Las Vegas: Cory McClenathan eliminations summary

First round loss slows McClenathan in point race.

LAS VEGAS (April 6, 2003) -- Cory McClenathan, from Riverside, Calif., fell victim to Brandon Bernstein for the second consecutive in the opening round of the fourth annual NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

McClenathan got the Darrell Gwynn Racing/NY Yankees/Berryman Products Dragster away first but Bernstein, the rookie driver from Lake Forest, Calif., who took over the ride left vacant by the retirement of his father Kenny Bernstein at the conclusion of last season, had made up the difference by the 330-foot mark. From there on it was all Bernstein as McClenathan hazed the tires.

"We can't afford to lose in the first round and maintain a momentum in the point standing," said McClenathan following the disappointing defeat. "We've struggled since qualifying started on Friday and today was just a carryover. We've put a knowledgeable crew together and we'll get this problem solved, hopefully by the time we get to Houston."

McClenathan hunt for the 2003 championship slowed as he dropped to sixth in the NHRA POWERade Top Fuel point standings. He leaves the SummitRacing.com Nationals with 208 points The top five in the Top Fuel point standings are: 1.) Larry Dixon with 403 points; 2.) Brandon Bernstein, 59 behind with 344 points; 3.) Doug Kalitta, 131 back with 272 points 4.) John Smith, 173 behind with 230 points; and 5.) David Baca, 191behind with 212 points.

The next race for the Darrell Gwynn Racing/NY Yankees/Berryman Products Dragster is the 16th annual O'Reilly Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil.. The event at Houston Raceway Park will be contested next weekend April 10-13.

About Darrell Gwynn Racing:
Returning to Darrell Gwynn Racing in 2003 is an impressive contingent of continuing marketing partners including the New York Yankees (currently celebrating their 100th anniversary in baseball), GMC, Mac Tools, MBNA Bank N.A., and Winnebago Industries. These fine companies will be joined this year by an array of new team and driver marketing partners including Berryman Products, Centennial Batteries, Don Steves Chevrolet, Dyn-O-Mat, Fabtech Motorsports and Negley Electric.

About Berryman Products:
Berryman Products, Inc., a privately held company based in Arlington, Texas, manufactures and distributes the highest quality professional automotive chemical products throughout the US and internationally. With warehouse facilities in Alabama, Texas and California, Berryman products are sold to major auto parts chains, mass merchants and wholesale suppliers, independent automotive repair shops and car dealers. To learn more visit their website at www.berrymanproducts.com or contact the company at 800-433-1704.

-dgr-