Seattle Saturday Recap

KENT - Saturday Recap by Larry Sullivan KENT, Wash. - SUMMIT FastNews - The final day of qualifying for the 11th annual NHRA Prolong Super Lubricants Northwest Nationals at Seattle International Raceway concluded with John Force and Warren Johnson still atop their respective Professional categories, but Cristen Powell replaced Kenny Bernstein at the top of the Top Fuel ladder. In Pro Stock Truck competition, Craig Eaton used a superior reaction time to defeat Jerry Haas in the final round. Eaton, driving a Dodge Dakota, posted a winning time and speed of 7.742 at 173.27 against Haas' quicker 7.715 at 175.02 in a Chevy S-10. In Top Fuel, Powell posted an elapsed time of 4.590 seconds at 299.80 mph, taking the track elapsed time record away from Bernstein to boot. Bernstein's 318.80 mph speed recorded Friday evening remains the track speed record. In Funny Car, Force's 4.941 at 308.11, posted Friday evening, was good enough to keep him atop the ladder. In fact, no Funny Car, including Force, was able to break into the fours on Saturday. In Pro Stock, Warren Johnson continued his domination of the Pro Stock category, improving over his Friday evening performance by posting a 6.884 at 200.53 mph in the first session Saturday. Both are track records, the first eighty and the first 200 ever at SIR. To put his performance in perspective, Johnson's edge over the number two qualifier, Mike Thomas, is 0.032 seconds. Thomas is only 0.040 seconds quicker than the sixteenth qualifier, Scott Geoffrion. Final eliminations are set for 11 AM Sunday. Results provided by the FastNews Network, courtesy of Summit Racing Equipment ** http://www.summitracing.com/ **