NITRO HARLEY ELIMINATOR

Florida’s own Joey Sternotti had a great weekend racing against the IHRA’s touring professional Nitro Harley racers. The Naples, Fla., racer qualified number one with an under the national ET record 6.250, 219.08 effort. He then re-set the ET record at 6.250 with a 6.296 pass in the first round that served to back up the new record.

Sternotti got the record but veteran Mark Cox got the win and joined Funny Car pilot Mike McIntire Jr. on the list of first-time IHRA pro winners on Saturday.

 
Cox, riding the Bojangles-sponsored nitro putt, beat top qualifier Sternotti for the title. Cox, from Wilkesboro, N.C., had three bracket-like passes of 6.363/212.41, 6.291/230.72 and 6.296/220.42 final round effort that just covered Sternotti’s 6.330/211.16 timing on his way to putting his first IHRA Ironman in his trophy case.  

Nitro Harley Qualifying - 1. Joey Sternotti, 6.250/219.08; 2. Tracy Kile 6.289/227.73; 3. Mark Cox, 6.311/211.81;  4. Steve Dorn 6.330/216.97; 5. Jay Turner, 6.336/219.13;  6. Mike Pelrine, 6.357/215.00;  7. Randal Andras, 6.592/218.39.

Nitro Harley Pit Notes

Steve Dorn ran his Harley into the sandtrap on Friday and dumped it pretty hard. Dorn was admitted to a local hospital with a severely injured leg and was still there this week......Joey Sternotti re-set the ET record of 6.278 owned by Doug Vancil since 2002 to 6.250 with ETs of 6.250 and 6.291 and he did it with a 2012 Harley chassis according to his tech card.