Photo courtesy of David Smith/PSA
MORRISON, Colo. (June 19, 2013) – Second-year
Top Alcohol Dragster driver Greg Hunter reached his first final round in TAD
competition last weekend at Bandimere Speedway’s Thunder on the Mountain
regional event. He entered eliminations from a career-best No. 2 qualifying
position before falling to reigning national champion Jim Whiteley in the
finals.
“It felt great to qualify well and win a
couple rounds. It’s been a dream of mine since I started racing to race Top
Alcohol and make it to a final round. Obviously you want to win, but the first
step is making it to the final. Qualifying No.2 was great too. We would’ve
liked to have had a better performance, but we were happy with the
consistency,” Greg said.
Hunter held onto the number two spot
throughout qualifying, running 5.712, 5.706, and 5.714 respectively. Greg took
out Geno Tumbarello first round before a close race with Edwin Schmeeckle in
the semifinals. Just sixteen inches separated the two at the finish line stripe
– 5.702 to Schmeeckle’s 5.711. That set up a final round pairing with 2012 TAD
National champ Jim Whiteley, who ran just a tick quicker in the previous round,
5.691. Hunter and his Kenny Gilmour-owned ExactAir Compliance Systems teamed
maintained optimism as they prepared to face Whiteley.
“The way I look at it, the final round
is like Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals; anything can happen. Jim ran very
well in qualifying but his run in the semifinals was right where we were. We
wanted to be there, ready to strike in case he encountered problems in the
finals,” claimed the former TAFC driver.
Greg’s almost-perfect 0.008 reaction
time wasn’t enough to take him to his first win. Whiteley unloaded his quickest
run of eliminations, 5.47 to Hunter’s 5.71.
Though he was unable to walk away with
the win, Greg was pleased with his time at the mile-high raceway.
“We had a great time at Denver. We hung
out with the YNot team after the race. They’re just a class act team. It’s a
pleasure to race in the same class as those guys, and then to race them in the
final round.”
ExactAir Compliance Systems is a company
that supplies compliance, maintenance and control systems for the Natural Gas
Compression industry. For more information on ExactAir’s state of the art
technology, visit them on the web at: http://www.exactairsystems.com
Greg Hunter and Kenny Gilmour
Motorsports partner with some of the finest companies in their industries,
including ExactAir Compliance Systems, Omega 2000 Cribbing, Goodyear Tire, NGK
Spark Plugs, Lucas Oil, Dark Side Racing, Oasis Emission Consultants, Mopac
Auto Supply, Rock Bit Industries, GRP Connecting Rods, Winberg Crankshafts,
National Transmission, Paron Paint & Body, Mechanix Wear, Berube Custom
Tanks, Peter Vaughn Custom Glass, Koolsville Golf Carts & Accessories, VP
Fuels USA, and Top Gun Coatings.
For more information on Greg Hunter and
the Kenny Gilmour Motorsports team, please visit www.kennygilmourmotorsports.com
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