Weather impeded competition on day two of the NHRA New England Nationals. Top Fuel dragster and Funny Cars only had one attempt at New England Dragway on Saturday with drastically cooler conditions than they saw Friday.
Robert Hight and the AAA Northern New England / Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS team will start from No. 5 with teammate John Force and the BlueDEF PLATINUM starting from No. 9. In Top Fuel, Austin Prock and the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist dragster team are No. 7 while Brittany Force and the Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac dragster team are No. 11.
Hight and the AAA Chevy ran into trouble early in their Saturday afternoon run. The AAA Camaro lost traction with at the hit to coast to 12.960-seconds and 64.61 mph. They’ll start from No. 5 based on their Friday afternoon 4.624 to race against Alexis DeJoria.
“Really tough conditions, weather was not on our side, or anyone’s really,” Hight said. “Hopefully we get something in tomorrow, would really like to get this AAA Chevy into the winners circle here at Epping. I’ve never won here before and I’d like to check it off the list. We’ll see what happens with the weather and how the cards play out.”
Austin Prock and the Montana Brand / RMT team shook the tires on their Saturday attempt. Prock would try to pedal the dragster but wouldn’t be able to get back traction to record only 6.404 seconds at 116.64 mph. Prock and the Montana Brand team claim the No. 7 qualifying spot off their 4.075 pass at 239.27 from Friday and will take on Steve Torrence in the first round.
“Another set of tricky conditions, but this Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team managed to stay in the top half of the field,” Prock said. “We’re looking forward to Sunday, if all goes as planned, we have the potential to have a great points day. I’m excited to get the first round started.”
John Force and the BlueDEF Chevy had a little extra on the line during their qualifying attempt on Saturday. Racing in a rematch of the Route 66 Nationals semifinals, Force was not only looking for a quality run down New England Dragway but a win over Tim Wilkerson in the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge. Force would have to pedal the BlueDEF Camaro but would end up crossing the centerline for a disqualification. He will start race day from No. 9 thanks to a 4.623-second pass at 96.42 mph and race against Wilkerson.
“On that last run, it rattled on me, so I pedaled it. It got back to the middle and I thought I was okay. Then it took a left on me. I should have caught it, that’s my job,” Force said. “We’ll see how tomorrow goes, hasn’t been great so far. Hopefully we can get it together and be ready to take this BlueDEF Chevy some rounds.”
Brittany Force and the Monster Energy team had some excitement during their run. Racing for a win over Clay Millican in the first round of the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, the Monster Energy dragster lost traction at the hit and Force would pedal it coming up short with a 4.024-second pass at 278.69 mph to Millican’s 3.899 at 310.98. She’ll start race day from No. 11 off of her 4.907 pass at 149.88 form Friday to run against Josh Hart.
“Epping has been a bit of struggle this weekend. We lost a qualifying run to rain and the two session we did get, our car struggled. Today, we pushed for the #2Fast2Tasty Challenge and it shook, I pedaled it but we still couldn’t get around Clay,” Force said. “Going into race day in 11th but things can always change on race day. David Grubnic and this entire Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac team are incredible and know I we can turn things around tomorrow.”
The NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway continues with Sunday eliminations now slated to begin at 10:00 a.m. Television coverage will be aired on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) Saturday at 9:00 p.m. ET, with eliminations Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET.
JFR PR
