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Cory McClenathan advanced to his sixth semifinal round of the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series today at the 25th annual NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex.
His goal was to reach the final round, once points leader Larry Dixon was dismissed in the second stanza by Shawn Langdon, but after defeating Morgan Lucas with a 3.817-second pass at 317.94 mph, and Doug Kalitta with a 3.802/311.13, he was ousted by his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Tony Schumacher in the semifinal.
Racing the FRAM Top Fuel dragster, McClenathan posted a stellar 3.836-second pass at 310.70 mph as track and ambient temperatures rose throughout the day, but Schumacher crossed the finish line first with a slower 3.858/310.05 to win the round. (Reaction times: .065 for Schumacher, .088 for McClenathan).
McClenathan held on to second in the point standings, and is now 69 markers behind Dixon. Schumacher, who won today, moved closer to the front, and is now 94 points behind Dixon, and 25 back of McClenathan.
"They ran good, we ran a little better," said McClenathan. "Tony was a little better than I was on the starting line, but it just shows how fair these things are.
"We don't go up there to be runner-up. We go up there to win. It's unfortunate, but we were able to catch up a little bit points-wise on Dixon, but Tony also caught up with us a little bit, too. It's just going to make it that much tougher in the end."
"Cory Mac" was in the staging lanes right behind Dixon's losing quarterfinal run. "That drops your jaw when you see that happen in front of you," he said. "You need to step up and just forget about it and go out and do your job, and we did that and got that round win (over Doug Kalitta).
"That was big, as Kalitta can be lethal. Then we had to come back and race our teammate. All we can hope is that we go to the next race, we get into cooler weather, and we turn around this thing and start getting some of those 'little' (qualifying bonus) points, because they're going to matter in the end."
Next up is the NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, in Reading, Pa., Oct. 8-10.
TOP FUEL POINT STANDINGS, after three of six Countdown to the Championship playoffs:
1. Larry Dixon, 2422
2. Cory McClenathan, 2353
3. Tony Schumacher, 2328 (winner today)
4. Brandon Bernstein, 2249
5. Doug Kalitta, 2245
6. Shawn Langdon, 2226 (runner-up today)
7. Antron Brown, 2201
8. Steve Torrence, 2168
9. Morgan Lucas, 2135
10. Dave Grubnic, 2098
His goal was to reach the final round, once points leader Larry Dixon was dismissed in the second stanza by Shawn Langdon, but after defeating Morgan Lucas with a 3.817-second pass at 317.94 mph, and Doug Kalitta with a 3.802/311.13, he was ousted by his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Tony Schumacher in the semifinal.
Racing the FRAM Top Fuel dragster, McClenathan posted a stellar 3.836-second pass at 310.70 mph as track and ambient temperatures rose throughout the day, but Schumacher crossed the finish line first with a slower 3.858/310.05 to win the round. (Reaction times: .065 for Schumacher, .088 for McClenathan).
McClenathan held on to second in the point standings, and is now 69 markers behind Dixon. Schumacher, who won today, moved closer to the front, and is now 94 points behind Dixon, and 25 back of McClenathan.
"They ran good, we ran a little better," said McClenathan. "Tony was a little better than I was on the starting line, but it just shows how fair these things are.
"We don't go up there to be runner-up. We go up there to win. It's unfortunate, but we were able to catch up a little bit points-wise on Dixon, but Tony also caught up with us a little bit, too. It's just going to make it that much tougher in the end."
"Cory Mac" was in the staging lanes right behind Dixon's losing quarterfinal run. "That drops your jaw when you see that happen in front of you," he said. "You need to step up and just forget about it and go out and do your job, and we did that and got that round win (over Doug Kalitta).
"That was big, as Kalitta can be lethal. Then we had to come back and race our teammate. All we can hope is that we go to the next race, we get into cooler weather, and we turn around this thing and start getting some of those 'little' (qualifying bonus) points, because they're going to matter in the end."
Next up is the NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, in Reading, Pa., Oct. 8-10.
TOP FUEL POINT STANDINGS, after three of six Countdown to the Championship playoffs:
1. Larry Dixon, 2422
2. Cory McClenathan, 2353
3. Tony Schumacher, 2328 (winner today)
4. Brandon Bernstein, 2249
5. Doug Kalitta, 2245
6. Shawn Langdon, 2226 (runner-up today)
7. Antron Brown, 2201
8. Steve Torrence, 2168
9. Morgan Lucas, 2135
10. Dave Grubnic, 2098
