Tasca Reaches Semis At Bristol

BRISTOL, June 21, 2010: Tasca and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane looked to continue their hot streak from Englishtown to Bristol. Unfortunately that streak was spoiled with a semi-final loss to John Force.

Tasca’s best qualifying effort of the weekend came during Saturday’s early session. In the heat of the day, Tasca took his Shelby Mustang to the 1000 foot marker in 4.228 seconds at a top speed of 289.07 miles per hour. This effort would seed Tasca in the seventh position for Sunday’s eliminations.

In his first round pairing, Tasca defeated former Bristol race winner Ron Capps. The two drivers had close reaction times, but Tasca took the lead at the 660 foot marker and reached the finish line approximately 27 feet ahead of Capps. Tasca ran a 4.236 second pass at 292.65 miles per hour compared to Capps’ 4.299 second run at 277.77 miles per hour.

During the second round, Tasca faced Tony Pedregon. Tasca defeated Pedregon in the second round at Atlanta and was looking for the same result in Bristol. Pedregon smoked the tires while Tasca had a clean run to the finish. Tasca’s Shelby Mustang reached the finish line in 4.336 seconds at 280.60 miles per hour against Pedregon’s 5.712 second run at 127.04 miles per hour.

Making his sixth career appearance in the semi-finals, Tasca faced fellow Mustang driver John Force. Tasca had the starting line advantage but smoked the tires around 400 feet. Force crossed the finish line ahead of Tasca by more than 100 feet. Tasca’s pass was 4.284 seconds at 190.32 miles per hour compared to Force’s 4.284 second pass at 292.71 miles per hour.

John Force defeated Tim Wilkerson to win Sunday’s NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.

The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series returns to the track next weekend at Norwalk, Ohio.