Eliminations

The first round of Eliminations on Saturday afternoon saw plenty of close racing and major upsets. Alternate Jim Whiteley advanced on a holeshot using a 6.02/238 effort to defeat Pete Farber’s quicker but losing 5.952/244. Bill Glidden advanced when Mike Janis red-lighted.

Bob Rahaim and Steve Matusek had the best race of the day. Matusek qualified below Rahaim so he had to be on his game on the starting line. He was. He had a .052 RT to Rahaim’s .077. But Matusek’s 5.953/245.72 just couldn’t hold off Rahaim’s 5.925/246.25, who got to the finish line just three ten-thousandths of a second before Matusek.

Bob Rahaim

On Sunday with eight of the 16 qualifiers and alternates gone, eight survivors of a grueling two days of qualifying and racing rolled into the lanes. The first pair found alternate Whiteley continue his march through the field he didn’t qualify, taking out Molinari. Rahaim advanced over Glidden.

There were a couple of outstanding races. Defending champ, Troy Coughlin, needed a .046 holeshot and a top-end charge to defeat alBalooshi. Coughlin’s 5.835/252.76 was just enough to hold off alBalooshi’s quicker 5.821 248.48.