KJ's Up and Down Day Ends in Joliet Quarterfinals
Contact: Jon Knapp
TMG Sports Marketing, Inc.
Despite qualifying tenth, ACDelco Cobalt pilot Kurt Johnson was quietly optimistic entering Sunday's final eliminations of the Ameriquest Mortgage NHRA Nationals in Joliet, IL. Their competitive performance on Saturday, when the weather conditions closely matched those encountered on race day, had the entire team looking to go rounds and challenge for their second win at Route 66 Raceway.
Their confidence seemed well founded in the first round, when Johnson combined a lightning-quick .002 reaction time with the quickest elapsed time of the round at 6.752-seconds with a top speed of 204.45 mph to eliminate Allen Johnson.
This set the stage for a second round encounter with rival Jason Line. Once again, Johnson was first off the line, with his .024 reaction time giving the second-generation racer over one hundredth of a second advantage. Unfortunately, even though he was able to record the third quickest time of the round at 6.760 seconds, it was not enough to hold off his opponent's 6.746-second pass, which was quickest for the round, edging KJ at the line by a mere three thousandths of a second.
"We just didn’t run the number. I had him by eleven thousandths on the tree, and came up three thousandths short at the finish line. Certainly, our ACDelco Cobalt looked good in the first round, but we know they (Line) would come out strong in the second round, and they did, driving around us at the top end.
"Even so, we're happy that we ran better in eliminations than we did in qualifying, and I drove well, so everyone did their job today. We were on track, but that round was like a final at any other race. It would have been nice to have it, especially since Dad took out Greg at the same time, which would have allowed us to gain some points.
"However, we're not going to dwell on it. We're just going to put today behind us, regroup and head on to Dallas, and see if we can get ourselves back to the winner's circle."
TMG Sports Marketing, Inc.
Despite qualifying tenth, ACDelco Cobalt pilot Kurt Johnson was quietly optimistic entering Sunday's final eliminations of the Ameriquest Mortgage NHRA Nationals in Joliet, IL. Their competitive performance on Saturday, when the weather conditions closely matched those encountered on race day, had the entire team looking to go rounds and challenge for their second win at Route 66 Raceway.
Their confidence seemed well founded in the first round, when Johnson combined a lightning-quick .002 reaction time with the quickest elapsed time of the round at 6.752-seconds with a top speed of 204.45 mph to eliminate Allen Johnson.
This set the stage for a second round encounter with rival Jason Line. Once again, Johnson was first off the line, with his .024 reaction time giving the second-generation racer over one hundredth of a second advantage. Unfortunately, even though he was able to record the third quickest time of the round at 6.760 seconds, it was not enough to hold off his opponent's 6.746-second pass, which was quickest for the round, edging KJ at the line by a mere three thousandths of a second.
"We just didn’t run the number. I had him by eleven thousandths on the tree, and came up three thousandths short at the finish line. Certainly, our ACDelco Cobalt looked good in the first round, but we know they (Line) would come out strong in the second round, and they did, driving around us at the top end.
"Even so, we're happy that we ran better in eliminations than we did in qualifying, and I drove well, so everyone did their job today. We were on track, but that round was like a final at any other race. It would have been nice to have it, especially since Dad took out Greg at the same time, which would have allowed us to gain some points.
"However, we're not going to dwell on it. We're just going to put today behind us, regroup and head on to Dallas, and see if we can get ourselves back to the winner's circle."
posted by David @ 11:56 PM
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