A solid qualifying effort coupled with a quarterfinal appearance at the NHRA U.S. Nationals yielded a sixth-place finish to the NHRA’s regular-season for Alexis DeJoria and the DC Motorsports team on Monday at Indianapolis Raceway Park.
DeJoria’s four-day weekend at IRP got off to a strong start. Right out of the gate, she unleashed with an impressive 3.888-second at 331.77 MPH blast during Friday night’s opening qualifying session. The run held up to be the third-quickest of qualifying and allowed DeJoria to bank two bonus points in the process. As the No. 3 seed, DeJoria drew No. 14 qualifier Bobby Bode as her first-round opponent on race day. It was clear crew chiefs Del Worsham and Nicky Boninfante weren’t taking their first competitor lightly when they tuned DeJoria’s machine to a stout 3.889 E.T. at 331.61 MPH pass. By clocking the quickest run of the session, DeJoria was able to easily defeat Bode’s 4.187-second effort. With the advantage of lane choice, DeJoria returned to the starting line ready to battle it out with her next opponent, Cruz Pedregon, in round two. She left the starting line first to score the holeshot advantage over Pedregon, but he was able to pull ahead by the time they reached the 60-foot marker and never trailed from there for the win.
“It was a good start to the U.S. Nationals for our Bandero GR Supra team,” said DeJoria, the 2014 U.S. Nationals Funny Car event champion. “We ran a 3.88 in qualifying which put us in the No. 3 position and got us a few points. We had a good, consistent car, ran low E.T. of first round. We ran well in the second round but unfortunately, just didn’t have quite enough to get past Cruz today.
“Very much looking forward to the Countdown,” she added. “This will be my seventh playoff appearance and there’s plenty of races left for us to move up and get that elusive win we’ve been chasing all year. We’ve been to three finals, some semifinals, and have qualified really well. We have one of the fastest cars out here, so I’m definitely ready to get to Maple Grove and get our playoff campaign started out on the right note. It’s a bummer when you go out second-round of the U.S. Nationals, especially since it’s such a big, long weekend. The fans were awesome here, as they always are, and I’ve got all the confidence in my team for a strong Countdown showing.”
DeJoria will begin the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals, the first of the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoff series, from the No. 6 seed. Qualifying kicks off on Friday, Sept. 15 at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa.
