Joliet II: Dave Connolly final summary

Quick-starting Connolly Reaches Semifinals at Route 66 Raceway

Dave Connolly chalked up  hole-shot victories 11 and 12 of the 2005 season
Sunday afternoon at Route 66  Raceway as he drove the SKULL GEAR Pro Stock
Chevrolet Cobalt to a semifinal  finish in the Ameriquest Mortgage Nationals.

Connolly dispatched V. Gaines in the opening round, starting with a .010-second reaction time and an elapsed time of 6.784 seconds at 203.19 mph. Gaines had a .028-second reaction but he still couldn't catch Connolly despite running a quicker 6.778 at 203.61 mph.

Larry Morgan was the next to fall to the quick-starting Connolly, who had a .015 reaction and a 6.792 at 202.12 mph result. Morgan came in at 6.781 at 203.83 mph.

In the semifinal, however, Connolly  fouled out and Jason Line moved into the
finals with a 6.742 at 205.32  mph.  Line went on to get the race win.

"The red light was my  fault," Connolly said.  "I let the clutch come up and
the car started  rolling through the beams and the light turned red.  It
wouldn't have  mattered, though, because we couldn't have beaten Jason  today."

Connolly had qualified 11th for the race, which was the 20th of 23 on the 2005 schedule.

"This was another example of Dave  Connolly taking nothing and making
something out of it," said crew chief Terry  Adams, who was making changes to the
combination as weather conditions changed  each day.  "We ran decent and to go
rounds today was a morale boost for our  team."

Connolly and the crew now shift sites, moving to the Dallas area for the Fall Nationals, Oct. 7-9, at the Texas Motorplex.

-dcr-