After rain canceled the final qualifying session and all four rounds of eliminations at the NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, N.H. last weekend, Camping World Series competitors headed south to Bristol Dragway to complete the event during qualifying for the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.
DeJoria qualified her Bandero Premium Tequila Toyota GR Supra 10th for the New England event and drew Robert Hight as her first-round competitor. Before eliminations got underway on Friday night, teams were given the opportunity for a ‘shakedown’ run during the first round of qualifying for the Bristol, Tenn. event. DeJoria was on a decent pass in her 11,000-horsepower machine but struck the tires as she was approaching halftrack and slowed to a 4.378, placing her 12th on the Bristol qualifying sheet after the first session.
DeJoria pulled up to the starting line for the second qualifying session with two goals in mind – defeat Hight to advance further into the New England Nationals elimination show, and improve upon her qualifying position. Against Hight, DeJoria clocked a 3.999 E.T. but was outpaced by his 3.938-second run. While DeJoria will now have to wait until Sunday to have another shot at more round wins, she did accomplish her goal of moving into the quick-half of the Bristol field with her 3.999-second pass placing her in the provisional No. 5 spot heading into day two of qualifying.
“It’s very challenging to come from the sea level conditions at Epping to here at Bristol with a significant elevation change, and we also haven’t been running very well lately, which is kind of a bummer,” said DeJoria’s crew chief Del Worsham. “To go down the track in Q2 was good; important for us. We made a decent run and that gives us something to work on for Saturday. Now we have to work on getting some good data for Sunday’s race day tune-up so when those race day challenges arise, we have some answers for them.”
Qualifying for the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals resumes on Saturday, June 10 at 2:00 p.m. DeJoria and the Bandero Premium Tequila team will start from the provisional No. 5 position.
Qualified (Epping): No. 10 (6.816 E.T. at 102.35 MPH)
Elimination Round Results:
E1: 3.999 E.T. at 322.88 MPH defeated by Robert Hight 3.938 E.T. at 321.35 MPH
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