Virginia NHRA Nationals: Wilkerson Looks For A Richmond Win From The No. 12 Spot
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Oct 12, 2008
NHRA
It was another day of exciting qualifying at the Virginia NHRA Nationals, and Funny Car points leader, Tim Wilkerson had hoped to take advantage of the great racing conditions to get his Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevy Impala SS into the top half of the field. But Wilkerson wasn’t able to improve upon his impressive 4.079 run from last night, so his hopes for a better day never materialized.
In the day’s first session, Wilkerson set out to better last night’s run, but instead made an uncharacteristically slow run of 4.270 at 292.33 mph. He later found that a malfunctioning slide valve was the culprit. He did make a nice run on his last attempt, a 4.118 at 301.54 mph. But again, this wasn’t an improvement for the talented tuner and driver. At the close of qualifying, Wilkerson ended up in the No. 12 position.
“The car just wasn’t as fast as we wanted,” said Wilkerson. “We really wanted to move up, but on our first run we had a parts problem, the slide valve malfunctioned. On our second run, I wanted to make sure that the stuff worked. It did and so now we can go from there. I think we’ll be good tomorrow.”
In the first-round of eliminations Wilkerson will face Ashley Force. The last time the two paired off was in the final-round two weeks ago in Memphis, when Wilkerson earned his sixth win of the season.
“I think we’ve got something for them, Wilkerson said. “We’ll see how it goes and hopefully we’ll get by Ashley. And then we’ll just take it one round at a time. The track is spectacular and the weather is perfect. It would work to our advantage if the sun came out and made the track slick. But in case that doesn’t happen we need to make the thing run and do the best that we can.”
Wilkerson may prefer to qualify in the top half of the pack, but he certainly doesn’t let a bottom half spot stop him. As a matter of fact, he earned his Memphis win from the No. 11 position.
