NHRA NEWS: Saturday Qualifying Results from Sonoma, Calif.

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ANDERSON POSTS RECORD TIME, HIGHT CONTINUES QUEST FOR WIN AT SONOMA

SONOMA, Calif. -- Three-time and reigning NHRA Pro Stock world champion
Greg Anderson posted the quickest pass in history -- a 6.631 at 207.82
mph -- to lead all qualifiers at the 19th annual FRAM-Autolite NHRA
Nationals. 

Another three-time world champion, Top Fuel's Tony Schumacher, held onto
the lead in his category, as did Robert Hight in Funny Car. In Pro Stock
Motorcycle, Andrew Hines leads the quickest field ever assembled, which
includes a record four riders in the six-second range. Tom Bradford
became the fourth member of the NHRA Mickey Thompson 6-Second Pro Stock
Bike Saturday afternoon.

Anderson is fighting to regain the POWERade championship lead from his
Summit Racing Pontiac GTO teammate Jason Line and could benefit from a
20-point bonus for setting a national record if no one else betters his
mark on race day.

"I feel like a stole one from Jason, to be honest," Anderson said. "His
hot rod is the best right now and if he had gone straight he would have
been quicker than me but we got it done and if it holds I'll get those
20 extra points. I sure do need them because it seems like they've been
very hard to come by for me lately.

"If Jason or I manage to win the championship it might be the most
rewarding of them all because it's been so tough. I hear Tiger Woods
sometimes say that he had to grind it out to get through a round. That's
how we feel right now. It's a grind."

Schumacher remained the only Top Fuel driver in the 4.4-second range
Saturday, bagging his seventh low qualifier award of the season in his
U.S. Army dragster. His top-qualifying 4.486 at 326.48 mph earned him
the maximum points a driver can earn in qualifying, helping him continue
to inch closer to points leader Doug Kalitta.

"I'd like to say we don't care what Doug does but that would be a lie,"
Schumacher said. "We watch what he does in qualifying and I'm smiling
when he goes out early on race day. It's not personal. I like the guy.
We're friends. But my sole purpose in life right now is to win the
championship and he's in the way."

Hight's 4.738-second, 325.30 mph run from Friday kept his Auto Club Ford
Mustang well ahead of anyone else in the Funny Car category.  

"There's no doubt about it; we haven't gotten it done on race day,"
Hight said. "Especially when we've been No. 1 qualifier. We seem to be
okay in the first round but the second round has been a real stumbling
block for us lately. I have complete faith in [crew chief] Jimmy Prock
and I know our luck is going to change one of these days. Hopefully it's
tomorrow."

Cruz Pedregon qualified 15th with a 4.952 but he'll need to pull an
all-nighter to prepare for race day after a spectacular fire consumed
his Advance Auto Parts Chevrolet Monte Carlo during his fourth
qualifying run. Pedregon emerged uninjured.

Pro Stock Motorcycle leader Hines stripped the top qualifying spot away
from Friday leader Antron Brown with a quick 6.974 at 191.48 mph in
Saturday's first session, which took place under thick cloud cover. This
is the first time Hines and his Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines
Harley-Davidson V-Rod team has qualified No. 1 this year. 

"To be the No. 1 guy in the quickest field ever feels great," Hines
said. "We haven't been No. 1 since last year in Reading (Pa.) so it's
pretty sweet to me. We qualified No. 1 here last year and won the event.
We're pretty hungry right now. We got that win in Denver and we'd love
to keep it going here."

MB Precision rider Mike Berry anchored the quickest Pro Stock Motorcycle
field ever assembled with a 7.096 at 189.18 mph.

Sunday's eliminations begin at noon PT.

****

SONOMA, Calif. -- First-round pairings for professional eliminations
Sunday for the 19th annual FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals at Infineon
Raceway, the 15th of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series.  Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended
Saturday.

