{"id":3205,"date":"2016-05-21T22:08:24","date_gmt":"2016-05-22T03:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=3205"},"modified":"2016-05-21T22:08:24","modified_gmt":"2016-05-22T03:08:24","slug":"force-hagan-and-line-earn-no-1-qualifying-positions-at-nhra-kansas-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2016\/05\/21\/force-hagan-and-line-earn-no-1-qualifying-positions-at-nhra-kansas-nationals\/","title":{"rendered":"Force, Hagan and Line earn No. 1 qualifying positions at NHRA Kansas Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"

TOPEKA, Kan. \u2013 Brittany Force<\/strong> claimed her first No. 1 qualifying position of the season Saturday at the NHRA Kansas Nationals<\/a> at Heartland Park Topeka, continuing the theme of “the year of the women” in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.<\/p>\n

\"125-BrittanyForce-Saturday-Topeka\"<\/p>\n

Matt Hagan (Funny Car) and Jason Line (Pro Stock) also will lead their classes into Sunday\u2019s 11 a.m. eliminations as No. 1 qualifiers in their categories at the spacious multipurpose motorsports park in Kansas\u2019 capital city.<\/p>\n

No one improved on Force\u2019s national record time of 3.676 seconds from Friday and she is in position to earn her third victory of the season and add a sixth victory by a female driver in the first third of the season. It was her fifth career top qualifying effort and second at Topeka.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very anxious for tomorrow,\u201d Force said. \u201cThis track is always a good one for us. We seem to do pretty decent. To put a number on the board like we did yesterday, get the No. 1 qualifier and set the national E.T. record is pretty exciting. We\u2019re pumped up, ready for tomorrow and I am proud of the Monster Energy team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Force\u2019s final qualifying attempt was delayed by a timing malfunction at the starting line. She ran immediately following the Funny Car session, which also experienced several delays while NHRA officials repaired the timing equipment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough when something like that happens,\u201d Force said. \u201cYou are ready to go, hit the gas and get the car down the track and they come over and tell you to shut it off. We pulled out there and waited for the Funny Cars to run. Since the conditions improved a little bit, we were trying to push and run a little better, but it shook and didn\u2019t make it down there. We still have three awesome runs [this weekend] and we\u2019ll go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"126-MattHagan-Saturday-Topeka\"<\/p>\n

Points leader Doug Kalitta qualified second in his Mac Tools dragster and will face Rob Passey in the opening round, while Steve Torrence qualified third in his Capco Contractors dragster and will take on Smax Smith. Defending world champ Antron Brown qualified eighth in the Matco Tools machine and will face off with rival J.R. Todd, who drives the SealMaster dragster, in round one.<\/p>\n

Hagan earned his first No. 1 of the season and 22nd of his career with his national record performance of 3.862 at 335.57 from Friday in his Mopar\/Rocky Boots Dodge Charger. He will face Brian Stewart in the opening round as he goes for his second consecutive win.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s anybody\u2019s ballgame tomorrow,\u201d Hagan said. \u201cThese cars are so strong and they are running so good and consistent. You just have to go up there and have your gameplan together and hope that things go your way. Even tonight I didn\u2019t know if that record was going to hold. It got later and later, and the timing issues and different things like that, you never know.<\/p>\n

“But it\u2019s cool to be number one. We are very humble about that. We have to be focused on round by round tomorrow.”<\/p>\n

Jack Beckman qualified second in his Infinite Hero Foundation Charger and will race Dale Creasy Jr., while two-time season winner Tim Wilkerson qualified third in his Levi Ray & Shoup Ford Mustang and will race John Hale in round one.\u00a0 Points leader Courtney Force qualified fourth in her Traxxas Chevy Camaro and will battle Bob Tasca III.<\/p>\n

Nine-time Topeka winner John Force, who had to go to a back-up car after damaging his primary Peak Camaro in Friday\u2019s night session, rallied to qualify 11th with a 3.962 at 318.84 and he will face defending world champ Del Worsham in the opener.<\/p>\n

\"127-JasonLine-Saturday-Topeka\"<\/p>\n

In Pro Stock, Line took his third No. 1 of the season and 44th of his career with his Friday effort of 6.578 at 210.37 in his Summit Racing Equipment Chevy Camaro. Line, who has advanced to the final at every race this season, will try to keep that streak going and extend his series points lead when he meets Mark Hogan in round one.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the first good thing I\u2019ve ever done at Topeka so I feel great about that,\u201d Line said. \u201cWe have a great car right now and our Chevy Camaro is bad to the bone. The chances of winning tomorrow is pretty good. It would be a big deal. It\u2019s always nice to do well at a place that\u2019s been a problem for you in the past. If I do a good job tomorrow we are going to have a heck of a good shot at winning. I\u2019ve always liked the track, it just doesn\u2019t like me. I just haven\u2019t done well here, and I couldn\u2019t tell you why.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bo Butner qualified second and will race David River in the first round, while Greg Anderson will start third in his Summit Camaro and pair against veteran V. Gaines. Defending world champ Erica Enders, also the defending winner at this event, will meet teammate Drew Skillman.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

