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The ability to master a tricky Virginia Motorsports Park racing surface enabled Jim Yates to advance to the semifinals of the Torco Racing Fuels Nationals Sunday. But the track also came back to bite him in the semifinals.
"It was nice to have a race back in Virginia," said Yates, of Occoquan, Va., and driver of the SeaRay Boats/Prince William Marine Pontiac GTO. "But the atmospheric conditions were very good and we just didn't make enough runs in these kinds of conditions to get a handle on the tune-up. We were struggling, but we weren't the only ones."
Nevertheless, Yates, who started 15th, did upset Greg Stanfield in the opening round with his quickest run of the day, 6.656 seconds at 208.04 mph to a 13.582 at 61.41 mph. Yates and Jeg Coughlin, his quarterfinal foe, lost traction early in their quarter-mile run, but Yates recovered quickly and got the win light, 7.685 at 189.63 to Coughlin's 18.241 at 53.13.
"We kept making changes but nothing we did solved the problems," added Yates. "We just kind of zigged and zagged around it. The air conditions were just much better than what we are used to seeing."
Yates and Tom Martino pedaled the throttle in their semifinal run when tire spin hit. Martino managed to coax his car to the finish line just ahead of Yates, winning with a 9.196 at 140.44 to 9.661 at 190.75.
Yates remained seventh in NHRA POWERade Series points with 1074.
Yates Semifinalist at Torco Racing Fuels Nationals
The ability to master a tricky Virginia Motorsports Park racing surface enabled Jim Yates to advance to the semifinals of the Torco Racing Fuels Nationals Sunday. But the track also came back to bite him in the semifinals.
"It was nice to have a race back in Virginia," said Yates, of Occoquan, Va., and driver of the SeaRay Boats/Prince William Marine Pontiac GTO. "But the atmospheric conditions were very good and we just didn't make enough runs in these kinds of conditions to get a handle on the tune-up. We were struggling, but we weren't the only ones."
Nevertheless, Yates, who started 15th, did upset Greg Stanfield in the opening round with his quickest run of the day, 6.656 seconds at 208.04 mph to a 13.582 at 61.41 mph. Yates and Jeg Coughlin, his quarterfinal foe, lost traction early in their quarter-mile run, but Yates recovered quickly and got the win light, 7.685 at 189.63 to Coughlin's 18.241 at 53.13.
"We kept making changes but nothing we did solved the problems," added Yates. "We just kind of zigged and zagged around it. The air conditions were just much better than what we are used to seeing."
Yates and Tom Martino pedaled the throttle in their semifinal run when tire spin hit. Martino managed to coax his car to the finish line just ahead of Yates, winning with a 9.196 at 140.44 to 9.661 at 190.75.
Yates remained seventh in NHRA POWERade Series points with 1074.
