Thompson Falls in Semifinal Round at Home Track
ClintThompson returned to his home track, Champion Raceway in Medford, Oregon, hoping to capture a "hometown" win that always seems to escape him when racing in front of friends, family, and associates from Cascade Auto Group. With a big win in Mission already under his belt, and new backing from Dutch Bros., hopes were high that this would be his year to win a Lucas Oil Race in front of the locals.
Clint qualified his '06 Monte Carlo in the fifth position by stopping the clock with a 6.021 at 241.63 MPH. In the first round he faced Dennis Taylor who is always a tough customer in the Plumbing Concepts Camaro. Taylor and Thompson left together at the start but it was Thompson who pulled away and scored the victory.
In the semifinal round, Thompson faced an upset minded Hank Coolage, who nailed popular California racer Pete Swayne in round one. Coolage then pulled off another victory by getting a better reaction time with an 0.057 to Thompson 's 0.074. Both cars were side by side all the way down Broadway but Coolage pulled off the upset with a 5.92 to Thompson's very close 5.94.
Fortunately, Thomson won't have time to dwell on the loss too long as the Les Schwab Challenge is this coming weekend and is considered one of the biggest NHRA Divisional events in the country.
