Wilkerson Reaches the Final Round at the 50th Annual NHRA Gatornationals

Tim Wilkerson reached the final round of the 50th Annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida.

Wilkerson, driver of the Levi, Ray and Shoup Ford Shelby Mustang Nitro Funny Car moves up five notches in the Funny Car points standings to sixth place.

In Round One of eliminations, Wilkerson faced Dave Richards. Although both drivers had tire smoke, Wilkerson took the win with a 4.759 second/231.48 MPH pass over Richards’ 5.240/213.43. In Round Two, Wilk beat Cruz Pedregon, 3.872/329.50 to 8.110/84.77.

Wilkerson defeated Jack Beckman in the semifinals, 3.896/329.02 to 4.211/267.27.

In Wilkerson’s final round appearance against Robert Hight, his car succumbed to tire smoke giving Hight the win, 3.867/331.61 to Wilk’s 11.165/324.12.

“Our car is responding well, and the crew is great,” said Wilkerson. “It’s been a good day. We’re optimistic about how the car is running, and we’ll see if I can pull the monster back because it’s fast.”

Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson had one of the fastest cars of the weekend, qualifying second.

He also recorded Low Elapsed Time in Round One of eliminations with a 6.504/212.69 pass, beating Alan Prusiensky’s 6.625/208.07.

In Round Two, Anderson had the quickest car of the round, and top speed of race day. But Alex Laughlin took the win on the holeshot with a .021 second reaction time and 6.507/211.00 pass to Anderson’s .055 RT and 6.506/213.16.

“My car showed a lot of potential this weekend, and made a lot of gains this week,” said Anderson.

Anderson had hoped to win for his father, Rod Anderson, who passed away one week ago at the age of 85. He may not have taken the trophy, but Anderson reached the milestone of earning 800 round wins—the most of any active Pro Stock driver.

Anderson is currently 11th in the Pro Stock Points standings.

Jason Line had the third-quickest pass during Round One eliminations with a 6.527/212.39, but it wasn’t enough to defeat Alex Laughlin’s 6.512/210.83.

“It was a good weekend overall for KB Racing with Bo’s win and for Greg to show so much improvement, but we struggled with my car,” said Line. “We’re not afraid of hard work, so we’ll get home and get to it. We expect to be better in Vegas.”

Line is currently third in the Pro Stock points standings.

 

Final Round Results
Top Fuel—Richie Crampton (3.769/323.89) defeated Clay Millican (3.756/324.67)

Funny Car— Rober Hight (3.867/331.61) defeated Tim Wilkerson (11.165/92.63)

Pro Stock—Bo Butner (6.505/212.29) defeated Alex Laughlin (Broke)

Pro Stock Motorcycle—Andrew Hines (6.752/199.17) defeated Eddie Krawiec (6.762/198.90)

Pro Stock Low ET—Rodger Brogdon, 6.490 seconds
Pro Stock Top Speed—Greg Anderson, 213.43 MPH

What’s Next
The next event on the 2019 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series tour is the DENSO Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada, April 5-7.

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