NHRA T/F Harley Eliminations

The normal Sunday eliminations for the New England Nationals was a wash out, so the rain delayed (24-hrs) New England Nationals kicked off at exactly 10:59 AM, EST, on Monday, June 6, with Top Fuel cars thundering down the track.

Rickey "Sharkey" House is a top contender at every event he enters. He's capable of winning at every race, he just needs lady luck to smile on him. (Photo (c) 2016 Tom McCarthy, Digital Image Now, all rights reserved.)

Top Fuel Harley was called to the lanes at 11:30 AM and all eight teams, answered the call. first pair out was Bobby Malloy vs Len Darnell. Jay T was #1 qualifier so he opted to race Rickey House at the back of the pack as opposed to running first pair out. Bobby was first out with a killer .001 off the line coupled with a 6.66 elapsed time to Len’s .047 light and a 6.49. Len took it to the stripe first and Len Darnell will face Jay Turner in round two.

Tii Tharpe was next up taking on Frank Capone. Tii’s 6.43 in qualifying was evidence he had a handle on his baseline. At the flicker of the green light, Tii was out first with a .073 RT to Frank’s .086, Capone was up in smoke by the tree and Tii motored on with a 6.99 to win that match up.

Frank Capone of Bad Apple Racing had a bad time at the New England Nationals, going up in smoke every pass. (Photo (c) 2016 Tom McCarthy, Digital Image Now. All rights reserved.)

Tracy Kile and Rich Vreeland were the next pair to the starting line. Tracy has been a picture of consistency for team Bad Apple Racing, producing 6.30’s and 6.40’s most every race (Valdosta, Norwalk, Epping) this season. When the light turned green, Tracy was off the line quickly and delivered the quickest ET of the meet so far with a 6.34 at 217 to Rich’s 6.70, who had his best pass of the weekend.

The big match up of the round was the Bull Dog and the Nitro Shark: Jay “Bull Dog” Turner vs Ricky “Sharkey” House. These two bike are easily the most powerful in the race at this event. After boisterous burnouts by both racers, they pre-staged and staged with care. Jay was out of the gate first with a .036 reaction time and he crossed the stripe first with a 6.37 elapsed time. Sharkey posted a 6.45 that was right on Jay, but not quite quick enough.

In the semi-final round, Tii Tharpe eliminated Tracy Kile, with a 6.43 to Tracy’s 6.53 and Jay Turner eliminated Len Darnell when Len went up in smoke and had to get out of it. This set up an all “Jay Turner Racing” final as both bikes run out of the JTR racing stable. And they put on a hell of a drag race for the fans.

Jay’s .031 light was only a tick quicker than Tii’s .032 and they were glued to the thousand-foot mark and Jay beat Tii to the stripe with the low elapsed time of the weekend, 6.29 at 223 MPH, to Tii’s 6.46 effort. This is Jay’s second Wally of the season in NHRA competition, and will give him a big jump in the points. If he can keep the pace up, he may win the NHRA and the IHRA Top Fuel bike championships this season!