savoie. “Tim (Kulungian, crew chief) has a good handle on the bike. We got a little aggressive and we tried a new combination and it freed up a little more horsepower. To be a true champion you have to be consistent and we really haven't been this weekend until today. We'll just see how it plays out tomorrow."
Chip Ellis qualified in the third spot, followed by Hector Arana, Jr. and Hines.
[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Just a week after being crowned the Top Fuel Champion, Antron Brown was back on top with his second-straight top qualifier, beating out Billy Torrence in the final round of qualifying.
Brown took to the track as part of the second-to-last pair of the day and flashed to the finish line with a time of 3.721 seconds at 326.71 mph to earn his seventh no. 1 qualifier of the season and 44th of his career.
“We just want to go out there and compete," said Brown, who faces Cory McClenathan in the opening round on Sunday. “Coming into this race as the champs we get to enjoy this with the fans. That's what we've been doing this weekend. We are trying to suck it all in and enjoy this moment because they don't come very often."
Torrence, who was looking for his first-career no. 1 qualifying spot, settled for his third second-place qualifying effort of the season. Clay Millican was third, followed by J.R. Todd and Richie Crampton.
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| Greg Anderson |
In Pro Stock, Greg Anderson stole some of the thunder from newly-crowned champion Erica Enders by denying the two-time champion a shot at the no. 1 qualifier position.
Anderson ran as part of the second-to-last pair in the finale round and posted a time of 6.490 seconds at 213.03 mph to steal the top spot away from Shane Gray. Gray then came to the line in the final pair alongside Enders and lost then lost the second spot as Enders clocked in at 6.503, 213.33 to bump Gray down to third with a 6.505, 213.20.
Drew Skillman and Vincent Nobile made up the rest of the top five qualifiers.
Anderson's quick pass helped earn him his 79th-career no. 1 qualifier and fifth of the season. He will face Matt Hartford in the final round looking for his 11th-career Pomona victory. He will be taking on Matt Hartford in Sunday's opening round
“The attitude has changed, it's just relax and have fun," Anderson said. “This is one of my favorite places to race. When the sun goes down it's a magical place to race. You can run fast and set records here. We got more aggressive tonight. Even though we're not going to walk away as the world champion it's been a good year. We can close out the year with a good day and get a win at the last race in a carburetor for Pro Stock."
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