Wilkerson takes it to the semifinals
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INDIANAPOLIS, Monday: Funny Car points leader, Tim Wilkerson drove his Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevy Impala SS all the way to the semi-final round of eliminations today at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis. Wilkerson and his dedicated team didn’t get any breaks from his competitors but their talents shone through as they worked hard to earn their wins.
In the first-round of eliminations, Wilkerson didn’t have lane choice and his opponent, Del Worsham put him in the unfavorable, right lane where most of the earlier cars smoked the tires. But Wilkerson didn’t let that faze him. In a great side-by-side race, Wilkerson laid down the second quickest run of the session with Worsham keeping up with him. But Wilk got the win with his 4.167 at 296.05 mph over Worsham’s 4.176. This gave Wilkerson lane choice over his next opponent, Tony Pedregon. And here Wilkerson sent Pedregon packing with another 4.16 run, which was the quickest of this session. Pedregon posted a 4.250 against Wilkerson’s 4.161 at 299.53. In the semifinals Wilkerson again had lane choice, this time against Robert Hight, but the results were not in Wilkerson’s favor. Wilkerson smoked the tires, which he hasn’t done on race day since the final-round in Topeka in May against Hight’s boss, John Force. Wilkerson could only run a 5.424 as Hight sailed past him with a 4.358.
“We had a pretty good car all weekend,” said Wilkerson. “We just missed it in the finals of the Showdown yesterday and third round here it just got loose on me out there about 200 feet. I just didn’t catch it when it started smoking but hey that’s part of it.
“The guys worked hard and did a great job. And we had a good day and a good car and it taught us something for the rest of the countdown, if we run into that situation again. Hopefully we’ll put this in our record book and know what to do.”
<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/t_wilkerson.jpg" alt="t_wilkerson" align="right"borders="0"/>
INDIANAPOLIS, Monday: Funny Car points leader, Tim Wilkerson drove his Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevy Impala SS all the way to the semi-final round of eliminations today at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis. Wilkerson and his dedicated team didn’t get any breaks from his competitors but their talents shone through as they worked hard to earn their wins.
In the first-round of eliminations, Wilkerson didn’t have lane choice and his opponent, Del Worsham put him in the unfavorable, right lane where most of the earlier cars smoked the tires. But Wilkerson didn’t let that faze him. In a great side-by-side race, Wilkerson laid down the second quickest run of the session with Worsham keeping up with him. But Wilk got the win with his 4.167 at 296.05 mph over Worsham’s 4.176. This gave Wilkerson lane choice over his next opponent, Tony Pedregon. And here Wilkerson sent Pedregon packing with another 4.16 run, which was the quickest of this session. Pedregon posted a 4.250 against Wilkerson’s 4.161 at 299.53. In the semifinals Wilkerson again had lane choice, this time against Robert Hight, but the results were not in Wilkerson’s favor. Wilkerson smoked the tires, which he hasn’t done on race day since the final-round in Topeka in May against Hight’s boss, John Force. Wilkerson could only run a 5.424 as Hight sailed past him with a 4.358.
“We had a pretty good car all weekend,” said Wilkerson. “We just missed it in the finals of the Showdown yesterday and third round here it just got loose on me out there about 200 feet. I just didn’t catch it when it started smoking but hey that’s part of it.
“The guys worked hard and did a great job. And we had a good day and a good car and it taught us something for the rest of the countdown, if we run into that situation again. Hopefully we’ll put this in our record book and know what to do.”
