Yahoo Autos NHRA Pomona Saturday Qualifying, Sunday Pairings: Herrera 1 Point from Motorcycle Title
Gaige Herrera, who is one point away from owning back-to-back crowns, says drag racing for championship ‘worse than gambling’.
Herrera misses opportunity to lock down second championship in first Saturday run and will have to wait until Sunday.
Top Fuel, Pro Stock titles still in suspense until Sunday’s eliminations.
Like this time last November, Gaige Herrera arrived at Pomona, Calif., a shoo-in to win the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle championship.
But he said he was taking nothing for granted, especially considering the class’ first two qualifying sessions at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals at Southern California’s Pomona Dragstrip washed out Friday.
That denied chief rival Matt Smith and every other bike racer the chance to gain as many as eight bonus points. Even with that advantage Saturday when the motorcycle racers got the only two of the scheduled four qualifying passes, Herrera failed by one single point to clinch his second consecutive championship.
Announcers prematurely said Herrera had captured the crown officially, and Herrera’s crew chief, Andrew Hines, a six-time champion, called Herrera’s feat “phenomenal” and his rider “rock-solid all year.” He said, “We were counting points all day.” Hines said, “It doesn’t come down to one last run. It’s how you do [throughout] the Countdown.”
Herrera said cautiously Friday, “I'm coming into Pomona here with 123 points ahead of Matt, but it's still very possible anything can happen. It's drag racing. I always say it's kind of worse than gambling sometimes: anything can happen. And it could go good. It could go bad, just like that.”
As he has all season, six-time champion Smith applied some pressure on Herrera in the first run of the day, grabbing the provisional lead at 6.721-second elapsed time and 202.64-mph speed. Herrera missed the chance to clinch the title right then. If Herrera had taken that No. 1 spot and Smith hadn’t earned any bonus points, the race would have been over.
Smith said it was, anyway.
“Just trying to keep it interesting. We know this thing’s over with,” Smith said after that outstanding first pass of the day. “But we’re going to make it interesting to where you have to win the first round tomorrow. If we can do that, we’re playing the game. We wanted to win the championship, ut we’ll go for winning the race.”
The only scenario that would give Smith the championship is if Herrera loses in the opening round of eliminations and Smith runs though the bracket, wins the event and takes the Wally.
Although Herrera has won 10 times in 11 final-round appearances this season and could match his 2023 victory total of 11, he said, “This whole season has been tough. Last season I kind of ran away with it. This season it's been tight with the points going back and forth between me and Matt. And Richard [new teammate Gadson] was in the hunt. And Hector [Arana Jr.] did really good. He was moving up.
"But it's the kind of pressure that I like. I'd rather it be a tough field like that. It makes me try harder as a rider, be more consistent on the light, on the shift points, just everything."
The LaMirada, Calif., native. who lives in the Northern Indiana city of Demotte, where he said, “I still got a normal day job. I'm an industrial welder, pipefitter” – said, “I'm excited to be back here. I grew up 30 minutes from here, so I love that the Finals is here. It's got a special place in my heart, and hopefully I can wrap up a second championship.”
Top Fuel, Pro Stock Up for Grabs
The Top Fuel and Pro Stock championships will wrap up Sunday.
In the Pro Stock category, points leader Aaron Stanfield, the No. 4 qualifier, is a round ahead of Dallas Glenn, who’s second-ranked in the standings and in Sunday’s starting order. Greg Anderson will lead the field for the 132nd time in his career, and he could win his sixth championship if he should last two rounds longer than Stanfield Sunday. Glenn is one round behind Stanfield, so whoever advances the farthest has the advantage over Anderson.
The Top Fuel title chase is a toss-up among Justin Ashley, Shawn Langdon, Antron Brown, and Steve Torrence, and Doug Kalitta. To heighten the drama, Ashley will meet Brown in the first round of competition.
In other class action, Brittany Force grabbed her third straight No. 1 start and fourth in the past five races at 3.643, 336.65. And Kalitta became the second driver in NHRA history (following Mike Salinas) to record a 300-mph speed at the eighth-mile. He ran a 300.53 mph.
Funny Car Title Wrapped Up
The Funny Car championship finally belongs to Austin Prock officially, but three-time champion Ron Capps remained relevant with a track-record elapsed time: 3.821 seconds, one-thousandth of a second better than Prock’s qualifying time.
Final Qualifying Results, Pairings
Sunday's first-round pairings for eliminations for the 59th annual In-N-Out NHRA Finals at In-N-Out Pomona Dragstrip, the final of 20 events in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday. DNQs listed below pairings.
