At the Eastern Regional opener at Auto-Plus
Raceway in Gainesville, Richard Bourke extended his late-season reign from 2012
with a victory in Top Alcohol Dragster and veteran Dan Pomponio picked up his
first Top Alcohol Funny Car win since the 2005 Maple Grove divisional, where he
upset both Bob Newberry and Frank Manzo.
In unseasonably cold temperatures, Rich McPhillips,
the reigning Eastern Region champ, and Bourke staged for what was expected to
be side-by-side 5.30s in the Top Alcohol Dragster final. Bourke, who had more
points per race than anyone in the region last year, and McPhillips, who scored
once in 2012 and reached four finals, left together, but McPhillips was up in
smoke before the 200-foot mark.
"The car didn't really run the way
I wanted it to in the last two rounds, but I guess it was enough to win,"
said Bourke, who picked up his sixth career regional/divisional win with a 5.46
at 259 mph.
McPhillips slowed to an 11.20. Bourke stopped 2007 Gainesville
divisional winner Bill Evans in the opening round and Canadian Dan Mercier in
the semi's.
"The car was dropping holes all
weekend, and I never really did get it figured out, but I guess it was good
enough," said Bourke, who won his first national event title in Top
Alcohol Dragster late last year. He paced the field in qualifying here with a
5.32, but McPhillips appeared to have an edge going into the final after
setting low e.t. in the semi's with a 5.300 on a single after Artie Allen's auto-shutoff
device went off on the burnout.
"With a 2.90 gear and no
transmission, there's not much you can do when you smoke the tires that early,"
McPhillips said. "It's not like you're going to shift your way out of it.
I don't know how good the air was when we finally ran, but it took a while for
them to clean up the track in front of us, the track and air just got that much
colder, and the corrected altitude was already 250 feet below sea level when we
left the trailer."
Four of six cars in the Top Alcohol
Funny Car field have run at least 5.50s, and Pomponio personally put away each
of the other three. After back-to-back 5.71s in qualifying, he ran another .71 in
the first round to top three-time Gatornationals winner Mickey Ferro, who went
up in smoke not far off the line.
In the semifinals, Pomponio, who hadn't competed
in Gainesville since he was a Super Gas semifinalist at the 1990
Gatornationals, established low e.t. of eliminations, 5.66, in a wire-to-wire
win over Todd Veney. In the other semi, Kris Hool, who qualified No. 1 with a
5.59 and defeated Mark Rogers in the opening round, took the green and shut off
on his bye run.
Hool opened a huge lead in the final but
drove into Pomponio's lane, handing the event title to the New Jersey driver,
who coasted across the finish line at 89 mph three seconds behind Hool, unaware
that he had won. "The car was shaking almost immediately, and I had to
lift," Pomponio said. "I got back on it, but it did it again and
started to get sideways, and I said, 'The heck with it. It isn't worth it.' I noticed
something flying across my lane, but I didn't realize it was a cone. I thought
maybe he blew up or something came off his car and never knew I won until I got
all the way down there and turned the corner. It wasn't the way we wanted to
win, but we'll take it."
TAN
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