NHRA - Makenna Brown Lands First Junior Dragster Win Of Season

HEBRON, May 31, 2011: Rain finally stayed away from National Trail Raceway over the weekend, which was all Makenna Brown needed to drive her JEGS.com Junior Dragster 2 to a win and a runner-up result at the two races contested at the Columbus-area facility.

Saturday was supposed to be the sixth race of the year, but thanks to persistent rain that seems to have followed the tour around this season, it was only the second to be fully completed. Brown took advantage of the situation and claimed low qualifier honors before powering through the field and beating Nicholas Altenbach in the final to score her first win of 2011.

Seven Junior Dragster 2 cars entered the race, so Brown's No. 1 qualifying effort was worth a bye-run in the first round. In the semifinals, Brown cut a .082 second light and made a 9.057 second pass at 70.57 mph on an 8.98 second dial-in, which resulted in an easy victory.

Brown's win against Altenbach was sealed at the starting line when he red-lighted by -.042 seconds. Brown was a model of consistency with a .056 second light followed by a pass of 8.977 at 73.73 mph on an 8.99 second dial-in.

An eight-car field lined up on Sunday with Brown easing through to the finals once again with two consistent winning runs: a 9.046 at 70.19 mph on an 8.98 dial-in and a 9.047 at 71.41 mph on an 8.99 dial-in. In the final, Brown jumped the light by -.032 seconds and fouled out.

With the victory and runner-up result, Brown is now third in the season standings, 22 points off the pace.