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BRISTOL, Tenn. (May 17) -- Former series champ Jay Payne posted a huge upset win over No. 1 qualifier Josh Hernandez in Saturday's first round of JEGS ProMod Challenge eliminations at Bristol Dragway. After barely making the field in the final qualifying session, Payne zoomed to a 6.029 at 237.21 mph in his Valvoline Camaro to stop Hernandez's 6.064 at 239.78 mph.
Payne's wife Shelly wasn't as lucky in her Valvoline racer as she was beaten on a .036 to .065-second holeshot by the lower qualified car of JEGS points leader Tony Pontieri.
Sunday's final three rounds will offer Pontieri and his Quality Plus Compressors '57 Bel Air team a great chance to pad his points lead as the closest driver to him in the standings that is still alive this weekend in Jay Payne, who moved up to fifth place in Round 1. Still, Payne is more than four rounds back and has Mike Ashley in the quarterfinals. Ashley ran low elapsed time of the first round in his Lend America/ProCare Rx Camaro when he tripped the timers in 6.001 seconds.
Canadian Ray Commisso also advanced the Round 2 with the fastest pass of the weekend, reaching a top speed of 242.32 mph during a 6.070-second pass in his ProCare Rx R2B2. Like Pontieri, Commisso used a holeshot to score his win over Danny Rowe.
Commisso advances to face alternate Taylor Lastor, who filled in for Eddie Ware and got a win over a red-lighting Scott Ray.
Second-place qualifier Kirk Kuhns will put his Embee Performance '41 Willys up against Rick Stivers' Tindle Motorsports '67 Shelby Mustang. Kuhns beat Stivers' teammate in Round 1, while Stivers had wild, swerving victory over John Russo, who broke a few hundred feet into the run.
Inflicting Payne: Jay Payne scores big round win over polesitter
BRISTOL, Tenn. (May 17) -- Former series champ Jay Payne posted a huge upset win over No. 1 qualifier Josh Hernandez in Saturday's first round of JEGS ProMod Challenge eliminations at Bristol Dragway. After barely making the field in the final qualifying session, Payne zoomed to a 6.029 at 237.21 mph in his Valvoline Camaro to stop Hernandez's 6.064 at 239.78 mph.
Payne's wife Shelly wasn't as lucky in her Valvoline racer as she was beaten on a .036 to .065-second holeshot by the lower qualified car of JEGS points leader Tony Pontieri.
Sunday's final three rounds will offer Pontieri and his Quality Plus Compressors '57 Bel Air team a great chance to pad his points lead as the closest driver to him in the standings that is still alive this weekend in Jay Payne, who moved up to fifth place in Round 1. Still, Payne is more than four rounds back and has Mike Ashley in the quarterfinals. Ashley ran low elapsed time of the first round in his Lend America/ProCare Rx Camaro when he tripped the timers in 6.001 seconds.
Canadian Ray Commisso also advanced the Round 2 with the fastest pass of the weekend, reaching a top speed of 242.32 mph during a 6.070-second pass in his ProCare Rx R2B2. Like Pontieri, Commisso used a holeshot to score his win over Danny Rowe.
Commisso advances to face alternate Taylor Lastor, who filled in for Eddie Ware and got a win over a red-lighting Scott Ray.
Second-place qualifier Kirk Kuhns will put his Embee Performance '41 Willys up against Rick Stivers' Tindle Motorsports '67 Shelby Mustang. Kuhns beat Stivers' teammate in Round 1, while Stivers had wild, swerving victory over John Russo, who broke a few hundred feet into the run.
