KRISHER WINS PONTIAC EXCITEMENT PRO STOCK SUPERBOWL

BAYTOWN, Texas - Ron Krisher looks to be the favorite heading to Pomona, Calif. after winning the 10th annual Pontiac Excitement Pro Stock SuperBowl at Houston Raceway Park. Krisher along with 19 other NHRA Pro Stock competitors are using this special test session to prepare for the 2003 POWERade Drag Racing season which starts February 6.
Krisher drove his Valvoline Chevy Cavalier to a pass of 6.758 seconds at 203.31 mph to earn the victory on a solo pass. Kenny Koretsky's Dodge Neon R/T broke a value in the semifinals and the team chose not to run in the final. Krisher took the victory despite battling problems that plagued him all weekend.
"We had a bad fuel system and a bad ignition system," Krisher said. "We changed both of them. The motor's hurt but it doesn't make much difference. It still runs pretty fast hurt."
Krisher currently holds the Pro Stock qualifying streak at 70 consecutive national events without a DNQ. Confidence is high in the Krisher pits heading into the season opener.
"We are ahead of everybody that was here," Krisher said. "Now we need to get ahead of everybody that is left scattered out there. Warren and Kurt (Johnson), Jeg (Coughlin) and certainly the other couple of Dodges that aren't out here are really fast. I think we will be alright."
Koretsky was visibly disappointed that he was not able to answer the final call and challenge Krisher for the win.
"With the Hemi, it is a lot of work to fix it," Koretsky said. "We are running three cars here with Bo Nickens, mine and Vinnie Barone. There are only three motors and by the time you take one of those other motors out of the car and put it into mine, it would have taken about two hours. It's getting cold and the track might not be as good as it was. We thought it would be safe to get ready for Pomona and go back and fix the motor today and tomorrow."
During the morning qualifying session, Jim Yates posted a pass of 6.743 at 203.65 to take the top qualifying spot. Had this test session been a national event, the elapsed time would have broken the existing NHRA national record of 6.750 held by Jeg Coughlin.
"That first run today was with our race motor and we haven't run the engine all winter," Yates said. "(engine builder) Bob (Ingals) has been working on it on the dyno and we didn't actually get it down here until late last night. We were really anxious to see how it would run and it looked pretty good really. It ran a lot of speed and we got the pole out of it for the SuperBowl. At least it gives us a good indication on where we stand going into Pomona."
Yates exited the Pontiac Excitement Pro Stock Super Bowl in the second round against Jerry Haas who was filling in on the driving duties for Steve Johns. Yates had the top speed of the weekend with a 203.65 until Greg Stanfield stole it away in the second round with a 204.26 in his win over Bruce Allen. The speed by Stanfield was .09 short of the current national record of 204.35 held by Mark Osborne.
The first 2003 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event is the K&N Filters Winternationals at Pomona Raceway, Feb. 6-9.


BAYTOWN, Texas -- Final round-by-round results from the 10th annual Pontiac Excitement Pro Stock SuperBowl at Houston Raceway Park.

PRO STOCK:

ROUND ONE -- Jerry Haas, Chevy Cavalier, 6.894, 200.89 def. Mark Pawuk, Pontiac Grand Am, foul; Kenny Koretsky, Dodge Neon R/T, 6.803, 203.09 def. Tom Hammonds, Cavalier, 6.832, 202.91; Bo Nickens, Neon, 6.807, 202.70 def. Mike Thomas, Cavalier, 13.143, 61.96; Greg Stanfield, Neon R/T, 6.780, 203.68 def. Arturo Delgado, Grand Am, 6.788, 203.09; Bruce Allen, Grand Am, 6.777, 203.77 def. Mark Whisnant, Cavalier, 12.472, 69.00; Ron Krisher, Cavalier, 6.757, 203.74 def. Vinny Barone, Neon R/T, 6.787, 203.95; Taylor Lastor, Cavalier, 6.804, 202.79 def. Tom Martino, Grand Am, 7.157, 165.27; Jim Yates, Grand Am, 6.788, 203.06 def. Nick Fratt, Neon, 6.800, 203.06;
QUARTERFINALS -- Koretsky, 6.844, 201.64 def. Nickens, 6.784, 203.61; Haas, 6.815, 202.39 def. Yates, 6.828, 203.25; Stanfield, 6.779, 20.43 def. Allen, 10.711, 83.88; Krisher, 6.775, 203.98 def. Lastor, foul;
SEMIFINALS -- Koretsky, 6.781, 203.52 def. Stanfield, 6.777, 204.08; Krisher, 6.760, 203.68 def. Haas, 6.815, 202.21;
FINAL -- Krisher, 6.758, 203.31 def. Koretsky, broke.


PRO STOCK BIKE:

ROUND ONE -- Chris Reuter, Suzuki, 7.217, 186.54 def. Michael Phillips, Suzuki, 7.311, 183.29; Blaine Hale, Suzuki, 7.395, 180.69 def. David Feazell, Harley, 10.665, 83.05;
FINAL -- Hale, 7.284, 183.54 def. Reuter, 7.245, 184.70.


Final Qualifying order following two rounds of qualifying

1. Jim Yates  6.743, 203.65
2. Bo Nickens  6.752, 203.12
3. Arturo Delgado  6.757, 203.16
4. Tom Martino  6.765, 203.09
5. Ron Krisher  6.767, 203.06
6. Mark Whisnant  6.774, 203.34
7. Kenny Koretsky  6.775, 203.22
8. Mark Pawuk  6.781, 202.91
9. Jerry Haas  6.782, 202.27
10. Tom Hammonds  6.789, 203.12
11. Bruce Allen  6.790, 203.43
12. Vinny Barone  6.790, 203.00
13. Taylor Lastor  6.794, 202.94
14. Greg Stanfield  6.801, 203.19
15. Mike Thomas  6.813, 201.34
16. Nick Fratt  6.819, 202.94


17. Jose Maldonado  6.825, 201.49
18. George Marnell  6.827, 200.65
19. Ben Watson  6.850, 200.29
Mike Weinle  7.054, 193.96