Eagle Point Friday notes

BAYER, COOLIDGE LEAD QUALIFYING AT CHAMPION RACEWAY

EAGLE POINT, Ore. -- Racing kicked off today for the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series and the Northwest Championship at Champion Raceway in Eagle Point, Ore. In final qualifying it was Thomas Bayer and Hank Coolidge leading the fields in Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car respectively.

Bayer, in his first year of driving for current NHRA Northwest Division Champion Steve Federlin, put his Toyo Tires dragster on top with a 5.515 second, 258.62 mph pass. Federlin stepped out of the driver's seat of the car he still owns and now serves as crew chief. The team picked up their first win of the year last month at Mission Raceway Park in Mission, B.C. CAN. Bayer is the current NHRA Pacific Division Super Gas and Super Comp Champion and still runs in those classes at selected events.

Bayer is followed by Shawn Cowie running 5.595 seconds at 256.65 mph out of Richmond, B.C., while hometown racer Mike Austin of Medford, Ore., is fourth with a 5.691 second, 254.90 mph pass.

Sunburst, Mont., resident Coolidge jumped to the top of the field in the evening qualifying session with a run of 5.899 seconds at 242.32 mph. Defending event champion Brian Hough of Junction City, Ore., is second in funny car running 5.904 seconds at 247.25 mph with rookie driver Alexis DeJoria in third and Clint Thompson of Klamath Falls, Ore., in the No. 5 spot.

J.D. Zink of Chico, Calif., ran 6.938 seconds in his A/Nostalgia Dragster for the top spot in Comp Eliminator with Doug Lambeck landing in second.

Greg Carlile leads the Top Dragster field at 6.874 seconds, 196.07 mph with Quentin Chambers right behind at 6.918, 196.59 mph. Tom Gaynor is No. 1 in Stock Eliminator in his '93 Firebird and California runner Jimmy DeFrank is tops in Super Stock running 8.905 seconds.

Rounding out today's qualifying is Kurtis Tamez of Yakima, Wash., running 7.017 seconds at 193.85 mph in his '07 Mustang and John Widmann leads the Sportsman Motorcycle Series presented by Harley Davidson with a 0.004 reaction time.

Racing continues Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Gates open at 9 a.m. Tickets are $15. The track is located in the Jackson County Speed Park. From Medford, take I-5 north to Crater Lake Highway exit 30 (Hwy. 62). Go east to Highway 140 and turn right to Kershaw Road. Then turn left to Thunder Road into the track. For more information, call Champion Raceway, (541) 830-3724.

-credit: nhra