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Sunday, August 5 Bernstein earns win No. 58 By Bill Stephens ESPN.com SONOMA, Calif. -- The NHRA Western Swing 2001 is now in the books. The three races in three weeks in Denver, Seattle, and Sonoma have now all been completed. And after all was said and done, the points leaders in Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock ended the swing where they began it -- up top, but there was some shifting elsewhere in the top ten in all three categories. There were no repeat winners in any professional class over the past three weeks but there were four first-time-in-2001 winners. A new national speed record was set in Pro Stock by Darrell Alderman and track records fell in just about every class at every venue. As usual, the swing was full of surprises and pushed the flock of professional and sportsman racers to their limits of stamina and determination. Here's how the final rounds shook out Sunday at the 14th Fram Autolite Nationals at Sears Point Raceway: Top Fuel The track surface at Sears Point has always been a treacherous puzzle for tuners and drivers alike. But with a whole new dragstrip now going into construction and expected to be ready for the 2002 event, the old quarter-mile is not likely to be missed. On Sunday, tuning veteran Tim "The General" Richards continued the remarkable trend that began as soon as he signed on as crew chief for Kenny Bernstein back in March?giving Bernstein the best car on raceday and took advantage of their lane choice opportunities throughout eliminations . Thanks to qualifying No. 1 in the 15-car field, Bernstein was awarded a first round bye run and over the course of the next three rounds, the Bud King stopped Mike Dunn, Doug Herbert, and David Grubnic, who was appearing in only his second career final round. In that final, Bernstein ran his slowest numbers of eliminations, 4.81/298, but Grubnic was also off his pace from the previous three rounds and could only muster a 5.84/153 in a losing effort. Bernstein picked up 62 more points over Larry Dixon in the race for the points lead after Dixon lost in the second round to Grubnic for a total spread of 76 points. Gary Scelzi, who lost in the second round to Herbert, moved from fourth to third place when Doug Kalitta lost in the first round to Tim Gibson, who advanced to his first career Top Fuel semi-final where he also lost to Grubnic. It was Bernstein's fifth win out of seven final rounds this year and the fourth time this season he has won after qualifying on the pole. Funny Car After qualifying a quiet No. 3 in Sonoma, expectations for a Force victory on Sunday were far less than unshakable. As it turned out, Jim Epler, the No. 14 qualifier, used a perfect .400 reaction time in his first round match-up with the 10-time champion and defending event champion to beat Force on a holeshot-Epler's 5.07/300 beating Force's quicker 5.01/299. Force's loss will now make it impossible for him to achieve something which his legion of fans were hoping for-his 100th career national event win coming at this year's U.S. Nationals on Labor Day weekend. Force would have had to have won in Sonoma and the next race in Brainerd to have a shot at reaching the century mark in victories at the "Big Go" next month. Whit Bazemore, last week's winner in Seattle who moved into second place in the points with his first victory of the season, was beaten by Del Worsham in the semi-finals, and then dropped to third in the points when Worsham went to his fourth final round of the season and beat Epler 5.04/301 to 6.22/156. Epler was appearing in his first final round since last year's U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis where he beat Bazemore in that payoff round. Force still carries a commanding 346-point lead over Worsham for the top spot while Bazemore trails Del by only three points for second with 8 races left to go this season. Pro Stock What could have been a hard-fought, bare-knuckle brawl for the Winston Points lead in Pro Stock wound up being a disappointing day for the top four drivers in the standings. No. 1 qualifier, Jeg Coughlin, hoping to energize his slim championship chances, lost in Round 2 to eventual finalist, Mike Edwards. Jim Yates, who came into the race trailing Warren Johnson by less than four rounds of competition, lost to the other finalist-to-be, Tom Martino, in the first round. And WJ may have suffered the most demoralizing defeat when in the first round, facing one of his most bitter adversaries, Darrell Alderman, the Team Mopar driver jumped to a huge 1/10 of a second starting line advantage and beat Johnson on a holeshot. Alderman's numbers were 6.93/200 while Warren lost with low e.t. and top speed of eliminations, a 6.88 at 201MPH. Shortly before the Pro Stock final, Mike Edwards learned that his grandmother, an enthusiastic supporter of Mike's racing career, had passed away earlier on Sunday. Mike dedicated his final round performance in her memory but unfortunately for the devoutly Christian racer and spokesperson for Younglife Ministries, it was Tom Martino's day to win. Martino was appearing in his first final round since the fall Houston race in 1999 and had not won a national event since Brainerd, 1998, but with a .425 reaction time, a problem for Edwards that forced him to shut off to a 13.85/59, and his 7.03/196, the Farmington, N.J., racer took the winlight after winning the non-NHRA Woodburn Pro Stock Invitational last Wednesday in Woodburn, Ore. The NHRA national event schedule takes a one week break and then action resumes in two weeks in Brainerd, Minn,, for the 20th Annual Colonel's Truck Accessories Nationals.  Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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