Sonoma: Tom Bradford final summary

Bradford to the Semis in Sonoma

After becoming the fourth member of the Mickey Thompson 6 Second Club on Saturday, Tom Bradford lost a good Pro Stock Motorcycle race to Antron Brown in the semifinals of the NHRA Fram Autolite Nationals on Sunday.

Bradford's raceday started with a decisive win over G.T. Tonglet in round1, where Tom's 7.003 was very nearly another 6.

"Putting G.T. out helped us in points," said Bradford. "He was the guy who was ahead of us and that should put us in the top 10."

Angelle Sampey was having trouble with her bike in the water box in round 2. In the other lane, Bradford was focusing intently on the tree. "I didn't know any of that was going on," Tom said about Angelle's travails. "I was staged and guys were walking through the beams and I kept thinking it was her staging." Sampey restarted and staged, Tom kept his focus, took the tree and advanced to the semis.

Next up was Bradford's match-up with Sampey's teammate Brown.

"Nobody was giving an inch there," said Bradford, who slowed due to a headwind. "It was dead even most of the away, then he pulled me a little bit. It's pretty funky what the wind can do there. It can switch from a tailwind to a headwind just like that. And it's a strong wind, too. That's why everybody slowed in the semis. We could have used a gearing change."

Tom and the Balbayis Asset Consulting/Hal's Speedshop team race next at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd, Minnesota, August 10-13.

-th