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Amato, Force, and Johnson Hold on to Number One Spots KENT WA - SUMMIT FastNews --There was a complete change in the weather conditions today for the final qualifying sessions at the Prolong Super Lubricants Northwest Nationals, presented by Al's ...

Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM

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Amato, Force, and Johnson Hold on to Number One Spots

KENT WA - SUMMIT FastNews --There was a complete change in the weather conditions today for the final qualifying sessions at the Prolong Super Lubricants Northwest Nationals, presented by Al's Automotive Supply. Joe Amato, John Force and Warren Johnson remained at the top of the fields in their respective categories. The high temperatures that reached the mid eighties. Whit Bazemore was the story of the day in Fuel Funny Car. Bazemore put together two consistent and quick qualifying runs that moved him into the number two position behind John Force. In the morning session Bazemore ran a quick 5.118/276.69 mph run. In the heat of the afternoon the Kendell Motor Oil sponsored Camaro ran 5.027/290.32 to claim the spot behind Force. According to Bazemore, 'This track is so difficult to tune for and difficult to drive. We used to think Denver was the hardest track to race on, but it may now be Seattle, because the concrete is really good the first three hundred feet, but after that the asphalt for some reason has no traction. The air's really good, so we're making a lot of power. It makes it hard, because you want to take advantage of the concrete to accelerate the car hard. If the whole track was the equal of the concrete, this would be a national record type track with the atmospheric conditions we have here. But the way it is we ran 5.02, and that was for the session by almost two tenths. That's tough.' Bazemore will face Gary Densham and his NEC sponsored Firebird in the first round. It was mentioned today in the press room that John Force is playing hurt this weekend. According to sources Force was injured last week during the filming of a commercial for an auto parts company. Force qualified number one with yesterday's time of 4.987/304.12. He will face Cory Lee on Sunday morning in the first round of eliminations. Other interesting match ups on Sunday include the 8/9 pairing of Ron Capps and Jerry Toliver. Both are hungry for a win during an up and down season and in qualifying they are only separated by three thousandths of a second. Top Fuel is still led by Joe Amato after two days of qualifying and this Friday track record run of 4.585 stood through the second day. Amato will face number sixteen qualifier, Robert Reehl, in round one. Perhaps the most interesting race in the first round will be the pairing of title contenders Doug Herbert and Mike Dunn. Dunn, by virtue of his quicker qualifying run will have lane choice over Doug Herbert. Neither driver can really afford a first round loss if they want to stay in the title hunt, but one will pack up and head to Sonoma Sunday morning. Another first round pairing with title implications is the pairing of Gary Scelzi and Cory McClenathan. Here Scelzi will have choice as he qualified in the sixth spot compared to McClenathan's number eleven. Perhaps the hardest hit by the warm, sunny conditions were the Pro Stockers. Warren Johnson remained number one, and son Kurt continued in the two hole. Again we have a close field with the top sixteen being separated by only .073 seconds. WJ will face V. Gaines in round one while Kurt will face off with Tony Gillig. The eight/nine pairing will feature Tom Martino vs Steve Schmidt. The pair was separated by only .005 seconds. Eliminations are scheduled to begin at 11:00 AM. Results provided by the FastNews Network, courtesy of Summit Racing Equipment ** http://www.summitracing.com/ **

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