 
        Top Fuel -- 1. Tony Schumacher, 4.486 seconds, 328.94 mph  vs.
16. Steven Chrisman, 5.259, 201.25; 2. Brandon Bernstein, 4.532, 327.74
vs. 15. Larry Dixon, 4.711, 323.89; 3. David Grubnic, 4.554, 331.36  vs.
14. Cory McClenathan, 4.700, 325.14; 4. Rod Fuller, 4.569, 326.40  vs.
13. Doug Herbert, 4.695, 305.84; 5. Doug Kalitta, 4.582, 326.48  vs. 12.
David Baca, 4.642, 285.53; 6. J.R.
Todd, 4.586, 321.19  vs. 11. Alan Bradshaw, 4.632, 320.89; 7. Hillary
Will, 4.597, 322.27  vs. 10.
Melanie Troxel, 4.608, 322.65; 8. Morgan Lucas, 4.605, 304.87  vs. 9.
Bob Vandergriff, 4.607, 321.12. 

 
        Funny Car -- 1. Robert Hight, Ford Mustang, 4.738, 325.30  vs.
16. Bob Gilbertson, Dodge Stratus, 4.968, 306.60; 2. Eric Medlen,
Mustang, 4.801, 323.81  vs. 15. Cruz Pedregon, Chevy Monte Carlo, 4.952,
292.39; 3. Del Worsham, Monte Carlo, 4.803, 323.89  vs. 14. Tony
Bartone, Monte Carlo, 4.879, 304.39; 4. Scott Kalitta, Monte Carlo,
4.806, 319.14  vs. 13. Gary Scelzi, Dodge Charger, 4.865, 317.64; 5.
Tony Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 4.816, 319.75  vs. 12. Tommy Johnson Jr.,
Monte Carlo, 4.857, 314.31; 6. Ron Capps, Charger, 4.821, 320.81  vs.
11. Whit Bazemore, Charger, 4.857, 322.73; 7. Gary Densham, Monte Carlo,
4.825, 319.14  vs. 10. John Force, Mustang, 4.855, 312.50; 8. Phil
Burkart, Monte Carlo, 4.833, 319.98  vs. 9. Mike Ashley, Stratus, 4.851,
314.09. 

 
        Pro Stock -- 1. Greg Anderson, Pontiac GTO, 6.631, 207.82  vs.
16. Mike Thomas, Dodge Stratus, 6.693, 205.94; 2. Jason Line, GTO,
6.636, 207.78  vs. 15. Mark Pawuk, GTO, 6.693, 206.73; 3. Warren
Johnson, GTO, 6.644, 207.40  vs. 14. Dave Connolly, Chevy Cobalt, 6.689,
206.48; 4. V.
Gaines, Stratus, 6.644, 207.37  vs. 13. Larry Morgan, Stratus, 6.688,
206.10; 5. Richie Stevens, Stratus, 6.649, 207.08  vs. 12. Mike Edwards,
GTO, 6.680, 206.73; 6. Greg Stanfield, GTO, 6.649,
206.92  vs. 11. Jim Yates, GTO, 6.679, 205.72; 7. Kurt Johnson, Cobalt,
6.650, 207.72  vs. 10. Tom Martino, GTO, 6.667, 206.92; 8. Allen
Johnson, Stratus, 6.650, 206.95  vs. 9. Ron Krisher, Cobalt, 6.653,
207.37. 

 
        Pro Stock Motorcycle -- 1. Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 6.974,
192.69  vs. 16. Mike Berry, Suzuki, 7.096, 189.18; 2. Tom Bradford,
Buell, 6.981, 192.00  vs. 15. GT Tonglet, Harley-Davidson, 7.094,
189.82; 3. Antron Brown, Suzuki, 6.981, 192.52  vs. 14. Matt Guidera,
Buell, 7.083, 187.03; 4. Chip Ellis, Buell, 6.998, 191.67  vs. 13. Karen
Stoffer, Suzuki, 7.082, 190.75; 5. Matt Smith, Buell, 7.015, 190.70  vs.
12. Chris Rivas, Buell, 7.081, 187.57; 6. Geno Scali, Suzuki, 7.018,
192.22  vs. 11. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 7.072, 190.06; 7. Angelle Sampey,
Suzuki, 7.021, 190.54  vs. 10. Shawn Gann, Suzuki, 7.042, 191.65; 8.
Ryan Schnitz, Buell, 7.025,
190.81  vs. 9. Craig Treble, Suzuki, 7.032, 192.96.