Anderson Earns 94th Pole Position in Gainesville

Greg Anderson had the car to beat on Sunday at the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida. Anderson came into race day with the fastest car on the property, and as the Number One qualifier.

In Round One of eliminations, the four-time Pro Stock world champion recorded low elapsed time on Sunday against Wally Stroupe. Anderson got the win light with a 6.567 second/210.41 MPH pass to Stroupe’s 7.049/196.93.

Anderson’s day ended abruptly in Round Two against Drew Skillman when his car experienced tire shake. Skillman got to the finish line first with a 6.613/210.28 to Anderson’s 9.278/106.32.

“I’m absolutely shocked. I did not expect that,” said Anderson. “We aren’t sure what happened, but it shook the tires violently. We’re definitely going to do some on-track testing before Las Vegas.”

Jason Line was the Number Four qualifier of the weekend, but had trouble in Round One of eliminations facing Alan Prusiensky.  As Line left the starting line, his car’s tires appeared to spin, shake and rattle giving Prusiensky the win with 6.731/206.64. Line leaves Gainesville ranked second in the Pro Stock point standings.

“Obviously, things did not go as planned this weekend. My car was unhappy for most of qualifying, and unfortunately, that continued in the first round today,” said Line. “It’s disappointing, but we’ll be okay. We’ve got some work to do, but we’ve never been afraid of a little hard work.”

For the fifth time in his career,  Bo Butner came up against young Tanner Gray in the final. The two left the starting line nearly together, but this time it was Gray’s day. At the finish line, Gray took the win 6.588/210.18 to 6.605/210.34.

Tim Wilkerson, driver of the Levi, Ray and Shoup Shelby Mustang Nitro FunnycCar experienced an early exit on Sunday.

Wilkerson had a best time of 4.004/315.05 during qualifying and earned a start from the Number 11 position. In Round One of eliminations, Wilkerson faced Matt Hagan. Unfortunately, Hagan got the win, 3.976/328.38 to 7.827/131.27.

“I think it was just the racetrack conditions that got us,” said Wilkerson. “There weren’t very many good runs that round. I just missed it.”

Team LRS will make a visit to Murf McKinney’s race shop to trade a damaged chassis for a new one before the next race on the tour, the DENSO Four-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas.

“We have a busy next few days. We just have to try again in Vegas in a couple weeks,” Wilkerson said.

Final Round Results
Top Fuel—Richie Crampton (3.854/314.90) defeated Shawn Reed (Broke)

Funny Car— Jack Beckman (4.035/323.58) defeated Matt Hagan (4.034/322.04)

Pro Stock—Tanner Gray (6.588/210.18) defeated Bo Butner (6.605/210.34)

Pro Stock Motorcycle—Eddie Krawiec (6.824/198.44) defeated Andrew Hines (6.853/197.19)

What’s Next
The next event on the 2018 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series tour is the DENSO Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at Las Vegas Motorspeedway, in Las Vegas, Nevada, April 6-8.

For more information and complete race results visit DragRaceCentral.com.