Memphis: Doug Herbert final report

Herbert Goes to the Finals, Scores Runner-up Finish in Memphis

In Sunday's eliminations from the O'Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals at the Memphis Motorsports Park, Doug Herbert and the SnaponFranchise.com Top Fuel dragster advanced to the final round of eliminations to score a runner-up finish. This was the Snap-on team's second appearance in the finals this season and it is the second consecutive runner-up finish for Herbert at Memphis.

Round 1:

Herbert, No. 5 qualifier, won against the No. 12 qualifier Clay Millican in Round 1 on Sunday morning. Although Millican beat Herbert off the line, the SnaponFranchise.com dragster was able to power by Millican's car to secure the win, 3.912 to 3.972.

Round 2:

For Round 2 of eliminations Herbert was matched against No. 13 qualifier J.R. Todd, who is coming off a win last week at Dallas. In one of the closest races of the day, Herbert's SnaponFranchise.com dragster beat Todd's machine by two-thousands of a second, 3.954 to 3.956.

Round 3:

In the semifinals Herbert met Brandon Bernstein, who was the No. 1 qualifier, and defeated him with a holeshot win. Herbert beat Bernstein off the line by nearly two-hundredths of a second. With a reaction time of .077 Herbert's 3.908 E.T. beat Bernstein's 3.895.

Round 4:

Herbert and Tony Schumacher faced off in the final round of eliminations. With almost identical reaction times Herbert and Schumacher left the line together but the SnaponFranchise.com dragster did not have enough for the U.S. Army car. Schumacher was able to steadily increase his lead over Herbert and took the win, 3.880 to 3.979.

"Overall we had a good weekend," said Herbert. "We qualified pretty well and went rounds. There are a lot of cars out here each week, a lot of good cars. Only one guy did better than us today and it's the guy that everybody has trouble beating. I hate that we couldn't get the job done but it still felt really good to be in the finals."

As a result of this weekend's efforts the Snap-on team moved up one position in the Top Fuel point standings to seventh with only three events remaining in the 2008 season and the Countdown to 1 playoffs.

Herbert and the Snap-on team will return to North Carolina for an off-weekend. The following week, Oct. 10-12 they will be in Richmond, Va., for the Virginia NHRA Nationals held at the Virginia Motorsports Park.

-credit: dhr