Wilkerson Reaches Second Consecutive Final Round in the Countdown to the Championship

Tim Wilkerson reached the final round of the the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals, the second race in the Countdown to the Championship.

With this finals appearance, Wilkerson, driver of the Levi, Ray and Shoup Ford Shelby Mustang Nitro Funny Car moved up two notches into fourth place in the Funny Car points standings.

In Round One of eliminations, Wilkerson defeated Matt Hagan with a 4.348 second/251.67 MPH pass to Hagan’s 4.585/201.19. In Round Two, Wilk took the win with a 4.000/315.19 over Courtney Force’s 4.051/310.70.

In the tire-smoking semifinals, Wilkerson beat J.R. Todd with a 5.186/175.23 pass to Todd’s 6.100/152.28. “That was a wild one; we both smoked the hoops [tires] as soon as we hit the gas,” said Wilkerson.

In the final round, Wilkerson faced Robert Hight—the first time the veteran Funny Car drivers have faced each other in a final. Hight’s slightly quicker reaction time of .057 second gave him the edge over Wilk’s .075 RT. And although Hight blew up the engine on his run, he still took the win, 4.036/276.29 over Wilk’s 4.413/209.91.

“I’m real glad Robert was okay after that. Hopefully, we’ll keep going rounds when we get to Dallas,” Wilkerson said.

Pro Stock driver Jason Line had the Low Elapsed Time of race day on the hottest track surface they’d had all weekend. In Round One of eliminations, Line took the win against Val Smeland, 6.536/210.24 to 6.744/204.63.

In Round Two, Line’s tires broke loose on the slick surface, giving Vincent Nobile the win, 10.660/83.80 to 6.58/210.57.

“It was kind of a tough day, and not the outcome I expected,” said Line. “You have ups and downs in racing, so we’re just going to have to keep digging and move on.”

Line is currently seventh in the Pro Stock standings.

Greg Anderson qualified eighth for the weekend, and defeated opponent Deric Kramer in Round One 6.579/211.49 to 18.901/43.26. In Round Two, Anderson was stopped by Jeg Coughlin Jr., 6.573/210.54 to 6.591/210.54.

“It was a disappointing weekend, and we just kept hoping we would figure it out,” Anderson said. “We have to do some on-track testing before we get to Dallas. It’s not over yet.”

Anderson is ranked fifth in the Pro Stock points standings.

Final Round Results
Top Fuel—Steve Torrence (3.770/323.66) defeated Clay Millican (3.798/320.28)

Funny Car— Robert Hight (4.036/276.29) defeated Tim Wilkerson (4.413/201.91)

Pro Stock—Tanner Gray (6.567/211.03) defeated Drew Skillman (11.409/78.68)

Pro Stock Motorcycle—Matt Smith (6.877/198.44) defeated LE Tonglet (6.867/196.10)

Pro Stock Low ET—Jeg Coughlin 6.496 seconds
Pro Stock Top Speed—Jason Line 212.79 MPH

What’s Next
The next race of the NHRA’s 2018 Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship is the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex in Dallas, Texas, October 4-7.

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