Post by daj on May 2, 2005 15:09:51 GMT -5
5/2/2005 : Arend and Bartone set to battle in the first round at the Thunder Valley Nationals
Courtesy of Bill Walters
CMKXtreme Racing
BRISTOL, qualifying: CMKXtreme Machine Funny Car driver Jeff Arend qualified for his fifth race of the season on Saturday at the 5th annual O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Tennessee’s Bristol Dragsway. Arend qualified for the 40th race of his career on the strength of his lone qualifying run and will race against CMKX teammate Tony Bartone in round one of eliminations.
After Mother Nature washed out both of Friday’s professional qualifying sessions, Arend and the CMKXtreme Machine team had just two chances on Saturday to qualify for Sunday’s 16-car elimination field. The NHRA Safety Safari worked for hours to prepare the track once the rain ended Saturday morning and pro qualifying finally began just past noon.
After several delays to dry the track the Funny Cars finally rolled into the staging lanes for their first session. Arend blasted to a 4.923 at 312.78 mph on his opening run and finished the first session in the No. 9 position.
Rain returned to Bristol Dragway soon after the first session ended and the racers and fans patiently waited for it to stop so the track could be dried for the final qualifying round. The NHRA finally pulled the plug on qualifying at 5:30 and the field was set for Sunday’s eliminations. Arend’s first round opponent would be CMKX Racing teammate Tony Bartone, marking the first time the pair will met during eliminations.
“The first round is going to be awesome,” said Arend following qualifying. “Tony Bartone did really well at the last event and that was good for the all of the CMKX shareholders. We know for sure that one of us is going to the second round and I’d rather it be me, but whether it’s me or Tony, its good for CMKX and I’m happy about that. Our run today was a testament to Paul Smith. We had no data to work with and only one run and we got down the track with a nice, conservative tune up and we’re happy with the 4.92. It’s going to be neat to see both CMKX cars go at it tomorrow. I’d rather it be in the final round, but if it has to be in the first round its better than nothing.”<br>
Courtesy of Bill Walters
CMKXtreme Racing
BRISTOL, qualifying: CMKXtreme Machine Funny Car driver Jeff Arend qualified for his fifth race of the season on Saturday at the 5th annual O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Tennessee’s Bristol Dragsway. Arend qualified for the 40th race of his career on the strength of his lone qualifying run and will race against CMKX teammate Tony Bartone in round one of eliminations.
After Mother Nature washed out both of Friday’s professional qualifying sessions, Arend and the CMKXtreme Machine team had just two chances on Saturday to qualify for Sunday’s 16-car elimination field. The NHRA Safety Safari worked for hours to prepare the track once the rain ended Saturday morning and pro qualifying finally began just past noon.
After several delays to dry the track the Funny Cars finally rolled into the staging lanes for their first session. Arend blasted to a 4.923 at 312.78 mph on his opening run and finished the first session in the No. 9 position.
Rain returned to Bristol Dragway soon after the first session ended and the racers and fans patiently waited for it to stop so the track could be dried for the final qualifying round. The NHRA finally pulled the plug on qualifying at 5:30 and the field was set for Sunday’s eliminations. Arend’s first round opponent would be CMKX Racing teammate Tony Bartone, marking the first time the pair will met during eliminations.
“The first round is going to be awesome,” said Arend following qualifying. “Tony Bartone did really well at the last event and that was good for the all of the CMKX shareholders. We know for sure that one of us is going to the second round and I’d rather it be me, but whether it’s me or Tony, its good for CMKX and I’m happy about that. Our run today was a testament to Paul Smith. We had no data to work with and only one run and we got down the track with a nice, conservative tune up and we’re happy with the 4.92. It’s going to be neat to see both CMKX cars go at it tomorrow. I’d rather it be in the final round, but if it has to be in the first round its better than nothing.”<br>