CONCORD, N.C. — No one could catch Doug Kalitta in Top Fuel qualifying for the Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway on Saturday.
The Kalitta Motorsports driver set a 3.691-second lap at 337.92 mph on Friday, which stuck as the fastest time throughout Saturday’s pair of qualifying sessions.
As a result, the reigning Top Fuel champion scored his second No. 1 qualifier of the year at the “Bellagio of Drag Strips,” giving him the coveted position heading into Sunday’s eliminations.
“We kind of struggled a little bit today. We put this other blower on, but we just had a little too much power in that first run so we kind of smoked the tires. That last run, we got right to the finish line and kind of took care of that blower, so we’ll have to start from scratch again (tomorrow),” Kalitta said.
After winning his first four-wide event two weeks ago at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Kalitta’s hunt for a second consecutive victory is looking good so far.
Antron Brown qualified second with a 3.698-second pass at 332.18 mph, while Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge winner Justin Ashley was third with a 3.701-second run at 334.32 mph.
Force Stays No. 1 In Funny Car
John Force’s track-record time from Friday was unbeatable on Saturday, making the 16-time Funny Car champion the No. 1 qualifier in the Funny Car class.
“We kept low ET,” Force said. “It was a good day for my crew chiefs and a good day for me.”
Bob Tasca III recovered from a qualifying penalty served to him by NHRA on Saturday morning to win the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge on Saturday. He also ended up second on the qualifying charts with a 3.834-second run at 338.84 mph, which was a track-record speed.
Funny Car points leader Austin Prock qualified third with a 3.852-second pass at 333.58 mph.
Anderson Does It Again In Pro Stock
Despite having his third qualifying run being disqualified on Saturday, Greg Anderson’s 6.50-second time from Friday held over to keep him on top of the timesheets in Pro Stock.
His disqualification in Q3 was the result of a safety violation.
“As were we in a mad thrash to get the car started on the starting line (on Friday night), one of my guys disconnected a safety wire,” Anderson claimed. “We forgot to plug the wire back in (before we) came up today.”
He leads Cristian Cuadra and Aaron Stanfield into Sunday. As a side note, reigning champion Erica Enders won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge in her Elite Motorsports machine, but will begin Sunday from the ninth qualifying position.
Herrera Back In Form In Pro Stock Motorcycle
Reigning Pro Stock Motorcycle champion Gaige Herrera was back in form on Saturday, as he won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge and also stole the No. 1 qualifying position from Matt Smith.
With his 6.671-second run at 202.7 mph, he set a new track record at zMAX Dragway.
“Yesterday started off a little rough, we had a malfunction,” Herrera said, noting that yesterday was his first experience racing with the new fuel NHRA has recently mandated for the two-wheeled class. “We’re (still) fine-tuning the fuel…I didn’t feel like there was that much left out there on my bike…I feel like that’s all we had and it ran really good.”
Smith qualified second, while L.E. Tonglet was third.