Topeka: Whit Bazemore final summary

BAZEMORE LOSES TO CAPPS BY FOUR FEET IN TOPEKA

TOPEKA, Kan. (May 28, 2006) - Whit Bazemore and his teammate Ron Capps had the fans on their feet at the O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals today at Heartland Park Topeka, as the pair rocketed to the finish line in a spectacular side-by-side race from start to finish, with Capps taking the win over Bazemore by a mere four feet.

Bazemore, driving the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Charger R/T, faced Capps in the second round after his solid defeat of Tommy Johnson Jr. in the opening stanza (4.997/301.33 to 5.019/299.53).

One-thousandth of a second separated Bazemore and Capps at the starting lights, with Bazemore earning the edge (.067 to .068), but it was his teammate first at the finish line, with a 4.985-second ET at 295.92 mph to Bazemore's 4.994/298.40, or a .0086 margin of victory (four feet).

"The Matco Tools Dodge got a little loose in the middle and moved around some and that certainly scrubbed off a little ET. - whether it was eight thousandths (of a second), I don't know," said Bazemore.

"We could have left a little sooner on the starting line, but you do what you do. They're obviously a top team, they're leading the points, and we lost a drag race by eight thousandths.

"You can't hang your head. You have to be happy with the job that everyone did and go to the next race. It's still a little frustrating.

"We had third low ET of the round and clearly we have a car that can run well in the heat and run in the cold, so we're very happy with the team. It was just one of those drag races that you lose sometimes.

"We won the first round like that - by 10 thousandths. You do your best job. Everyone on our team did a perfect job, and we lost a race by just eight thousandths. Honestly, you can't dig any deeper. The car was on the edge of the race track and I cut a good light and that's all you can do."

Next up is the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill., June 9-11.

-dsr-