After Friday washed out the first day of qualifying for the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio, Saturday’s two attempts grew in importance for Jason Line and the other seven racers in the K&N Horsepower Challenge specialty race, as they would have to balance securing a top position for Sunday’s final eliminations of the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals with advancing in the three-round, $50,000 shootout.
Fortunately, NHRA officials had the foresight to postpone the start of the bonus race until the afternoon round, allowing teams to gather information and get a foothold for race day. From the start, Line and his Summit Racing team, seemed to be in prime form, posting the second-quickest time of the opening session at 6.589-seconds with a top speed of 208.68 mph.
Although they were able to repeat that performance in the next round, in one of the closest matches of the shootout, it fell nine thousandths of a second shy of running down Erica Enders, who claimed the No. 1 starting position for Sunday and the round win with a 6.585-second, 209.10 mph. Naturally disappointed, Line took solace in claiming the third starting position, as well as his teammate Greg Anderson winning the K&N Horsepower Challenge and its $50,000 payday.
“It was a good day overall for the Summit/KB Racing team,” said Line. “I made a decent run in the first round of the Challenge, but it wasn’t good enough, and we lost a close race. That happens sometimes, no matter what you do. Still, it was great to see Greg win, I ended up with a good qualifying position, and I have a fast Summit Racing Pontiac for tomorrow, so things could be a lot worse.
“All in all, it was a good day, and hopefully tomorrow we can make it even better. We have a lot of folks from Summit here cheering us on, and we certainly want to make them proud of their race team. We’re off to a good start and now we just need to finish it.”
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