Schumacher Stays Number One
Sampey Eighth, Brown Ninth
CLERMONT, Ind. -- U.S. Army Top Fuel driver, Tony "The Sarge" Schumacher, retained the number one spot here Saturday following the second day of qualifying for the prestigious Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at O'Reilly Raceway Park.
Schumacher, who laid down a couple of impressive passes, is shooting for his third Mac Tools U.S. Nationals pole and his eighth of the year.
In Pro Stock Motorcycles, U.S. Army pilots, Angelle Sampey and Antron Brown, finished day two in eighth and ninth, respectively.
In addition to her qualifying efforts, Sampey also recorded a semifinal round loss in the Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle.
Top Fuel
After posting a 4.477-second run on Friday night, Schumacher returned with a 4.598-second performance as well as a 4.494-second jaunt to solidify his position.
"That's great work by the U.S. Army team," said the Chicago native. "I'm actually happier about the 4.59-second pass in the daytime. We got down the track in conditions that we'll likely see on race day."
On Monday, Schumacher will be attempting to claim is sixth career Mac Tools U.S. Nationals victory. Presently, he's three behind "Big Daddy" Don Garlits on the Top Fuel Indy win list.
"We want to win here for a lot of reasons and getting closer to 'Big Daddy' on that win list is one of them," he added.
Pro Stock Motorcycles
Sampey improved on the clock with a 7.048-second pass at 184.17 mph, but she dropped a spot in the line up with two qualifying sessions still to go.
"We definitely have to move up tomorrow," she offered. "We can't settle for where we're at in the order."
The Louisiana native also failed to grab her first career Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle victory. After beating Steve Johnson in the opening round, she was beaten by Chip Ellis in the semifinals.
"I guess I'll have to wait until next year for another opportunity," she added. Like Sampey, Brown was better on Saturday with a 7.070-second pass, but he fell into the bottom half of the field.
"That's still not good enough," he said. "We should be closer to the guys at the top. We'll certainly aim to get up there tomorrow."
In the Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle, Brown lost in the first round to Andrew Hines despite nailing a .009-second reaction time.
"We gave it all we had, but we just came up short," he said.