Top Fuel -- 1. Brittany Force, 3.643 seconds, 336.65 mph vs. 16. Krista Baldwin, 3.801, 302.28; 2. Steve Torrence, 3.644, 334.90 vs. 15. Gary Pritchett, 3.750, 329.91; 3. Doug Kalitta, 3.650, 334.98 vs. 14. Ida Zetterstrom, 3.738, 323.89; 4. Shawn Langdon, 3.653, 331.45 vs. 13. Josh Hart, 3.729, 327.90; 5. Justin Ashley, 3.670, 332.59 vs. 12. Antron Brown, 3.725, 318.09; 6. Shawn Reed, 3.678, 331.69 vs. 11. Jasmine Salinas, 3.723, 332.43; 7. Tony Stewart, 3.694, 333.91 vs. 10. Billy Torrence, 3.712, 330.96; 8. Tony Schumacher, 3.694, 331.77 vs. 9. Clay Millican, 3.700, 331.36.
Did Not Qualify: 17. Scott Palmer, 3.818, 301.47; 18. Ron August, 4.121, 229.27.
Funny Car -- 1. Austin Prock, Chevy Camaro, 3.804, 334.57 vs. 16. Jason Rupert, Ford Mustang, 5.413, 132.13; 2. Ron Capps, Toyota GR Supra, 3.821, 332.75 vs. 15. Jeff Diehl, Toyota Camry, 4.544, 191.81; 3. Jack Beckman, Camaro, 3.828, 334.82 vs. 14. Terry Haddock, Mustang, 4.041, 305.84; 4. Matt Hagan, Dodge Charger, 3.838, 331.94 vs. 13. Steven Densham, Mustang, 3.983, 313.66; 5. Bob Tasca III, Mustang, 3.867, 334.82 vs. 12. Daniel Wilkerson, Mustang, 3.903, 308.92; 6. Blake Alexander, Mustang, 3.870, 336.40 vs. 11. Alexis DeJoria, GR Supra, 3.890, 308.43; 7. Paul Lee, Charger, 3.875, 328.46 vs. 10. Chad Green, Mustang, 3.889, 327.98; 8. Cruz Pedregon, Charger, 3.875, 324.59 vs. 9. J.R. Todd, GR Supra, 3.878, 326.71.
Did Not Qualify: 17. Alex Miladinovich, 7.085, 91.17; 18. Dave Richards, 7.543, 85.50; 19. Buddy Hull, 8.320, 79.11.
Pro Stock -- 1. Greg Anderson, Chevy Camaro, 6.505, 211.20 vs. 16. Kenny Delco, Camaro, 6.620, 208.78; 2. Dallas Glenn, Camaro, 6.512, 209.82 vs. 15. Derrick Reese, Ford Mustang, 6.562, 210.34; 3. Camrie Caruso, Camaro, 6.515, 209.07 vs. 14. Chris McGaha, Camaro, 6.548, 209.26; 4. Aaron Stanfield, Camaro, 6.517, 209.98 vs. 13. Troy Coughlin Jr., Camaro, 6.546, 210.70; 5. Matt Hartford, Camaro, 6.520, 210.77 vs. 12. Fernando Cuadra Jr., Camaro, 6.541, 209.36; 6. Erica Enders, Camaro, 6.527, 209.98 vs. 11. Eric Latino, Camaro, 6.539, 209.17; 7. Jeg Coughlin, Camaro, 6.530, 210.44 vs. 10. Cristian Cuadra, Mustang, 6.536, 208.94; 8. Jerry Tucker, Camaro, 6.532, 210.11 vs. 9. Cory Reed, Camaro, 6.534, 209.95.
Did Not Qualify: 17. Joey Grose, 6.628, 208.14; 18. Mason McGaha, 6.884, 205.47; 19. David Cuadra, 26.403, 31.61.
Pro Stock Motorcycle -- 1. Matt Smith, Buell, 6.721, 202.64 vs. 16. Aaron Pine, Suzuki, 17.388, 72.97; 2. Angie Smith, Buell, 6.758, 201.43 vs. 15. Lance Bonham, Buell, 7.248, 187.78; 3. Gaige Herrera, Suzuki, 6.765, 201.22 vs. 14. Clayton Howey, Suzuki, 7.001, 193.35; 4. Richard Gadson, Suzuki, 6.767, 199.82 vs. 13. Ryan Oehler, EBR, 6.885, 196.82; 5. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 6.771, 196.44 vs. 12. Jianna Evaristo, Buell, 6.834, 202.09; 6. Chase Van Sant, Suzuki, 6.783, 198.96 vs. 11. Chris Bostick, Suzuki, 6.815, 198.29; 7. Geno Scali, Suzuki, 6.788, 198.55 vs. 10. Hector Arana Jr, EBR, 6.796, 199.14; 8. John Hall, Beull, 6.792, 200.53 vs. 9. Marc Ingwersen, EBR, 6.792, 197.62.
