After poor weather pushed the start of many Sportsman activities at the Dodge NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway to early Sunday, the race was concluded with quick turnarounds Monday. Tedesco raced to the semifinals with her CARS Protection Plus/Schepel Motors/NGK/Lucas Oil Top Alcohol Dragster and also drove her CARS Protection Plus/VP Racing Fuels Super Gas Chevrolet Cavalier to the third round.
"We kind of expected it to be the same as last year," Tedesco said of the rain delays. "We made the best of it and had a really good time last year. (Tedesco Racing teammate) Jason (Lynch) won Super Gas, and I runner-upped in Alcohol, so we were pretty confident coming in. We really like the track.
"We kind of expected a Monday finish, and that didn't bother us at all. It was a long weekend, sitting around, waiting, maybe going to get a run."
Tedesco didn't make her first pass in TAD until Sunday morning for qualifying. She then won her first round of eliminations Sunday afternoon over Karen Stalba and advanced to the semifinals after Tom Fox Jr. was a no-show for their second-round matchup later that night.
Monday morning Tedesco battled Chris Demke in the semifinals in what was a thrilling race. Both drivers left with nearly identical reaction times and then made nearly equal runs.
"When we did get to make a run, our cars ran well," Tedesco said. "We got lucky in the Alcohol car because I had to pedal every round, except the round I lost, and that one was a good race: I was .032 (on the Tree) and ran 5.28, and he was .029 and ran 5.27, so you can't really hang your head about that. It was a good, solid run, and we just came up a little short."
Super Gas, meanwhile, didn't start until late Sunday with one round of qualifying. Eliminations began Monday morning, when Tedesco ran dead on the 9.90 index with a first-round pass of 9.900 after a .004-second reaction time.
Tedesco ran unopposed in the second round, though she still had a terrific package of a .007 light and a 9.907-second pass. In the third round, Tedesco fell to Dale Koncen, whose package of .029-second was slightly better than her .050 effort.
Monday's eliminations were run quickly, with drivers getting back to the staging lanes after making a run in the previous round.
"Those races are fun, and I'm used to running around like that," Tedesco said. "It makes the racing a lot tighter because nothing really changed (between runs). Everybody knows where the 9.90 is at. It's going to be good, tight racing when the runs are that fast back-to-back. I liked it a lot."
Tedesco will next race at the Division 2 race on Oct. 14-16 at Silver Dollar Raceway in Reynolds, Ga.
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| Mia Tedesco raced to the semifinals with her CARS Protection Plus/Schepel Motors/NGK/Lucas Oil Top Alcohol Dragster and the third round of Super Gas with her CARS Protection Plus/VP Racing Fuels Chevrolet Cavalier in Reading. |
