John Coughlin Orlando final report

John Coughlin opens season with round three finish in Orlando

ORLANDO, Fla. (March 9)-- It wasn't the finish he had hoped for, but Team JEGS driver John Coughlin was nonetheless encouraged by his third round finish in the Top Dragster class at the Division 2 Lucas Oil Series event at Orlando Speed World Dragway. Coughlin, the defending event winner and reigning Divisions 3 Top Dragster champ, qualified his all-new Undercover chassis dragster in the No. 13 spot with a 7.15 elapsed time and then defeated Stanley Albritton Jr., and Peabody Harrell before losing to Scott Gibson in round three.

"Obviously, it would have been great to defend my title here, but overall I'm encouraged by the way our JEGS.com dragster ran this weekend," said Coughlin. "Just like last year, we brought a brand new car to this race and we were competitive right from the start. I really can't ask for much more than that. Once I get a few more runs in this car, I know we'll be very competitive."

Rain and high winds forced Saturday's scheduled qualifying rounds to be postponed, meaning that Coughlin made just two qualifying runs before the start of final eliminations.

"True, I could have used a couple of extra runs, especially since this car is new but I won't use that as an excuse. The competition in this class is tough and if you don't make good runs every time, you probably aren't going to win. Now, our plan is to go test this car extensively and get ready for the next race."

Coughlin also competed in Super Stock eliminator in Orlando with his JEGS.com Chevy Cobalt, suffering a round one loss against Rebel Kidd.

-credit: team jegs