NHRA

Tim Wilkerson Friday qualifying at Topeka

Heartland Park Topeka

Edited: Jun 1, 2018, 1:00 PM

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Tim Wilkerson and John Force

WILK RUNS WITH THE PACK AND IS No. 6 ON FIRST DAY

Tim Wilkerson was one of the majority when analyzing his chances on Friday in Topeka. He was pretty certain the weather would win the day, as storms and rain showers blanketed the area all morning and made it seem unlikely any racing would take place. But, with the Friday schedule featuring two late runs for the professionals, starting with a 5:30 session for Funny Car, the weather worked in harmony with the event and both sessions were completed right on time. Not only that, the cloud cover and cool air made for some lightning-fast runs, and Wilk was able to stay with the big dogs and grab a solid top-half spot.

Tim Wilkerson and John Force

Photo by: Ted Rossino

With a 4.146 on his first run (7th-best in Q1) followed by his 4.081 on the second attempt, Wilk and the Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford team had their single best day of the year. Wilk will enter Saturday's sessions from the No. 6 position.

"Two good laps for us, which is a big step," Wilkerson said. "Even when we've done well, so far, we haven't been as consistent as I like, so to put two really nice runs together and stay in the top half of what turned out to be a pretty big session, well that's about as much as I could ask for right there.

"The air wasn't all that good, with the humidity so high, so it was one of those deals where there pretty much was more track than air. For the fans, that's a good thing because we can all turn up the dials and run fast on a great track, but we can't quite get over-center on it and smoke the tires because the air wasn't good enough. I hope they enjoyed it, after the weather we had all day, because it was a heck of a show out there tonight and a lot of people spent a good part of the day being awfully wet."

-source: twr

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