Saturday, April 30, 2011

BURGESS RETAINS TOP QUALIFYING POSTION; DEFEATED IN FIRST ROUND OF ELIMINATIONS

BAYTOWN, Texas – Roger Burgess retained the No. 1 qualifying position at the end of qualifying on Saturday for the second time of the year and the third time in his career during the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series event at Royal Purple Raceway in Baytown, Texas.


His good fortunes were short lived as mechanical problems in eliminations ended his weekend early as he had to shut off his turbo-charged Pro Care Rx 1953 Corvette after the burnout and giving the win to 16 seeded Mike Janis.


"We had no oil pressure and it wasn't safe, so we shut it off. The belt on the oil pump broke. It was the right thing to shut it off,” stated Burgess. “You learn and move on. We have to be safe first, so we lived to race another day."


Points leader Khalid Balooshi make it into the field on his third and final qualifying attempt and got a first round win in eliminations. He will face Ed Hoover in the second round.


Other second round pairings include Mike Janis vs. Raymond Commisso, Mike Castellana vs. Pete Farber, and Danny Rowe vs. Donald Martin.


Second round of eliminations for the NRHA Get Screened America Pro Mod Series will take place during the course of the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals on Sunday.

BAYTOWN, Texas -- First-round pairings for Get Screened America eliminations Saturday for the 24th annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil at Royal Purple Raceway, the third of ten events. Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday. DNQs listed below pairings.


Pro Modified -- 1. Roger Burgess, Chevy Corvette, 5.873, 253.47 vs. 16. Mike Janis, Ford Mustang, 6.110, 238.51; 2. Danny Rowe, Chevy Camaro, 5.954, 246.53 vs. 15. Troy Coughlin, Pontiac GTO, 6.097, 245.58; 3. Ed Hoover, Camaro, 5.958, 243.72 vs. 14. Chip King, Dodge Daytona, 6.091, 248.48; 4. Mike Castellana, Camaro, 5.963, 241.67 vs. 13. Brad Personett, Camaro, 6.091, 250.78; 5. Kenny Lang, Camaro, 5.969, 246.44 vs. 12. Pete Farber, Daytona, 6.086, 234.66; 6. Khalid Balooshi, Camaro, 5.985, 240.72 vs. 11. Mike Knowles, Camaro, 6.070, 245.94; 7. Scott Ray, Corvette, 5.986, 238.85 vs. 10. Donald Martin, Camaro, 6.047, 243.11; 8. Melanie Troxel, Camaro, 5.992, 246.30 vs. 9. Raymond Commisso, Camaro, 6.031, 246.26.


Did Not Qualify: 17. Rickie Smith, 6.163, 237.50; 18. Steve Matusek, 6.236, 235.89; 19. Jay Payne, 6.376, 237.34; 20. Dennis Radford, 10.325, 87.40.


BAYTOWN, Texas -- Get Screened America Pro Mod round one results from the 24th annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil at Royal Purple Raceway, the third of ten events:


ROUND ONE -- Raymond Commisso, Chevy Camaro, 6.184, 240.38 def. Melanie Troxel, Camaro, 6.205, 240.08; Mike Janis, Ford Mustang, 5.990, 240.81 def. Roger Burgess, Chevy Corvette, broke; Donald Martin, Camaro, 6.079, 239.95 def. Scott Ray, Corvette, broke; Khalid Balooshi, Camaro, 5.950, 242.19 def. Mike Knowles, Camaro, 6.037, 243.46; Pete Farber, Dodge Daytona, 9.676, 106.19 def. Kenny Lang, Camaro, broke; Ed Hoover, Camaro, 9.958, 89.46 def. Chip King, Daytona, broke; Mike Castellana, Camaro, 6.015, 231.79 def. Brad Personett, Camaro, 6.727, 141.34; Danny Rowe, Camaro, 6.003, 244.60 def. Troy Coughlin, Pontiac GTO, 6.060, 246.39.