TOPEKA, Kan. — Sunday’s first-round pairings for eliminations for the 28th annual NHRA Kansas Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka, the eighth of 24 events in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.\u00a0 Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday. DNQs listed below pairings.<\/p>\n

Top Fuel — 1. Brittany Force, 3.676 seconds, 325.45 mph\u00a0 vs. Bye; 2. Doug Kalitta, 3.701, 331.85 vs. 15. Rob Passey, broke; 3. Steve Torrence, 3.709, 329.91\u00a0 vs. 14. Smax Smith, broke; 4. Richie Crampton, 3.710, 324.44\u00a0 vs. 13. Terry Haddock, 4.494, 186.64; 5. Tony Schumacher, 3.724, 324.05 vs. 12. Luigi Novelli, 4.029, 262.44; 6. Shawn Langdon, 3.726, 330.15\u00a0 vs. 11. Scott Palmer, 3.872, 312.86; 7. Clay Millican, 3.736, 325.77\u00a0 vs. 10. Terry McMillen, 3.762, 324.59; 8. Antron Brown, 3.743, 323.12\u00a0 vs. 9. J.R. Todd, 3.758, 326.40.<\/p>\n

Funny Car — 1. Matt Hagan, Dodge Charger, 3.862, 335.57\u00a0 vs. 16. Brian Stewart, Ford Mustang, 4.151, 295.79; 2. Jack Beckman, Charger, 3.866, 332.59\u00a0 vs. 15. Dale Creasy Jr., Chevy Impala, 4.086, 305.49; 3. Tim Wilkerson, Mustang, 3.869, 333.74\u00a0 vs. 14. John Hale, Charger, 4.061, 318.09; 4. Courtney Force, Chevy Camaro, 3.871, 331.45\u00a0 vs. 13. Bob Tasca III, Mustang, 4.000, 312.71; 5. Alexis DeJoria, Toyota Camry, 3.875, 332.18\u00a0 vs. 12. Chad Head, Camry, 3.972, 322.42; 6. Del Worsham, Camry, 3.880, 332.67\u00a0 vs. 11. John Force, Camaro, 3.962, 326.00; 7. Tommy Johnson Jr., Charger, 3.889, 327.51\u00a0 vs. 10. Cruz Pedregon, Camry, 3.923, 311.41; 8. Ron Capps, Charger, 3.895, 328.38\u00a0 vs. 9. Robert Hight, Camaro, 3.907, 332.84.\u00a0 Did Not Qualify: 17. Jack Wyatt, 4.243, 291.63.<\/p>\n

Pro Stock — 1. Jason Line, Chevy Camaro, 6.578, 210.37\u00a0 vs. 16. Mark Hogan, Pontiac GXP, 7.002, 200.05; 2. Bo Butner, Camaro, 6.591, 209.59\u00a0 vs. 15. Dave River, Chevy Cobalt, 6.777, 203.86; 3. Greg Anderson, Camaro, 6.600, 209.52\u00a0 vs. 14. V. Gaines, Dodge Dart, 6.767, 206.76; 4. Shane Gray, Camaro, 6.607, 209.36\u00a0 vs. 13. Jeg Coughlin, Dart, 6.670, 206.61; 5. Alex Laughlin, Camaro, 6.617, 208.36\u00a0 vs. 12. Deric Kramer, Dart, 6.667, 207.88; 6. Chris McGaha, Camaro, 6.634, 208.84\u00a0 vs. 11.\u00a0Vincent Nobile, Camaro, 6.665, 208.46; 7. Allen Johnson, Dart, 6.636, 208.75\u00a0 vs. 10. Aaron Strong, Camaro, 6.658, 207.24; 8. Drew Skillman, Camaro, 6.642, 208.39\u00a0 vs. 9. Erica Enders, Dart, 6.643, 207.30.<\/p>\n

Story and photos courtesy of the NHRA<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TOPEKA, Kan. \u2013 Brittany Force claimed her first No. 1 qualifying position of the season Saturday at the NHRA Kansas Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka, continuing the theme of “the year of the women” in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. Matt Hagan (Funny Car) and Jason Line (Pro Stock) also will lead their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[117,153,227,197,6],"class_list":["post-3205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhra","tag-brittany-force","tag-jason-line","tag-kansas-nationals","tag-matt-hagan","tag-nhra"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/125-BrittanyForce-Saturday-Topeka.jpg?fit=2250%2C1555","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-PH","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3205"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3211,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3205\/revisions\/3211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}