First Round
Loss Ends 2007 Championship Hopes
Bakersfield,
CA - October 12-14, 2007: The 16th NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion lived
up to its star billing in spades. From the opening of the gates
on Friday, record crowds filled Famoso Raceway and considering
this is one of the two premier nostalgia drag racing events in
the country, the teams came here loaded for bear with one thought
in mind - winning.
The 35,000+ fans
that packed the facility over the three-day event were treated
to over 400 race cars including 21 of the countries best Top
Fuel dragsters including Troy Green and the Highspeed Motorsports
- SilverThin Bearings team. Coming into the race Green was sitting
less than 2 rounds out of the lead of the AAFD Points Series
Championship standings behind Brad Thompson and Adam Sorokin.
But after qualifying #4 with a nice 5.830 at 251.04 they suffered
an upset loss in round one thus bringing the 2007 season to a
close and having to wait until next year for a shot at the championship.
photos
and full story below
Since everyone up set up their
pits on Thursday, Friday started out somewhat laid back as the
first qualifying session wasn't scheduled until 3 PM. It gave
the crew plenty of time to double check everything on the car.
3:10PM After five Nostalgia Top
Fuel Dragsters completed their first qualifying runs, rain postponed
the completion of the program for the day. The remaining cars
were scheduled to take their first attempt at At 10:00AM on Saturday.
So, the big screen TV came out and everyone watched the new CHRR
and Cacklefest DVD done by R/S Productions.
Saturday
Friday's rain lingered
until early Saturday so the 10:00AM schedule was moved to noon.
In the AM it was sweatshirt weather
so Troy Green, Brett Johansen and Sean Bellemeur offered to model
them.
Sitting in the
staging lanes, Tom Shelar went over the game plan for their first
run with Troy Green.
Under cloudy
skies Green heated the tires for his first shot at a Bakersfield
track with "teeth" (excellent racing surface).
Green backs up from his
burnout under the direction of Walt Stevens.
Sean Bellemeur brings
Green into the staging beams.
The car left fairly good
and the early numbers indicated the car was on a high 5.90 run.
But Green encountered some problems
at the 900' mark and shut off to a 6.904 at 141.77. This would
give Johansen a baseline but would not be good enough to get
into the show.
After getting back to
the pits the crew went to work finding the problem and fixing
it.
Saturday - Qualifying Session
Two
The first pair for session
two fired at 5:09 p.m. Weather conditions: relative humidity
64 percent, barometer 29.87 inches, track temperature 78 degrees.
Green rolls into the
water box to start his burnout.
With Green backing up from the
burnout, Brett Johansen stands in the groove that he wants the
car staged in.
Following Johansen's directions,
Stevens guides Green back in his tracks. Brett Harris backs up
in the right lane.
Green's ready - waiting
for Harris to move forward.
Both cars left hard and
the only question was will the white car go 1320 feet under power.
There was a short fuse in the
High Speed car but Green slots in behind Brad Thompson with the
second quick ET and second fastest MPH to this point. There was
a lot of smoke from the engine at the stripe, but that seems
par for the course on a good run these days. Harris was about
a tenth behind at every mark before the clicked it just after
half track. Green's incremental times: 60ft-1.078 sec., 330ft-2.708,
660ft-3.928/205.71mph, 1,000ft-4.953.
Top
Fuel Qualifying - Final Order
1. Brad Thompson -
5.741 at 255.89
2. Jim Murphy - 5.774 at 257.43
3. Adam Sorokin - 5.816 at 239.61
4. Troy Green - 5.830 at 251.04
5. Brett Harris - 5.879 at 244.69
6. Pete Kaiser - 5.885 at 243.04
7. Denver Schutz - 5.886 at 250.62
8. Rick White - 5.929 at 244.16 |
9. Rick
Williamson - 5.929 at 228.65
10. Jack Harris - 5.932 at 230.65
11. Scott Mason - 5.934 at 238.66
12. Jason Richey - 5.939 at 228.19
13. Shannon Stewart - 6.012 at 228.42
14. Howard Haight - 6.073 at 223.15
15. Mike McClennan - 6.082 at 235.60
16. Rick Rogers - 6.104 at 250.34 |
DNQ
17. Rick McGee -
6.123 at 244.23
18. Mark Malde - 6.135
at 233.03
19. Brendan Murry - 6.241
at 220.04
20. John Shoemaker - 6.314
at 215.77
21. Mendy Fry - 7.766
at 175.88 |
Sunday - Eliminations
Unlike the previous two
days, Sunday featured Chamber Of Commerce weather which meant
the air and track would be near perfect for killer times.
Getting ready for round
one.
All weekend tires were an issue
with many of the teams including High Speed Motorsports. Even
though the new M&H tire, introduced this season, worked very
well on most tracks, the surface is so good at Bakersfield that
the "chunking" problem reared its ugly head again.
By the end of the weekend there were no new tires left.
11:05 a.m. Weather conditions:
air temperature 67 degrees, relative humidity 59 percent, barometer
29.95 inches.
Tires aside, at 11:00AM it was
time for business. Green was paired with the # 13 qualifier,
Shannon Stewart.
Green backs up under
sunny skies.
Seconds to showtime.
Green got a slight starting
line advantage.
While eating the engine up, Stewart
caught Green at the 1100' mark and won the race by 14 feet. His
5.894 at 228.89 to a good but losing 5.957 at 246.30. This was
simply a case of under estimating the competition.
A dejected Troy Green comes to
a stop knowing his championship points hopes and in fact, the
2007 season are over.
On that note its time to look
forward to the 2008 season when the High Speed Motorsports -
SilverThin Bearings car will be back with a vengeance. After
a successful 2007 campaign, the team is really looking forward
to the 50th March Meet. The entire HSMS team would like to thank
their fans and sponsors and they are looking forward to making
you all proud in the future.
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