Bellemeur Has Another Good Outing - 5.97 @ 249

August 05-07, 2005 - Pomona, CA. Goodguys 8th Annual Nitro Nationals. Needless to say, the Supertrack at the Pomona Fair Grounds is one of the largest facilities in the world. Even the NHRA PowerAid National events can't completely fill the 30,000+ seats in ideal weather. That said, all things considered, the 8th Annual Goodguys Nitro National did put a nice dent in the 1/4 of mile grandstands on Saturday. Sunday was disappointing. Friday was expected being a work day. The weather was in a word - miserable, about 95 degrees and very high humidity due to some close by tropical storms. The asphalt was 135-140 degrees, with no breeze. The spectator count was understandably down, the racers were suffering. Mother nature won the event. But all in all it still beats what everybody else in the world was doing.

The Barrick Gaming - High Speed Motorsports car made its presence known qualifying for the 16 car field. Sean Bellemeur went two rounds. Full story and photos below.

The first qualifying session went off at 3:30 pm and it was HOT! Sean Bellemeur in the High Speed Motorsports Plaza Hotel entry was paired with Pete Kaiser in "Ground Zero".

Bellemeur backs up from his burnout.

 
The crew makes last minute adjustments and clean the tires.

Both cars left good but for some reason Kaiser lifted early to a 6.286 at 209.15 while Bellemeur had a lot of smoke going into the lights and carded a 6.271 at 239.68.

After servicing the car the Plaza Hotel crew tried to beat the heat prior to the second qualifying session Friday night.

9:30 pm and Bellemeur is paired with Jeff Diehl for the second qualifying session. Even though it was cooler and the air was better they did not improve on their earlier run.

Bellemeur, failed to hook up this session and, trying to get the tires to bite was off and on the throttle. After three failed attempts Sean wound up coasting to a 7.815 at 119.36.

3:00 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 116 degrees, relative humidity 30 percent, barometer 29.90 inches... OUCH! For his last attempt Bellemeur was paired with Brendan Murry.

Bellemeur had instant tire smoke and tried to pedal one time. The car hooked up and ran right on through the lights to a 6.448 at 200.66 which did not improve his position.

Disappointed with the run, the crew heads up track to collect Sean and the car.

The engine got completely torn down in preparation of the first round of eliminations.

7:35 pm and first round is under way. Bellemeur would have to get by Bill Dunlap to advance to the second round on Sunday morning.

As always, Walt Stevens back up Bellemeur from his burnout. The Plaza Hotel crew had not gotten a handle on the tricky Pomona track all weekend and could only manage the # 13 qualifying spot. Dunlap was # 4 and favored.

Bellemeur nailed Dunlap on the tree (0.472 to 0.541) and then ran quicker and faster to rub the salt in. A stellar 5.976 at 249.58 (top speed of the event) was more than enough to cover Dunlap's nice 6.040 at 247.25. The only downside to Bellemeur's run was the smoke that filled the right lane at the end of the run.

Unlike the night before, the Plaza Hotel crew was ecstatic over this run.

Back to the pits to check the engine damage.

11:00 am Sunday - Bellemeur would meet Jeff Diehl in round two of eliminations.

As Bellemeur moves into stage Ruthi Hedge mans her trusty camera to record the run for analysis.

By the time the green light was fully lit Bellemeur was out on Diehl and on his way to what looked like another win. However the engine didn't cooperate and gave up with a huge bang about the 1000 foot mark allowing Diehl to drive past. 'The Surfer' covered Bellemeur's 6.366 at a slowing 197.80 with a 6.146 at 239.61 sending him to the semis.

Although they lost in the previous round the Plaza car was repaired and on hand to run if Diehl failed to fire for round three (break rule).

Unfortunately (for the HSM crew) Diehl did run and all Dale Singh, Sean Bellemeur and Tom Shelar could do was watch.

And that wraps up one hot weekend in Pomona. The next race is in Seattle in early September and according to Walt Stevens, before the 5.97 against Dunlap they found what had been problem all year (in the clutch can) and are now saying, "Watch out" to the other big dogs in the VRA.