Warren and Kurt Johnson (Randy Anderson photo
Warren Johnson had a second round match-up with a familiar opponent – his son, Kurt, who had qualified in the No. 1 position, and posted the quickest elapsed time in each of the last four rounds.
Once again running on the left hand side, which had consistently proven to be several hundredths of a second slower, Johnson found himself battling for control almost immediately after launching due to tire shake, allowing KJ to drive on for the win.
“After being the quickest in the left hand lane, we felt we had a chance in the second round. However, it went hard right at the launch, and after that we were playing catch up. We saw Allen (Johnson, a fellow Pro Stock competitor) have the same problem right before us, so we’ll attribute some of our misfortune to that left lane. In fact, he was in bad enough shape that he had to shut off. Apparently there was something there that neither one of us accounted for. The only consolation is that we were running Kurt.
“This may sound strange, but this weekend turned out to be somewhat of a blessing in disguise in that I had to switch to the other engine. This allowed me to get some runs on it and accumulate data that will help me with some of the projects I have been working on. However, I didn’t really need the mayhem that preceded the switch.”
Kenny Koretsky (Ron Lewis photo)
Kenny Koretsky celebrated his 50th birthday Sunday at Houston Raceway Park, but it wasn't the way he preferred. V Gaines was the guy who doused Koretsky's party plans with a first-round Pro Stock victory in the O'Reilly Spring Nationals, although Koretsky never had a chance to challenge him. The clutch in the Nitro Fish/Indicom Electric
Pontiac GXP pulled him through the starting lights too early, drawing a dreaded red light. Gaines won with a 6.696-second time at 206.13 mph.
"When I went to stage the car," Koretsky explained, "I didn't push the clutch back in all the way to the stop, which is what you have to do to make it work properly.”
Pro Stock Point Standings
1. Greg Anderson, 343; 2. Jeg Coughlin, 340; 3. Jason Line, 275; 4. Kurt Johnson, 266; 5. Allen Johnson, 263; 6. V. Gaines, 250; 7. Warren Johnson, 221; 8. Mike Edwards, 212; 9. Justin Humphreys, 168; 10. Greg Stanfield, 151.