NHRA
Pomona: Morgan Lucas final report
Final-four finish places Lucas near top of class POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 10) -- Morgan Lucas weathered six days of rain delays to post a strong semifinal finish at the season-opening 49th annual Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals. The impressive ...
Published: Jun 19, 2009, 7:37 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Final-four finish places Lucas near top of class
POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 10) -- Morgan Lucas weathered six days of rain delays to post a strong semifinal finish at the season-opening 49th annual Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals. The impressive start ranks Lucas and his GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster a lofty fourth in the Full Throttle championship points.
In between countless rain storms, Lucas beat No. 2 qualifier Joe Hartley and Steve Chrisman with a pair of 3.8-second passes before encountering engine problems in a Round 3 loss to veteran Doug Kalitta.
"It's really satisfying to go some rounds after all that sitting around," Lucas said. "The crew guys still have to a lot of work every day even when it's raining so it's nice to be able to reward them with a semifinal finish. I always seem to go to the semis here. I think that's four out of five Winternationals where we've gone to the semis. It's a good start.
"I'm really happy with the car. For some reason we dropped a cylinder in Round 3 but we'll figure out what happened and get it fixed. I know my crew chief, Jimmy Walsh, won't sleep until he has the car perfect for Phoenix."
The Hartley race occurred Sunday and was effectively over at the starting line when Lucas left with a .063-second reaction time before zooming away to post a 3.846 at 310.20 mph, more than enough for Hartley's 3.955 at 307.37 mph.
Lucas used the best reaction time of the entire quarterfinal round (.048) to crush Steve Chrisman at the tree by a .048- to .181-second advantage, and then cruise to a 3.886 at 305.08 mph. Chrisman surrendered the race early after having problems with his car.
Against Kalitta, Lucas enjoyed another big headstart, this one a full three-hundredths of a second, but his motor wasn't happy and a consequent bout of tire shake forced him to lift off the accelerator. Seeing Kalitta well ahead at that point, Lucas smartly clicked off the engine and watched Kalitta cross with a 3.825 at 313.95 mph.
"I'm proud of my reaction time average (.059 seconds) this weekend because it's something I've been working on all winter long," Lucas said. "I know that if I can give Jimmy a steady performance at the tree than he can do more things with the car. It's all about being the best driver I can be.
"I would have loved to have won the race but I'm happy with this start. The people at GEICO Powersports are fired up about the season and Dad looked happy today so that was good to see. We'll get over to Phoenix and see if we can't do it again."
Up next for Lucas is the 25th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals, which run from Feb. 20-22 at Firebird International Raceway on the outskirts of Phoenix.
-credit: mlPR
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Pomona: Rain postpones eliminations until Tuesday
Next article Pomona Winternationals end on high note
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Doug Kalitta
Hight, Torrence are champions, Kalitta, Beckman take Pomona wins
NHRA
NHRA
Pomona II
Hight, Torrence are champions, Kalitta, Beckman take Pomona wins
C. Force, Kalitta, Gray and Hines secure No. 1 qualifiers at Carolina Nationals
NHRA
NHRA
Charlotte II
C. Force, Kalitta, Gray and Hines secure No. 1 qualifiers at Carolina Nationals
Can Millican start a winning streak?
NHRA
NHRA
Norwalk
Can Millican start a winning streak?
Latest news
Toyota clinches 2026 NASCAR Cup manufacturer championship early after dominant season
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
4 h
Toyota clinches 2026 NASCAR Cup manufacturer championship early after dominant season
Tyler Reddick really needed NASCAR Phoenix win for several reasons
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
4 h
Tyler Reddick really needed NASCAR Phoenix win for several reasons
Bubba Wallace laments mistake after heartbreaking Phoenix loss
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
5 h
Bubba Wallace laments mistake after heartbreaking Phoenix loss
NASCAR is getting the championship finish it has pursued since 1992
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
5 h
NASCAR is getting the championship finish it has pursued since 1992
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe