BAZEMORE FINISHES FIFTH AT SONOMA IN MATCO TOOLS DRAGSTER
SONOMA, Calif. (July 28, 2007) – Whit Bazemore and the rejuvenated Matco Tools Top Fuel team continue to peak as the NHRA season hits nervous time. With just three races remaining before the cutoff to the Countdown to the Championship, Bazemore qualified fifth Saturday at Infineon Raceway during the FRAM-Autolite Nationals.
The 1999 Sonoma winner (Funny Car) made his best run of qualifying on his first pass of the weekend. The Eugene , Ore. resident powered his Matco Tools rail to a performance of 4.582 seconds at 323.43 mph to card the second quickest run of the session. He failed to make an attempt on Friday evening as the majority of the session was canceled due to a local noise ordinance. On Saturday’s final attempt, the 20-time NHRA winner used a tune-up from veteran crew chief Lee Beard to race his Matco-backed rail to the second quickest pass of the session, 4.594 at 323.58. Only three cars (Rod Fuller, Tony Schumacher and Bazemore) made runs in the 4.5-second range on Saturday. It is the 11th time in 15 races that Bazemore has qualified in the top half of the order.
“It’s been a good weekend,” Bazemore said. “The only disappointment was with what NHRA did on Friday night. Otherwise, it’s been really good. We’re fired up for the race on Sunday. Both of our David Powers cars are running well. We're excited about Sunday.”
Bazemore will match-up with No. 12 qualifier Hillary Will in the first round eliminations at Noon (PT) on Sunday. Bazemore is 3-0 versus the second-year Top Fuel racer. ESPN2 will televise three hours of final eliminations coverage from the FRAM-Autolite Nationals at 8 p.m. (ET) on Sunday.
Q1 4.582 ET, 323.43 MPH No. 2
Q2 canceled curfew
Q3 6.516 ET, 121.62 MPH No. 5
Q4 4.594 ET, 323.58 PH No. 5
