NHRA Sunday: KJ Powers to the Semi-finals in Seattle

Contact: Jon G. Knapp
									TMG Sports Marketing 
									Phone: (704) 662-3121
									jgknapp@tmgsports.net
Final Results					

KJ Powers to the Semi-finals in Seattle

Event: 16th annual Carquest Nationals
Location:  Pacific Raceways
       Kent, Washington
Day/Date: Sunday July 27, 2003 

One of the hallmarks of Kurt Johnson's pursuit of the 2003 POWERade championship has been his ACDelco Cavalier's consistent performance.  Solid qualifying efforts combined with an equally strong showing in eliminations have kept K.J. near the top of the standings since February.

This trend continued during Sunday's eliminations of the Carquest Nationals in Seattle, Washington.  After qualifying second, Johnson used a pair of 6.83-second runs to eliminate Terry Adams and Greg Stanfield in the first two rounds, setting the stage for a semi-final encounter against Pro Stock veteran Larry Morgan.  

Ironically, the race was almost over before it began, as Johnson's parachutes mysteriously deployed in the staging lanes.  Fortunately, the team, assisted by Warren Johnson and Greg Anderson's crews, was able to repack the chutes in time.  

Once the lights turned green, Johnson used a .033 reaction time to leave the starting line nearly two hundredths of a second ahead of Morgan.  However, Johnson's mount uncharacteristically slowed, posting a 6.932-second elapsed time, allowing his opponent to overcome the lead and put a premature end to Johnson's day.  

"Today's race is a perfect example of there being no room for error in Pro Stock.  Our ACDelco Cavalier had been a dream throughout qualifying, making great runs every time down the track.  We felt good entering today's race 

"The first two rounds went just like we drew them up.  We made two good runs against Terry Adams and Gene Wilson, and were reasonably confident going into the semi-finals.  Unfortunately, the car didn't like the changes we made to it, and it cost us.

'You're only really happy when you win, but we'll take today's performance.  Next week we race on our third different track in as many weeks, so we'll put this behind us, and get ready to get after them in Sonoma."
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