Columbus Saturday Recap

HEBRON - Saturday Recap

by Larry Sullivan

HEBRON, Ohio - Rain delayed Saturday's racing at the NHRA Pontiac Excitement Nationals presented by Summit Racing several times, with three of the delays taking over an hour each to dry the track. But between waits for the rain showers, the fans were treated to plenty of hurry-up racing. Joe Amato, Cruz Pedregon, Kurt Johnson, and Matt Hines ended up atop their respective category ladders for Sunday's eliminations.

Amato, Eddie Hill, and Gary Scelzi all ushered the National Trail Raceway into the 4.50s, Amato's 4.572 at 313.91 mph the quickest of the three. Hill, the first driver in the four, ran a career-best 4.595 opposite Amato, making that the quickest side-by-side pair in history. Scelzi's 4.598 was the track's first-ever under 4.60.

Kenny Bernstein lived up to his "King of Speed" nickname by taking Louie the Lizard for a 321.88 mph ride, easily resetting the speed record on one of the last tracks to see a 300 mph speed.

In Funny Car, Cruz Pedregon recovered from a Saturday night incident that nullified a run quick enough to lead the field. His final-run 4.888 at 309.27 mph set both ends of the track record.

When sixteenth-qualifier Cory Lee posted a 5.126-second ET, he made this the quickest Funny Car field ever.

Kurt Johnson held on to the top spot in Pro Stock with his Friday-evening 7.038. Sixteenth qualifier Mike Edwards was clocked at 7.091 seconds, that established this as one of the tightest fields ever, just 0.053 seconds from top to bottom.

Matt Hines saved his best for last, posting a track-record ET of 7.374 at a track-record speed of 185.10 mph.

Final eliminations are scheduled to start at 11:00 M Sunday. Results provided by the FastNews Network, courtesy of Summit Racing Equipment ** http://www.summitracing.com/ **