Bazemore on his game, goes to second round in Phoenix

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2005 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 2 of 23
CHECKER SCHUCK'S KRAGEN NHRA NATIONALS
FIREBIRD RACEWAY
CHANDLER, ARIZ.
Race Dates: Feb. 25-27, 2005


CHANDLER, Ariz. (Feb. 27, 2005) - Whit Bazemore was on his game in the first
round of Funny Car eliminations at the Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals,
when he sent the defending event champion and No. 3 qualifier Del Worsham
home packing. In a tight wire-to-wire contest down the quarter-mile,
Bazemore, who qualified 14th, nosed his Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus
across the line .0132 of a second ahead of Worsham with a 4.870-second
elapsed time at 318.54 mph to Worsham's losing 4.876/318.69. Bazemore's
reaction time of .078 outdid Worsham's .085.

Bazemore won the round but lost lane choice in his match-up against
Worsham's teammate Phil Burkart Jr. in the quarterfinal. That made little
difference, however, as the Matco Tools Dodge instantly veered to the right
at the hit of the throttle, as the right-side cylinders self-destructed.
Bazemore slowed to a 9.904-second crawl at 72.85 mph, while Burkart struck
the tires, yet claimed the win with a 5.534/195.53.

"We broke something in the engine," said Bazemore. "At three-tenths of a
second something broke and the engine basically quit firing on the right
side, so it was a 4-cylinder Hemi. It just wasn't our day to win. It's
something in the ignition. We'll figure it out, but it's definitely got a
problem.

"The first round was exciting," he added. "We've got some good teammates
over here, Ron Capps and Gary Scelzi, and they're awfully good. Capps was
low in reaction-time average last year, I was second. Scelzi's got three
(Top Fuel championship) rings weighing down his hand. My goal is to be the
best driver at Schumacher Racing. That's awfully hard, because those guys
are so good. To get a close win the second week in a row like that is
great," he said, alluding also to his second-round win against Tony Pedregon
at Pomona, "but, at the end of the day it's just your job. It's my job and
we do what we do. Our lights (reaction times) are what they are. They're
decent, they're not the best, but they're very, very consistent and that's
the name of the game.

"It's just unfortunate we couldn't take advantage of that and the weakness
that the Phil Burkart team had against us. That was frustrating."

Capps reached the final round today, but lost to John Force.

In points, Bazemore ended the day fifth in the POWERade Drag Racing Series
Funny Car points, with 124.

Next up is the NHRA Gatornationals  in Gainesville, Fla., March 18-20.

FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS:
1. Phil Burkart Jr., 164
2. John Force, 152
3. Tommy Johnson Jr., 144
4. Ron Capps, 125
5. Whit Bazemore, 124

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